We still owed ourselves a trip into Plymouth County, having missed our opportunity last week. But we also had missed our chance to double-up on Brimfield and the Magic Tree last week. We decided to go to Worcester County and see if the tree was still standing. The split down the middle has become treacherous and the Rat Snakes that nest there might have to be looking elsewhere.
Well, the tree still stands, so that's good. Even better is that they have it cordoned off now. Of course, that means we can't inspect things closely but I'm OK with that. I zoomed the camera in to look in the crack and got a surprise. Hey, that's no Rat Snake!
Well, the tree still stands, so that's good. Even better is that they have it cordoned off now. Of course, that means we can't inspect things closely but I'm OK with that. I zoomed the camera in to look in the crack and got a surprise. Hey, that's no Rat Snake!
That's a Garter looking right at home in the Magic Tree.
I explored the areas all around the tree, and we went to a usually reliable flipping spot but had no more sightings. Moving on, Andrea spotted this massive Fishing Spider up in the path. Must have been about 3" around.
A field that is usually filled with Pickerel Frogs was filled with Pickerel Frogs. This hidden guy was the only one I could get a shot of.
A Yellow Wooly Bear. I don't see these nearly as much as the black and brown ones. This is a Virginia Tiger Moth Caterpillar.
I wasn't expecting there to still be campers there but there were a few. We skirted a campsite to get to a bark-flippin' spot. The first flip was a Two-lined Salamander who jetted away into the grass. We weren't too close to water which is another way of saying you just never know what you'll find. The next sight was a pretty Leadback.
It seems we'd hit the Redback vein. It's good to see them back after the heat of summer.
Some Redbacks keep company with strangers, like Efts and large worms.
The swampy turtle area was pretty dry but it still had some water in it. This Painted Turtle brought up a pile of duckweed with him. He was still quite fabulous.
We didn't see anything else until Andrea spied a This-Year's-Model Water Snake heading toward a storm-drain.
We were quite alarmed at the prospect of him slipping in... which he did. I got down to look into the drain through the holes. There were a bunch of frogs down there too, and the little snake was swimming around the edge, in circles.
I went to the headquarters and asked if they had a pool net. They did not. I decided to grab my (short) net from the car and give it a go. Laying on my stomach with my arm fully extended, the net could just reach the water. The frogs (Greens and Pickerels) just swam away but I was able to trick the Water Snake into the net.
I noticed that many frogs had drowned down there. The pipe that led from the drain to the pond was about a foot above water level. I went up to the picnic table graveyard and grabbed a full length slat and shoved in down the hole until it rested against the back wall, while the tip was just at the grass. It is at about a 60° angle, which should be good enough for frogs and any baby turtles that might be down there. We did run into a guy working there later and he said he'd go down and see if he could net anybody else out.
What an ordeal. We went and checked the tree again before leaving. The Garter was still there. We flipped a few more rocks before leaving. A plump Pickerel was under one. That's always good for a startling surprise.
This Redback is huge. About 3 1/2 inches!
Bonus slug! (Some kind of Arion.)
Still thinking of the drain, we remembered a place not too far away where we'd helped a bunch of young turtles out of a spillway. We headed over and went right to that spot. No turtles this time, just a few Green Frogs that were in no danger and looked to be quite happy.
From where we stood, these basking Painters were visible. Lovely shot to be able to get!
We walked along the edges of the pond and scared up plenty of Pickerels. I only got the camera on one... this guy whose blotches are forming stripes.
We went walking through some nearby fields, hoping we weren't trespassing on anyone's land looking for hatchling turtles. As I like to do, I flipped some rocks. That was fruitless until one rock gave me a new Milk Snake!
We didn't want to handle him long because it was pretty warm. I showed Andrea the rock I'd flipped him under and she put him back. The rock next to it looked like it would flip... it did! And it revealed a large chocolate Milk Snake!
You sure can't end a day better than that! It looks like in the end, we'd made a decent choice after all. A welcome rarity.
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