Dare we do double digits in 2015? 5-2-2015

The weekend was supposed to be sunny. Saturday in the mid-60s. My plans kinda fell through so we rearranged them and hooked up with Matt S and Teá and headed to Bristol County. Our goal? Herps. Duh!

We got there a bit after 11 AM and hit the trails. We never know exactly how this particular park will be. Did it fare the winter as well as the nearby Boyden? The answer is yes; it is just as we left it. We were greeted in the parking lot by this lovely Mourning Cloak.

Much to Teá's delight, there were many moths and butterflies about.

This place is the most toad-centric one in our usual rotation. But we saw none. We fouled out on Fowler's. We slammed it with Redbacks to start off, though.




As I was approaching a sandy, pondside area, we heard Matt yell "turtle". He greeted us with this wee Painted!

Then he went into the whole Alas poor Yorick monologue...


After the show, we saw another Redback before heading down to Middle Pond.


At the pond, there were millions of these little black tadpoles.

Of course, first thought is toad or wood frog but upon closer inspection, some have feathery gills.

Newt? We've never seen them here, but who knows? The jury is still out on this one.

Hey hey hey... we were all ready for our first of year Bullfrog!


At another spot on the edge of the pond, an oddly patterned Pickerel was hiding out.


Lo and behold, another hatchling, over-wintered Painter!



Another massive Bullfrog.


But where were the toads? And snakes? It was warm and sunny. We headed up the trail, leaving Matt scouring the pond's edge. It was then that we found our first snake of the day, a lovely, cinnamon spotted Garter!

We yelled for and phoned Matt to let him know.


He totally stole my thunder when he arrived with a very stinky Musk Turtle in hand. First of the year!

Great find!



We got to a stretch in between two ponds and it was, as it often is, flooded. Our first herp here was this small frog that, in the field, we thought was a Green. But it's a small Bullfrog.

This Bullfrog tadpole is almost as big as him!


There was a shit-ton more of the tiny tadpoles in this section.


Where were the adult turtles? Peering through the brush, we spied two Painted Turtles.


Large hole with dead fish in the entrance... the lair of an otter?


We got down to get a good look at the water of the far side of the pond and were rewarded with some basking shells... in fact, our first Red-bellied Cooter of the year was spotted!

Here's another angle of the Cooter/ Painter duo. Double yoga.


Further up, another massive Red-bell and dozens of Painteds.



Check out this precarious stacking job-


Then, up on shore, we saw this plump female who looks like she's ready to pop.



So, we pushed on to a nice, moving stream... which Matt plopped right through (he and I had been sporting complete soakers since the beginning) to the other side, where he promptly flipped a feisty Garter!



Another spot yielded us another Bullfrog and some basking Painted Turtles.



We were walking back to the beginning when we passed a spot that I had forgotten about... a small vernal where we had seen a few frogs and snakes last year. When we got there, we startled some turtles into the drink but many of them kept resurfacing, including mine and Andrea's first Snapper of the year!

My photo of him was blurry so I'm borrowing this one: Photo by Teá Kesting-Handly.

I waded into the pond up to my knees in order to get this Green Frog shot, which is good because it turned out to be our First of Year!


We backtracked after that, hitting a few spots for a second time. Our favorite spot that is full of debris got us a wee garter, found by Matt.



We saw a couple of Bullfrogs in the bog on the way out...


and then went for Mandarin Buffet for the second week in a row.

After we ate, I figured "why not check out Oliver Mills?" So we did. It was getting late... about 5:30, 6 PM but it was still warm. Matt spied a Water Snake noggin peeking out from a stone wall. But it was below us. He took a twig and while we hung over the edge, he tried to poke the snake forward. Eventually, it worked... the little noggin poked out... another couple of inches, and right into my hands! Teamwork!

He was a dusty little fella so we gave him a bath.



The Herring were running as well.


A bit further up, we flipped a teeny Dekay's Snake which we used to teach some young kids that snakes are cool.



So this was a pretty good day! That was 11 species not including the tadpoles. Just to keep things interesting, we really surprised ourselves with a flipped Two-lined Salamander right on the edge of the fish-filled, rapid-running water.


An even dozen or lucky 13, this was a memorable day. We drove home, exhausted and happy. But where were the toads?!