The snakes don't know but the salamanders understand

One bad thing about starting the herping season so early in the year is that when the weather gets back to "normal", i. e. shitty, it's hard to readjust. Early spring weekends are supposed to be cool and rainy and that's just how they had become. Those handfuls of early April snakes were becoming distant memories.

We did some herpless walking here and there and got a few shots, like this chipmunk at the Arboretum-


And we were peered at (in secret) by a mallard (also the Arboretum)-


The last day of April, the weather reports were promising warm weather for the weekend. True herpers that we are, we tried a trek to Allendale after work. Arriving at the woods at 6PM doesn't sound to promising... doubtful on the squamates, but the salamanders shouldn't mind.

First up was a small Spotted Salamander, a species that never fails to impress me... especially when you consider that Allendale is within Boston City limits!

This little guy was way more animated than spotteds usually are... he was roaming around, dancing all over Andrea's hands and arms!


I found a gigantic earthworm... one of the biggest that I've ever seen. Of course, I had to handle it.


Humongous redbacks...


Daredevil leadbacks...


And more redbacks before the sun went down.



We managed an hour and a half on a Friday night, after work... hungry and tired. We are quite the intrepid herpers! But the real trek would be the next day...