Into the Woods. 6-28-2020

Our mission to find a Massachusetts Wood Turtle has been going on for years, but pursuing that mission has taken a back seat many times. I'm not to fond of targeting a specific species at the expense of seeing anything else. We usually take a stab at Woods once a year. We have done plenty of research, looking at Google Earth and historical records but still haven't seen a MA Woodie yet.

With a recent hot tip from a good friend, we decided to move down-river from one of our other spots that hadn't panned out  last year. We got to the river a bit before noon after finally finding the parking area. From there on, it was smooth sailing. The river sure looked promising.

No shit... I swear that with my first glimpse at the river, I saw a turtle leave the shallow water at the edge of the far shore and swim into a tangle of sticks. No photo, no proof. It could have been a cluster of underwater leaves that I startled and they let go and swam to the sticks. I don't know.

We explored all along the river, the sandy areas, and the fields. The spot looks great for Hognoses and Garters. I'm told Racers are about as well, but it was very hot and sticky and we didn't expect any snakes on the day. In fact, we didn't see any animals until Andrea started finding small American Toads in the grass down my the water.


I only managed to scare a Pickerel Frog into the drink with no photo.

We explored every bush and every crevice, being very thorough. It was about 3789% humidity and it was hot. That river started to look very welcoming. Out in a hot, sunny spot, this American Toad was under a tire. He was quite surprised to see me.


We went into a more wooded area and the 'skeeters started enjoying us. We walked through thick grasses towards the river. I heard something slide into the water. It was a small Water Snake. I stepped forward to try for a photo, but there was no ground in front of me, just a 4-foot drop in the tall grasses. I didn't break my arm, but I knocked the wind out of myself. I started photographing Grasshoppers instead.

My #3 on the year, a female Two-striped nymph.

We headed back because the "trail" disappeared. There had been an earlier fork in the proper path, so we took the side we hadn't looked at on the way in. I had personally decided to stop with the Wood Turtle search and just enjoy the place and the exploration. It was a gorgeous setting and in better (less hot and sticky) weather, it would be a pleasant hike.

From the path, I saw an opening in the woods about 30 feet in, so I headed in to see if it would take us to the water again. On the way, I saw a really pretty American Toad who was missing his left foot.


I got a look at the open area and it turns out it was a dried up vernal pool. Well, I love vernal pools even when they're dry, so I headed up the thin "path" and into the former pond area. While I was poking around, hoping to see a Pickerel Frog or something, Andrea said "You just stepped right over a fucking Wood Turtle."

She's right. I had.

Our first ever encounter with this species in this state and I stepped right over it. Glad I didn't step on it or kick it in my oblivious state.

He's a big guy for sure and he didn't like my camera too much. Sweat was streaming into my glasses and I could barely see what I was shooting anyway.


We got our pictures and then watched him walk off into the brush and perfectly disappear.


Well, there you go. We finally got our Massachusetts Wood Turtle. Many thanks must go to our friend who suggested we try our luck at this part of the river. I'd like to also get back to the spot we'd decided looked good last year... the river and terrain is very similar. It's good to have one under our belts and a little bit of a search image.

It's funny, our Lifer was 11 years ago in Connecticut. It was up walking along a boardwalk we were on. Wow! Woods are easy!

NOT!

Cruisin' with the Low-Hoppers. 6-27-2020

I'd been waiting for a good weekend night with rain in the forecast so I can do something I love to do... road-cruise for amphibians. I usually can't get Andrea to agree to drive with me out 40 some-odd miles in the dark to do it but since we didn't get out during the day (rock and roll obligations), she agreed to a nighttime adventure.

We left just as it was getting dark and got to our Plymouth County spot at around 9:30 PM or so. It was sprinkling and the road was wet and very steamy... perfection. Our first encounter was a large American Toad who was skritching into the asphalt to get every drop of warmth.

Unfortunately, cars that go through not looking for frogs might hit them and sadly, we do always see a number of casualties. The local birds are the clean-up crew the next morning.

Next up was a tiny Peeper. When I tell you we're looking close, you'd best believe it.

Look at how red this Wood Frog is!

A low slung Peeper.

The other Massachusetts toad, the Fowler's, with two representatives.

Things were looking pretty good already, and we'd barely just started.

The frog of the night was definitely the Green Frog. We saw dozens and dozens of them, all roughly the same size, about 2 1/2 inches long, and all noggin. Probably all pretty new to land.

I shooed countless individuals off of the road.

Of course, the big reason we choose this road for our cruising (besides it being more isolated than most) is the Gray Tree Frog, an animal we just can't find close to home. We'd been hearing them calling the whole time we were there and finally, one was out for pictures. Our First-of-Year.

Our next was a large Gray that hopped onto Andrea.

Look at the size of this Green's melon!

While I was photographing Lil' Big Head there, Andrea noticed a Redback crossing the road. Are those scars on his back?

This Redback was ridin' the middle line.

I love shooing them out of the road... they squiggle at top speed and it's hilarious.

Like Grays, we'd heard tons of Bullfrogs calling. There was finally one visible.

He looks like a Simpsons character.

Hey look... I finally took a break from my 3/4 and side shots. Here's a full frontal Gray.

We were heading back by now. We still stopped frequently to move animals out of the road, mostly Greens and Fowlers. This large American Toad was walking... not hopping... across the road.

Two more Grays showing me that I really have to learn to try different camera angles.

Yes, they are different frogs.

I'd put a moratorium on Green Frog pictures earlier but since I had to run way back to get this guy relocated (and he was so cute), here he is.

One last Gray before the moratorium...

FOY to on moratorium all in one night! That's the sign of perfect frog weather.

Last up was another gorgeous, red Wood Frog.

Sure, we didn't get home until late but that was a Phibtastic evening. Eight species photographed. Mission accomplished.

I Drove Over an Hour for a Dookie. 6-21-2020

I love Northern Dusky Salamanders. I lovingly call them Dookies. They're plain, brown, and pretty much nondescript but I love 'em. The closest place to us to see them is 45 miles away but Andrea wasn't interested in driving that long for the rather small stretch where we can find them. So I hit the internet and looked for a new place in the area that looked suitable for Dooks and looked to be a bit more exciting. I came up with an Audubon sanctuary in the same town that has plenty of water areas.

It was already almost 90° when we got there so we knew it would be slim pickings. The place looked promising so we started our recon. The woods were cool enough to have a Redback under a log.


We saw some cool Stag Beetles, too.


Doesn't it figure that when you're targeting Dookies (The son I never wanted... "I've never heard of anyone targeting Duskys before"), every Redback you see is dark and fat?


We were zig-zagging our way towards the water and saw a few more Redbacks. And a small Eft!


We finally made it to a slow moving brook that was picturesque and lovely. The water was muddy (evidently, it had rained in the night) but still very nice. I had a Two-line squiggle away from my camera, but nothing else. We moved through and rested for a while. It was hot and my feet (wearing just some Chucks) were really bothering me. The woods were cooler and quiet; there weren't many folks dumb enough to be out on a day like this.

We moved on and found another section of the brook... now this looked promising.


I started flipping and soon had a Two-lined that didn't squiggle away.


Andrea sat on the boardwalk sweating while I fruitlessly flipped and flipped and realized that perhaps my computer recon skills weren't that great... it didn't look like Dookies were here. Andrea and her friend watched me fail.

The water was too slow, the habitat not montane enough... I don't know. It had been worth a try.

The canopy was filled with screaming Grackles and Jays and we saw why... a Cooper's Hawk (#51) had come down to the water to cool off. We watched it for a while. Such a beautiful and majestic animal. I felt kind of bad for it, getting screamed at just for existing. There's a lot of that in the world.


Sure, it might have just eaten someone's baby, but can't we all just get along?

Since we were just 20 minutes away from the place that we know Dookies are at, we drove cross-town to try our luck. It was well into the 90s by now. This Wood Frog surprised us as we approached the stream.


Unfortunately, it has been drier than I realized. This stream usually cascades but it was barely a drip right now.


Luckily, there were a few puddles and wet spots and I got a gorgeous Two-line before too long.


About 15 or 20 minutes in, we finally found our prize... the plain, brown wrapper of salamanders, the Northern Dusky Salamander. Our first of 2020.

The majestic Dookie.

We found one more before heading home.


I don't know why I love these nondescript little buggers so much, but I do. In fact, when we have our forever home and I have my forever car, I plan on getting the vanity plate DESMOG. Because the Desmognathus family of salamander is a badass group of mofos.

Thank You, Coronavirus. 6-20-2020

It might just be old age setting in, but we decided to hit a place that we swore off of two years ago. It had been becoming more people-friendly and when they took over the middle pond to make it better for the newly-reintroduced campers, we said fuck it. That's all. Never again. What is "better" for humans is damaging for wildlife.

But... the campgrounds had not yet been opened this year, thank you very much Mr. Covid 19. Plus, it was going to be in the mid-90s on this sticky Saturday so we threw caution to the wind and decided to hit the place early, before it got too hot. We got there, deep into Bristol County, before 8 AM and braced ourselves for the changes we were sure to see.

The changes weren't immediately bad, in fact our old favorite dumping ground (that had been meticulously cleaned, removing cover for at least 5 species of snakes we'd seen) had some stacks of sticks laid up and a few old boards. Thank you, Covid. Here are a handful of Fowler's Toads that were under some of the boards.




They all seemed pretty content with their lot in life.

Much to our surprise, this ready-to-shed Milk Snake was under a board that was hidden by some cleared brush on the edge of the forest-line.

He bit Andrea pretty good on the thumb.

So, we were already pleased with our decision. Nature strikes back.

Adding to our happiness was this small Garter who was prowling about on a shady trail.


Another sight on the shady trail... a Painted Turtle. Was she looking to nest here? Or was she heading to or from nesting? I dunno, but she's a cutie. Looks like she's digging.


Out on a beach-like area, we'd hoped to see some nesting but didn't get lucky. Out in the open, the sun was starting to get really hot, even though it was still before 9 AM. Some distant Painted Turtles were up basking. Check out the guy on the left... caught him yawning!


Another distant trio.


Heading back to the shaded trails, we saw another Painter up. We've seen predated nests right in this spot but it still seems like a bad place.


One of the last times we were here, we'd seen Four-toed Salamanders, a species that was new to the place for us at the time. We'd been talking about that when there was a trail detour. We took the detour, flipped a log and saw one!


Right next to that, Andrea flipped this cream-colored one. I barely saw it, even when she was pointing right at it.
  

And then we got to the middle pond. As we approached it, it looked like a pond in the middle of a bustling city... rocks all around the edges, a fancy-assed dam and it was very full. There used to be a path that went between two ponds but it was all underwater now, one big pond with a pavement path all around it.. The beach, which used to be great for nesting turtles, probably hadn't had a turtle on it for two years. A stone wall was just remnants now, but there was one Fowler's hiding under a rock.


One thing that really disgusted us back when they took over this beautiful pond, was thinking of the impact it would have on the turtles in it. We'd seen four species in this pond over the years and we hoped the humanizing didn't destroy all of the turtle populations. From the beach, we could see a Painter and a possible (but still un-ID'd) Musk out on a log.


The edges of the pond, along the rocks, did have some wrack-line, so I perused it and saw a few small Painters.


I hope these little nippers survive when the humans are back, which was supposed to be two days later.

On the other side of the dam's spillway, we saw a few frogs, which is good. This place used to be Frog Central! Here's a young Bull and a Pickerel.



We walked around the pond, one that we'd walked around (and through) dozens of times before but couldn't figure out where we were at times. It had changed that much. Luckily, not all of the sticks and perches out in the middle had been cleared (yet?) and there were, mercifully, a few Red-bellied Cooters out there basking.


This is a huge relief... these guys are endangered and it was clear that the shitstains that were paving over the park either didn't know they were there or didn't care.

Another pond, right behind the other one, hadn't changed too much, though the path to it is now paved. This little Fowler's stood at the edge with us, lamenting "progress".


A place where we used to sneak down to the water's edge and get great shots of Red-bellies and Painters was completely gone, the reworking of the pond had flooded it over. Still, alongside the (dirt!!!) trail going down there, Andrea found a Redback.


At another pond (I tell you, this used to be our favorite place) we cooled off by wading into the water a bit. Surprisingly, there weren't any other humans at this spot. There used to be plenty, killing turtles and fish galore. Andrea scooped up a small black Catfish, likely a Bullhead.

We used to see hundreds of these back in the middle pond when we could look through the shallow water. I'm glad to see they have found a new place to live.

Some humans came (one in a Hummer who gave me a dirty look) so we moved on. In fact, we were pretty much done here. Of course, trying to find our way out with all of the changes got us lost for a bit but it turns out that the unfamiliar path that we took was actually a shortcut back to the Milk Snake area. I checked under the board. He had returned. I gently replaced the board and went on.

One last peek into the bog next to the parking lot... a couple of small Bullfrogs.


So, between the pandemic holding up the camping season and the 95° temps, we'd actually had a great hike. A bit over six miles and at least nine species. And it was only noon. Admittedly, it was a bit painful to see what had happened to the place, the middle pond in particular, but what we saw showed us that nature can rebound, given the chance.

With another roll of the dice, we went a town over, just inside Plymouth County, to see if we could see some more turtles at another place that we had avoided so far this year. It's very small and it can get very crowded but, much to our delight, there weren't many cars in the lot when we pulled in. And better yet, not 15 feet from our parking space, this little Snapper was looking out of the water.

I love this size... about a 6" long carapace.

Going in a bit further, in a pool next to a herring run, this massive Snapper was hanging out.

Definitely one of the largest Snappers I have ever seen. We stood there watching him forage for a long time. Majestic.

There are multiple spillways along the river at this place. It used to be a mill, so it's flow is controlled. The first spillway had this adult Painter enjoying the splashing, misty water.


The next spillway had this young Painter exploring and nibbling at the plants and algae.

We watched his efforts for quite a while.

I was fruitlessly looking for Water Snakes in the cool, watery plants when Andrea called me over... one of the spillways had a Musk Turtle hanging on to a plant, almost getting caught up in the rushing water of this active spot.

He eventually let go and got whisked away in the current.

We watched out the other side of the bridge, but he never emerged. Then Andrea noticed that he had grabbed a hold of a stick that was jutting up, under the bridge.

We had the absolute joy of watching him climb up the stick and get comfortable.


We stayed for a while, watching turtles and talking with a guy who was there with his dog (who was afraid of a water Snake skin) and checked on the large Snapper before leaving. He was doing what Snappers seem to like to do... showering in a waterfall.


We drove home that day very tired and satisfied. It was hot, we were toast and we'd put in over 7 miles, seeing eleven species of reptile and amphibian (plus I finally got my bird count to 50 with a Phoebe) and we had earned the right to admit... "that was a good day".

But I doubt we'll go back any time soon.