First up was a half buried Fowler's Toad!
Followed by a ballooning Fowler's!
Good fortune shined upon us in the form of a clean and feisty Black Racer!
He gave me a small nip as I was getting him untangled from the grass, and then kept repeatedly striking at my face! Lil' devil!
Andrea held him and he struck at the camera... even got the lens cap once!
Forgive the excessive posting of Racer pics... we just love these guys!
The pond had plenty of Painted Turtles up and basking! There are four on this tiny piece of real estate!
We took this shot expecting to find turtles, but it was empty. It wasn't until we got home that we realized that we had been photo-bombed by a Bullfrog!
A few more Fowler's Toads turned up, including one who looked very familiar!
Good evening...
Some more Painteds enjoying the sun...
Most of our usual hot spots weren't as hot as we'd have liked, so we ventured out onto some new paths. There are miles and miles of unexplored (by us) paths here! We got lucky when we saw this guy stretchin' in a straight line right in the sandy path!
This slim Garter Snake has some odd coloration... A yellow dorsal stripe that turns tan while his body loses the checkers and turns charcoal. The stripe eventually disappears!
Further up the path came this stunning Garter Snake!
Olive all the way back, cinnamon checkers and another disappearing dorsal stripe!
He makes a lovely bracelet, too!
We got back to our regular trails and got a six-pack of Painteds!
At one of the newer (to us) spots, I was looking for Water Snakes (unsuccessfully) when Andrea said "a Musk"! I saw a Musk swimming away from shore and took the double soaker to run in like a Retreiver and get him for a closer look!
I have never had the pleasure of inspecting one up close, so we took many pictures! Notice the algae-covered shell and the road scars!
There's definitely some beak damage on him and we swear he only had one eye, though those pics didn't come out. Sure looks like he has two in this shot!
Must have had one closed for some reason...
Nice plastron, man!
Check out this claw! He looks like ZAAT!
Drinking guy in background was amused...
That was exciting!
Ever see a fat Pickerel Frog? Here's one!
These are the Fowler Brothers... the toughest toads in town!
The perfect way to end this exciting 6-hour-plus trip? Frog snorting!
Oh, and Mandarin Buffet!
Awesome finds! looks like you guys had a great day at Massasoit. Nice musk, awesome racer, and very cool olive cinnamon garter. I found a very similar colored garter at Massasoit a couple months ago. A new subspecies "Eastern Massasoit garter snake"
ReplyDeleteYou guys are killing me with all your racers! I still need to get one!
Hmmm... I wonder if those "disappearing dorsal stripe" and cinnamon spots could get us into the herp books... NAH!!! But they sure are cool!!
DeleteHang in there... Racers will turn up! They're always such a treat to find, but it's not very often!
¡Jaja,el sapo se parece a la caricatura!!!¡Hermoso todo,Andrea y vos son lindos.Besos Martha
ReplyDeleteGracias Martha! Nos alegra que usted disfrute de nuestras fotografías! XXOO
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