Saturday, June 21, 2025

Hot Times at the Magic Tree. 6-19-2025

Andrea had Juneteenth off and I... well, I have pretty much every day off. Extra day in the field. The forecast was for temps in the mid-90s by 11 AM. We left the house for a Worcester County spot to visit the Magic Tree. Not sure why I was so adamant about going there this day but we did. Due to traffic, we didn't get there till a little after 11. Yes, it was hot hot... hotter than hell.

Before heading into the park, we ran into some friends who we know through the Boston music scene. It's always a treat to run into friends out of context! They had just seen two large black snakes at the Magic Tree. I'm grateful for that tip because had we gone to a different area first, we might have missed the snakes! As it was, we got there in time. Yes... there were two Rat Snakes and they were getting busy.
It seems late in the year but there is no ,mistaking what was going on. Tails were twisting and twitching.

First of Year Rat Snakes and it's good to see that the tree still stands. It is still cordoned off which is a wonderful thing to see.

It was very hot and I figured that most things would be hiding. That meant that I had to flip every little thing in the park, which lead to a few cases of gasping for breath, browning out and feeling my heart thud in my throat. I have to remember that I'm getting fairly old and going nuts in 90° weather is fucking stupid.

Here is a nice Forest Tent Caterpillar.

In the shade, some of the grass was still cool and dewy. That was good enough for this Pickerel, who gave me no chance at a successful shot. Eh, I did OK.

We saw nothing for most of the rest of the time. Too hot for turtles to be up and no cuadates would be anywhere near the top of their burrows. We dunked ourselves in the lake and relaxed in the shade for a while. We did see one small Painter basking but he dunked himself when a car went by.

Remember the storm drain that was giving me anxiety back here? We were happy to see that some chicken wire had been placed along the largest opening! Still, I could see a Green Frog in there on a floating log, living large with all of the bugs he could eat. The water is deeper and not far from the drain tunnel in the wall. I miraculously got a shot of the Green through the wire, into the dark.
No, he's not missing any meals.

Getting ready to leave, we ran into the ranger who we'd mentioned the drain problem to last year. She was responsible for the chicken wire! It was great to thank her (and she us for bringing it to their attention) in person. 

On the way out, I slowed up going by the turtle spot and there was a Painter up catching some hot hot rays.

The little bugger who had slid in earlier was back, grunting his way to the top.

Thinking of storm drains, we decided to go a few miles down the road to another spot where we'd seen some problems (mentioned in the above link). We got there and peered into the drain and there was an adult Painted Turtle who scampered into the shade of the tunnel going under the road. He should be OK.

I stood by the water's edge and watched the pond. I saw some movement and snapped a photo but didn't see much in the shot. Until I got home, uploaded the photo and noticed that the movement was from a Toe-biter with eggs on its back. I wish I'd gotten a better photo.

That's about it. We got milkshakes for a Rat Snake reward, went home and put the AC on and literally chilled out the rest of the day.

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