We had visited here only once before, last year and at dusk. We'd heard owls hooting as we were leaving. This was the opposite; not many animals were up at all yet. Good morning, pond!
(There is a Great Blue Heron on top of the furthest out bird box.)
We had all of our ducks in a row, even if they were barely awake yet. Young Wood Ducks, continuing of Search For Wood theme of the weekend.
We had been very surprised by our lack of Redbacks and Efts the day before so it was nice to see the former on an early flip.
An Eft was next, naturally. The first two species were ones we had failed at the day before. That's a good start.
Three for three... a Dookie! We had found one under the very same rock on our previous visit. The Dookie Stone. (Sorry... Northern Dusky Salamander.)
Redbacks were much easier to find on this sunny Saturday.
Our fourth species of the day... and the fourth one that he hadn't seen the day before! A large Green Frog that was flipped under a not-so-large stone.
We got up to the dam area and were hoping to see some baby turtles or snakes but it was very overgrown.
Sadly, Andrea saw a trod-upon Dekay's Snake up there. I hope it wasn't me that did it. Poor thing. It would have been a first in Hampshire County for us, too. We databased him anyway.
We did see a Pickerel Frog up there, though. It broke our "didn't see it yesterday" streak but its still a welcome sight, as always.
We hit the trail on the other side of the dam to keep on exploring. This Eft was truckin' pretty fast and I couldn't get a decent shot. Only about an inch long, he was.
We went to a "wildlife blind" but it was so overgrown, we could see out the holes. Blind was a good word for it. We decided to keep going up the main path past the blind, new territory for us. We went about a mile further, hoping to see a field but there wasn't one. We did see another fine Pickerel on that section of the hike, but little else.
We headed back. On the way back to the dam, Andrea saw this gorgeous Eft posing for all he was worth.
She also flipped this lovely Goldtop phase Redback.
Up at the top of the dam, she got this bit of beauty captured.
That was it for this place. To be honest, the walk back to the car was pretty grueling. Andrea's fit-bit went off with a mile or so still to go, meaning we did about 6 miles at our first stop of the day. On very little sleep. In the summer heat. Eh, whatever... we made it and got into the car to drive up into the mountains, to visit one of my favorite places in the world... a cold mountain river in Berkshire County.
Again, much was overgrown there but we found some boards to flip and got some Redbacks right off the bat.
This is the spot where we often find erythristic Redbacks so we were eager to try to find some of those.
This little Wood Frog really made me work; always hopping away just when I had him in my viewfinder. Finally, I got this photo.
Viva le Pickerel!
I was eager to get out into the water. Andrea, not as much. I went in (mmmm... cold and brisk!) while she stayed on shore nearby. We both got to see the first Dookie up here.
I went upstream in the water while she took the paths through the woods. We both found some Two-lined Salamanders. Hers, on land.
Mine, in the river.
She found a Wood Frog hopping in the forest.
When we're at this place, I always have to try my luck with a Spring Salamander. I usually say wont leave until we see one, but I often have to give up. Luckily, it didn't take awfully long before I flipped a rock at the water's edge and saw this while I waited for the silt to clear.
Oh, yeah! I actually coaxed it into an empty Diet Coke bottle (rinsed and clean, thank you) to take it to show Andrea. Luckily, she was just on the other side of the river watching me. I released it and took a better portrait.
I love these guys.
Target achieved (except for a Wood Turtle), we took our time, just enjoying the sights.
One more Dook before I got out of the water.
Heading back through the woods together, Andrea flipped this Redback who was also a Leadback. Confused little fella.
It should be noted that before heading into the water, I did find an erythristic Redback (all red) but he crawled into some pine needles and disappeared while I was fiddling with the camera. Oh well... next time.
It was early afternoon and we had just about enough gas (in us- the car was fine) for one more stop. We headed back down to Hampshire County to what we call "New Wood Turtle Place", a spot we'd stopped at the previous month. In truth, my main interest there was to visit a little alcove off of the boardwalk that overlooks Painted Turtle Heaven, my other most favorite place on Earth. They just sit there basking, looking at you every once in a while, but it is the best place ever to see Painters. It was full, as we'd hoped.
Lets take a better look at that guy in the front-left.
Yoga!
This guy has a leech on his shell. I'm sure a pal will eat it off.
What a spot!
This Green Heron was also there, doing a Beethoven impression and catching small fish.
We had to move on after too long because the 'skeeters were gnawing on us. Once we got back on the trail, they came out in force. I risked the loss of much blood trying to get this Redback photo.
This is a short hike overall, only about a mile and a half and we started moving quickly. We were very tired and we were being eaten alive. We saw no Wood Turtles and no snakes but we saw this bunny.
The last thing I photographed was this American Dagger Moth caterpillar. I got a mosquito bite in the corner of my eye taking this.
That was it... we hurried to the car and started the 2 hour drive home.
So, our anniversary weekend was in the books and we declare it a success! Lots of time together and lots of beautiful animals in some of our favorite places in Massachusetts. Sixteen species over the course of two days, including two First-of-Years on Friday. We got home at a reasonable hour, too. Not a bad two days.
sorry about the blood donation to the mosquitos
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