After the storm on June 29th and loosing my power (Just came back on about an hour ago) and loosing all my baby newts that I was so proud to have hatched out due to the heat. I really needed a pick me up! I usually have terrible luck herping even though I live in the dang forest and even have a large pond.
But since yesterday I've found a few things besides the frogs in my pond and I'm very happy. Around 3:00am I found a water snake in my pond (first one I've seen in years!) and later that night I found a Fowler's Toad. Then today I found an American Toad. What caught my eye was that it was solid black! But I then looked it up online and found out depending on temp. they change color. So I guess it was cold since it was still morning.
Here are my pictures and I'll probably add to them later on if I happen upon any more critters.
Northern Water Snake:
