Getting High on Amphibians. 8-31-2019

EEE is still running rampant throughout Massachusetts so most of our favorite stomping grounds are off-limits to those of us who do not want brain damage. After doing as much research as we could find on Worm Snakes in MA (there ain't much), we decided to visit the county that has the most recorded sightings of this elusive snake. Mind you, we knew we wouldn't actually see one, but we wanted to look at new places a bit outside the EEE hot zone, so we took a 2 hour drive out to Hampden County.

Of course, we had no idea where to go out there but settled on a green and blue spot on the map. We found a place to park that appeared to be near a few trail heads and went in. We didn't see any animals, except for some common birds for quite a while, but it was lovely anyway.


We finally crossed some train tracks and saw this Painted Turtle basking on the other side.


While I was photographing that guy, Andrea saw a Garter in the brush. I couldn't get a shot so I made my first post-break grab...

Naturally, it looked better in Andrea's hands.


I saw a bird way off in the distance up in a tree. I extended the zoom way out and got this shot. A Common Grackle, but I'm impressed with the clarity for such long distance, so I present it here.


Now, EEE is listed as "moderate" in the town we were in so we were well sprayed. Still, after just a short walk in the wooded areas, we headed back out to less buggy conditions. While in there, I did manage a shot of this magnificent (Grass?) Spider.


Since we hadn't encountered any mosquitoes to speak of, we wondered if they had sprayed the area. A chilling thought, as we hadn't seen any amphibians yet, either. Luckily, a mud puddle in the path gave us our first frog, a Wooly Bully.


Then a small American Toad flopped across the path. This is more like it!


I snuck in through some trees to get this postcard shot of a Great Egret.


Unfortunately, a bit later when we were photographing a deceased Garter (oops... looked alive at first), I felt a tickle on my neck and brushed it. It was a Hickory Tussock caterpillar which, it turns out, I am very allergic to. My neck got lots of itchy bumps and my arm reacted too, about 3" above the incision scar. It was miserable.

But, we soldiered on and this Green Frog hopped across the path, alerting us to a big pond.


We had done a huge loop and this pond was about 50 yards from the car... in the direction we didn't go! Better late than never, for we had found Painted Turtle Utopia.








Oh, and ducks. Lots of ducks.


After making the massive loop, we drove back out the entrance road, keeping an eye on the water. (We weren't the only ones doing that.) Speaking of ducks, we saw some Woods from the car.


We talked to a few birders along the pond sides and then made our way back to town. Unfortunately, we noticed that one of the folks that were watching the water, not the road, had hit a Painter on the way in. It broke my heart.

We had no other plans (other than dinner) and since we were passing another park that looked interesting, if human filled, we pulled in. We told the woman at the gate ($3 entry fee) that we were looking to photograph turtles, snakes and frogs. She gave us some pretty good advice and directions to the "duck pond". We found the area easily.

There were indeed a fuck-ton of humans present but there was plenty of chances to distance ourselves far from the maddening crowd and when we did, it paid off. This Painter was doing some mid-afternoon yoga.


Such a predicament. To look for salamanders (or Worm Snakes, even) we'd need the cool shade of the woods. But that's where the 'skeeters would be. So, we skirted the woods, passing by a little trickling stream where this Green Frog was large and in charge.


We went back to a duck-weed filled pond that was pretty humanity-free and saw a few Bullfrog noggins.



This side of the pond also gave us a better vantage point for some basking Painted Turtles.



We decided to walk around the multitude of watery areas on the outskirts of the "duck pond" area, where other humans were scarce. Frogs were everywhere... it was great. Here's a Green.


Big Bull covered with duckweed.


Tiny Green looking mortified that we saw him on a rock.


Then we encountered the source of this amphibian treasure. There were a few lily-pad and lotus flower-filled ponds that were absolutely teeming with tadpoles (and Sunfish).

There were thousands there, some even had legs.


Our cameras just couldn't capture the majesty of so many Anurans, so we just walked along taking it all in. Here's one last Green, and Bull to hold us over.



And that was that. Of course, on the way to dinner I rubbed my eye and was sure I had caterpillar poison all over, as my eye swelled huge and got red. But I think it was mostly psychosomatic. But we'd had a great day; not a ton of different species, but a ton of wonderful animals. We explored new territory (and will most likely return) and had a good time together. Not a bad way to end August.