After a month and a half of moving, painting, building and other strenuous, non-herping things, we finally got back into the wild on Saturday, July 3rd! Place of choice? Boyden Refuge!
The first thing that we wanted to do in Taunton was check out the new permanent Flea Market that we'd found out about. It was OK (needs to grow a bit) but on the grounds outside, there was a good amount of AC (artificial cover... not air conditioning, which was needed as it was in the mid-90s!). We went to explore and flip a bit and this big ol' Toad hopped by!
This was a sure sign of good things to come!
We got to Boyden at about 11:30AM. It was already very hot and we were thinking that it might be a big too hot for snakes... maybe anything! Still, we trekked on!
Under logs, where the soil was still cool and moist, Redbacks were still around! These guys are so hardy- nothing seems to bother them! Ahh, for the life of a salamander!
But where were the snakes?
It was then that the toads invaded! Bigger ones and tiny ones! Toads all over the damn place!
Toaderiffic!
At one point, we were flipping some tiles and Andrea saw a small garter snake go slithering off... she made a valiant attempt, but the wee (under 10 incher) squamate had escaped. Ah well... next time!
This Stag Beetle reared up and warned us not to fuck with it...
Andrea needed to cool down from the heat and stepped into the pond for a spell.
This ladybug had the same idea...
We carried on and it looked as though we were on the right track... we saw a skin!
Flipping the log NEXT to this one revealed the owner of that skin! We had him trapped! We could finally catch a snake and photograph it!! First one in over a month!! So we flipped the log...
And he went right past me. I chased him and he eluded me, getting lost in some bushes near the pond.
I was beside myself! The mournful Charlie Brown Failure Theme played in my head...
About the only thing that could cheer me up after that humiliation would be a stack of Painted Turtles! Luckily, one was nearby!
We went to the waterfall and there was an extraordinarily large Seagull there enjoying a dip!
Our walk back to the car, beaten, sweaty and tired, was fairly uneventful, except when walking past a part of the woods we have been calling Toad Hollow for the past couple of years. There, in the hollow of a tree in Toad Hollow... was a toad!
Somehow, that made it all worth it!
OK, so we didn't manage any snakes in 5 1/2 hours. BUT, we finally got back into the woods and had a terrific toad day! I'm satisfied!
"Charlie Brown Failure Theme". We have Arrested Development to thank for that one.
ReplyDeleteNow I want to hold a toad.