The way we went worked out. I wanted to see a place in Middlesex County where we have enjoyed "Big Night", the spring salamander migration. I had never seen the spot in the daylight. We got there late afternoon and made our way around. A dribbling creek (that is a rushing torrent on Big Night) looked very good for Two-lines and, in fact... it was! Remarkably different and beautiful ones, at that.
Look at that mottling. So cool.
I was actually feeling a little shitty so we didn't go hog wild. In fact, sitting on a bench in the shade and watching the dribble of a waterfall was how we spent most of our time there. We got back up and walked around the wetlands. We're used to it being full of horny Spotted Salamanders but it was peaceful (and fairly dry) that day. This Redback was under a log on the shore.
Where the water was a little bit deeper, we saw some Green Frogs.
That wasn't a bad way to spend a little bit of time. But how do we get home at rush hour on a Friday. We took the exit off the highway that almost took me by my workplace. I decided to pull in to a cemetery near work where I had looked for the resident Eagles before. Since I still had never gotten a picture of one, it is considered a "Lifer" for me. I went into the general area I thought the nest to be and saw a car parked there with a big-assed camera. I got out and asked the driver a few questions and she very helpfully told me where a fledgling eagle was sitting. We went over and sure enough... there he was.
Lifer Bird #173, #80 on the year... Bald Eagle. We gave our thanks and talked a little more then went home to rest up for the next day's mega-plans.
The next day's mega-plans were to head out to Western Massachusetts early and explore a new place that might have Wood Turtles, then go to a familiar place that also is said to be Woody. See, we've never seen a Massachusetts Wood Turtle. And the search goes on. We were on the road early enough but traffic was heavy due to the state's big antique show. Everyone was on the turnpike. It was warm but overcast and as we were nearing the spot where we'd seen our first Massachusetts Rat Snake last year, we thought that sounded like a good pit-stop. So we ditched the Pike and found our way there, deep into Worcester County.
Sun was intermittent but we still thought we had a very good chance for Rat Snakes. The spots where we saw one and where they supposedly nest were Rat-free so we went to some debris that we know of. First flip was a Garter and a Ringneck. The Garter slithered off so I grabbed the Ringer for documentaion.
Andrea saw our first Redbellied Snake of the year. She picked it up and I swear it did the lip thing to her but we didn't get a shot.
Teeny little bugger.
We put the Redbell down far from this American Toad who would have nommed him in one bite.
This in-the-blue Garter sat for a picture.
Black-eyed Susan and bee, a portrait by Andrea.
We went back to the first board to see if the Garter was back. He was and had been joined by a smaller nipper. Literally. These two bit me, each other and would have bitten anything that was near.
We went to another part filled with wonderful debris. We looked around and under a discarded black contractor's bag, this little snoozer never even knew we were there.
We did get a little assurance that we were on the right track... a Rat Snake skin.
Pickerel Frogs were in the longer grass along the sides. One finally jumped into view.
On the way out of that spot, we flipped some gorgeous Efts.
We poked around another area and I saw some tarp in the woods. Yup... a clean, beautiful Garter was within.
The Garter was acting kind of funny before we noticed a small American Toad nearby. He must have caught the scent.
I swear we'd just inspected these rocks...
Andrea's Garter view...
She was much larger than these pictures suggest.
What could possibly be in this kind of habitat?
Well, on top Andrea had startled a few Garters. This is one of them.
I flipped a pair of Ringnecks. I could NOT get a shot of the two and had to capture one for this less-than-stellar photo.
It was time to look at a pond. Would we have the same kind of turtle luck? Well, yeah! Painters abounded!
This duo amused me to no end... Painter and massive Bullfrog.
This log is miiiine!
A couple of dirty turtles.
Where this pool was fed, there was a shallow trickle of water. It looked good for Two-lines. It was.
This guy crawled onto my fingers when I went to nudge him away while replacing the rock.
Hey, considering we pulled off of the crowded highway on a whim, we had nine species! We decided that we should hit the road as we still had plenty of driving to do to get to our destination. One last peek around that stone wall got us this gorgeous, olive Garter.
Andrea's view from above.
We got to our original destination in the early afternoon, looked at a map and decided to hit the short trail in the opposite direction of a family that had arrived at the same time. Ten feet into the trail, we saw a Garter.
This place was very promising.
This trail was all board-walked and had many perches that looked out over the wetlands. We got to one perch and there was a lady there enjoying the view. We talked with her and were stunned to see how many Painted Turtles were up basking, swimming, tussling in the water and climbing on to logs... all very close to where we stood. Magic.
Around the pond's edge, you could see hundreds of tadpoles.
Wrestling duckweed Painters.
We'd heard a few Green Frogs calling but it took quite some time to find one. This guy was on a log near a turtle. 10th species on the day.
A Phoebe wearing some bling.
We spent a long time there, just enjoying being in such close proximity to everything. On the way back to the boardwalk, we saw this brilliant Green Frog.
I told you the scenery was beautiful.
I didn't know what this Staghorn Sumac was so I took a picture. Turns out, it's Staghorn Sumac.
Our initial interest in this place was the possibility of Wood Turtles, according to maps and research that Andrea did. We got to a part that made me think that the rumors are true.
We never saw one, though.
The trail was short and before too long, we were back at the beginning. We just had to go back and take one last peek at that Painted Turtle spot.
Hunting tadpoles.
A chorus line.
Shadows were getting long in the woods as we were leaving and Greens were calling like mad. I got a few photos but none with their throat sacs inflated.
^ Recent deflation.
We got some ice cream before going to our next spot. We knew time was tight so we needed sustenance. We got there at about 5 PM, hours past our planned arrival time. We hit the trail quickly. Andrea struck first with this silver-backed Redback.
Since I call golden ones like this Goldtops, should this be a Silverjet?
One Painter was still up despite the noisy swimmers nearby.
One duck was having a shit-fit, though.
We got to the creek/ river part. Wood Turtles? Certainly not at this time of day and not this time of year. But all of the flat stones on the edges looked good for Two-lines, Dooks and possible Springs. I flipped for about an hour and saw nothing. By then, I was tired it was time to go.
Heading back along the pond, this teeny Green made itself known.
Andrea had been hoping for a Water Snake and/ or a Snapping Turtle here. We were almost to the end when we saw a long-neck...
The face attached to that neck...
Our twelfth species on the day, a Common Snapping Turtle.
We didn't want to stop but we'd been on the road/ on the trails for about 13 hours and we still had a two hour drive. But, hey... what a day! We didn't stumble across what we considered our target when we woke up that morning, but hot diggity... not too bad at all. We really need to spend more time out this way. And we will.
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