Something New: Borderland State Park 6-17-2012

We'd heard some groovy comments about Borderland State Park in Easton, MA, so we did our research and found that there are plenty of herp species living there (including the rare Blanding's Turtle) and figured it would be worth a visit. Of course, we knew it would be kind of crowded with families and bikes, but we took our chances.

We got there just before 9AM, so it wasn't horribly crowded yet. We discarded our useless "trail directions" in favor of a trail map. We'll call our own shots, thank you! So, we headed to the water... Leach Pond, to be exact.

We heard plenty of Bullfrogs and Green Frogs calling away, so we felt right at home. Sure enough... we saw our first Bullfrog!


Followed by this oddly colored Green Frog! He was nice enough to allow us a closer look...



It wasn't long before Eagle-eye Andrea saw a serpentine tail whoosh into a bush. I couldn't find said serpent, but found a skin... Water Snake probably. But who knows what the lil bugger was!

Then she saw another! I found this one... it was a feisty female Garter Snake that looked like she was expecting! We unsuccessfully tried the nose-bite thing...


She calmed right down and became very sweet!



Andrea released her and she went right into the bush... and started to climb it!!



That's not something you see every day, though it's not unheard of!

Next up, Andrea found an American Toad at the same time that I found a Redback Salamander! My find behaved better for the camera!


Then we started seeing turtles. Sunbathers everywhere! To the best of my knowledge (and not being able to see anything to change my mind in the pics), everything we saw was a Painted Turtle.




Another Bufo Americanus reared his cute little warty head!


We thought about a neato photo-op in this cave, but it was really buzzin' with mosquitoes!! Fergettit!


We got to a part of the park between the two Leach ponds. I saw a Water Snake take off. And another! Andrea got a shot of one...


Then I pointed to a spot right in front of her... 3 good sized Water Snakes were piled up!



When they dispersed, there were Water Snakes everywhere! I picked up two and got a jet of musk that went up my pant-leg, my arm, shirt and backpack strap! YUUUCH!!! Foul!



At this point, I have no idea how many snakes were actually in this small area! Awesome!



I managed to pick up another little guy...


As we headed away from Water Snake Mecca, we saw another lightning bolt Garter streak away, but we didn't even have a chance for a photo.

There soon came a nice bird-hide. We sat and looked out at the pond... a few more turtles were basking.



At Pud Pond (!) this Catbird was totally cool with us being there. He was picking at the watery slime there and nibbling on whatever... Coolest of all, he snapped at a dragonfly that was buzzing by! Almost got it!


A couple more goodies that we saw...
Another Toad!


A wife with a sexy pout!


A wee Redback!


Another Bullfrog!


and a fish...


So, yeah... it was a little crowded and we had to duck a few bikes, but we'll definitely keep this one in mind as a place to revisit! The Water Snakes alone made this a 4-star day!