Moore State Park, Paxton (5/27)

After finishing up at Rutland State Park, I headed over to Moore State Park. Its a nice time to visit the park since all of the rhodedendrons are in bloom. I started at the field next to the parking lot and was thrilled to hear the calls of Bobolinks. There must have been a couple dozen of them.

After enjoying the field, I went down the main road to see what was happing around the pond. I was greeted by a chorus of American Toads. The males were all gathered along the water calling away. Several were swimming and pairs squared off to wrestle. There was even a female with two males in amplexus.

I wasn't the only one watching the toads though. A medium sized Garter Snake slithered among the amphibians. The next thing I knew, the snake had grabbed the first male in the amplexing trio of toads and started to pull them all into the bushes. This tug-of-war lasted several minutes with the snake using its tail for leverage. Luckily for the male toad, the female was large and strong and the snake finally gave up. I was amazed to see that the top male didn't give up his position and hop away. The urge to breed is that strong.