Painted Glory! August 16th, 2014

Finally, I could get my arse out and herp for hours... not just an after-work quickie! So we planned a very turtley place, hoping that some Chelonian eggs might be hatching by now. We got to our spot in Bristol County at about 10 AM. We didn't hurry because it was pretty chilly this morning!

We got off to a good start, considering that this place just hasn't been panning out for us this year. (We've only seen two of the 6 snake species here and not too many frogs). We quickly found a few Pickerel Frogs and a Green!




We got to our formerly-great spot (they "cleaned up" the park, which destroyed some wonderful snake habitat) and we're happy to see that some herps have decided to move back in. A big (possibly hybrid) Toad, another Pickerel and a small Garter Snake! The Garter was under one of the boards we replaced after the "clean-up".



This little guy is going blue... a growing youngster!


So, that was good to see! The Fowler's Toads were plentiful too!



Andrea found one of our targets for this place... the weird and mysterious Black-Eyed Toad. We're still trying to figure out what's going on with them. Translucent bellies and black eyes.


Much more research needs to be done on these guys. This is the fifth specimen we have seen here in 3 years.

Back to a more normal looking Fowler's!


I got this shot of a bird and I couldn't figure out what it was. It looks sparrow-like. I sent it to some friends better versed in birds than I, and we have all decided that it's a young, female House Sparrow.

I'm not used to seeing them not covered with pollution. I usually encounter them in the city, outside my home or outside work. Quite lovely!

This little guy was motoring through the grass like a champ! Can't be more than a few days old, but he was a snake on a mission!


(He's about 4 1/2 inches long...)

Here's a very pretty striped Pickerel Frog!


This is the first of three Mantids we saw. Invasive but pretty. (Thanks, Rosemary!)


More Fowler's!



OK, this part put a moratorium on pretty much all anurans! We were finding all kinds at the pond! Too many Pickerels and Fowler's to count! Here are some...

Bulls! (The second and third were about two feet apart, one in water, the other on land... in the exact same pose!)





Pickerel! (flipped)


A Green!


A disgruntled Fowler's!


The hatchling turtles we had hoped to see were not up yet. Maybe a couple more weeks. In fact, the only turtle we saw at all was this Painted basking in the distance.


But we put on our water shoes and got down and dirty... and it paid off with a Musk Turtle basking, which we wouldn't have seen from the trail!


Despite the moratorium on frogs, these two Greens were within a foot of each other... and couldn't be more different!


The top was was such a vivid green, while the other was almost all black, with his green face. Beautiful animals!

What the hell dug this hole???


OK... it's turtle time. Feast your eyes on Painted Glory!






That's a lot of Picta!

One more Bullfrog... this guy is a beauty!


While walking back, we looked over at an unused parking lot (from the days of yore when there was camping here) and decided to poke around it. Much to our delight, we found a vernal pond on the other side... and Andrea found a shoestring Garter!

He lay there like a slug... it was his only defense!


I saw a small (but larger) Garter struggling a few feet away. I realized he had a Pickerel Frog in his mouth...

I stayed back to not interfere, though I was getting shit pictures (see above). But he lost his grip or something and the Pickerel hopped away. I brought the snake out to the pavement for some pictures.

Andrea noticed a Pickerel right near me, so I showed it to the snake...

Mmmm....

The frog jumped off and we released the Garter, who made a beeline in the same direction, head shaking like Katherine Hepburn, tongue going crazy.

In the bog on the way out, this lovely Green was wishing there was more water there.


OK, well... that was almost 7 hours of herping, but we needed more! We got some chow then went over to Oliver Mills in hopes of seeing a Water Snake. It had cooled off a bit and since it was almost 6 PM, there was no basking. So I set to flipping some of the big rocks there.The biggest one paid off! There was a large Water Snake coiled up under it.

That always presents a problem. You have to move the snake to replace the rock and this one was going to bite the shit out of me and musk me into oblivion. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do. And she came through in spades.


We got our pictures and I took my whacks and I let her go back to her rock, the huge one on the left.


What a great day!! Snakes! TONS of frogs! Turtles!!! Over eight hours of herping pleasure! Man, I had missed this! I'm OK if I never work again, as long as I can enjoy the outdoors! And I'm still enjoying my snake blossoms!