Extraordinary. That is all. 9-6-2015

We had made plans to hook up with s friend named Mark, a herper from New Jersey who was going to be in the area. After the long day we had on Saturday, I wasn't sure just how much energy I was going to have left, especially when we decided to go to a State Forest in Plymouth County, a place that can break your heart on the best of days. But it was close for him (his campsite wasn't too far away) and he wanted to compare our pine barrens to the ones near his home in NJ. So, we headed south and met up somewhere around 9:30- 10 PM.

We met up at a pre-planned place and discussed a smashed Racer we had all seen on the way in. Its skeleton was knocked clean out of the skin. Must have been a nasty car hit. But we moved on to better things and looked around the area where we were. Some Red Bellied Cooters were floating around in a nearby pond. That's a good start.



We got into one car and headed to our first destination in the park. We were just going to take Mark to places that we knew and where we had seen herps. Targets? Hognoses, of course., but we knew that would be very tough. Our first stop was a cranberry bog area that is usually very good for frogs. Sure enough, we got a couple of handsome Bulls right away.



This wee Pickerel hopped out of the grass in front of us.


A nice Green Frog completed the Big Three Trifecta.


Another bright Bull...


And another Green Frog... in the bog...


This bog is a good place for young turtles to stay safe and protected while they get a little size on them. This little Painted was doing just that.


Andrea spied our first Fowler's Toad of the day.


It was already well into the 80s and the sun was beating down on us. We did our rounds of this place and saw one more young Painter before we jumped into the car (and AC) and headed for the next spot.


The next spot is a long, flat, sandy trail that is mostly in the shade. As the heat rose, shade was sounding pretty good. We slogged along the trail with low expectations. We had explained that this place is hit or miss... usually miss. Even on the good days here don't get you many herps. Thank goodness the bogs provided us with a few species. I was just about through the sentence "this place can break your heart..." when we saw this on the path in front of us...

Yessir, that's a baby Hognose! We tried to corral it for a photo session without harassing it. As usual, it crawled under Andrea.


It thought about dying a few times but didn't until the very end when I tried to bring it back for some video. The death didn't last long... we got to see him looking over his "shoulder" and crawl off.


Not instant by any means, but gratification all the same. We were stoked. If you're only going to see one snake, this is a great one to see. The rest of this path proved uneventful except for a few Fowler's. We tried to decide on a next stop.

We settled on a place that showed promise but never got us any actual herps the last time we looked. It's a dirt bike path with lots of garbage, railroad ties and logs. We parked and went in, carefully flipping debris. I got lucky and flipped some wood and found our first ever Plymouth County Milk... a youngster, too.


Why do we call them shoestrings?


As if that wasn't cool enough, we flipped a tie and we saw an adult Milk descending into the woven sticks underneath. Mark and I excavated and came up with more Milk than we had originally thought.


In the blue and full of piss and vinegar. He took off like a blur.


Wow. Could the day possibly get any better? Turns out, the answer is... yes.

We went along the path at the same stop and saw this...

The snake gods were surely smiling down on us... a second Hognose. We all sat down right next to it and watched it root around under the sand for maybe 10 minutes, completely oblivious to us.

The colors are hard to capture... oranges, olives, blues...


Here's what it looked like in motion...


When his head came up, I swear there was a look of surprise on his face, what with being surrounded by three humans and all.


It wasn't long before the hood came out...


and he crawled away.


He nestled into a snug coil under some brush and hissed at us a few times.

If he had been there when we walked by, we'd never have seen him. Invisible from the path.

So, this day had become an unprecedented success. Should we turn back and not ruin it? Hell no! On we went.

Our next herp was a small (maybe 6 or 7") Garter who looked like he had bitten off more than he could chew...

Good luck, buddy.

We flipped some debris and saw no snakes but I finally got my #10 mammal of the year, a Peromyscus (either a Deer or White-footed Mouse).


Nearby, another small Garter was resting under a log, digesting a meal.


On the way back up the path, we decided to check out our Garter pal with the eyes bigger than his stomach...

Looks like he managed just fine.

Before leaving this spot, Mark flipped another young Garter. No dorsal stripe! I love baby season.


So, this was just an amazing day. We thought we'd surely disappoint Mark with a typically lousy Massachusetts herping trip here but lo and behold, the opposite was true. I'm so glad that we had some luck while showing him around. We headed back to the parking lot where he had left his car.

Before saying our goodbyes, we walked out a trail along the pond there. A lone Painted was basking far away.


We flipped a few logs, not really expecting much. We flipped one and saw what looked like a baby Garter... no, a Milk... by the time I said "Juvie Racer" out loud, it jetted off and Andrea made a spectacular grab! Our first live Racer here, too.

Smallest one we've ever seen but no less feisty than a Racer 20 times its size.

He was a tough guy but we finally got some sweet shots of him in the grass.



We had hit double digits and we did it with 4 snake species! There are no words to express how happy (and surprised, frankly) we all were. It's an honor to have shared this trip with Mark, a friend we had never met in person before. Hopefully, the next time we get together, either here or in New Jersey, we'll have half the luck we did this day; it would still be an amazing experience.

We said our farewells and we headed home. I wanted to peek at a few spots on the way back to the highway. One pond had some Painters up, catching some late afternoon rays.



Stepping back, I realized that with the sun's angle and the clear, reflecting water, there was almost a spiderweb made of logs, sticks and turtles. Quite beautiful.


One last stop got us a few confused Fowler's who were about to get up for the night anyway.


What can I say but "wow". We have never seen more than three total snakes on any given trip to this place and we just killed it this day. We got some dinner and drove home, extremely happy with our adventure.

Is it bad that I was a bit disappointed that we saw no Redbellied Snakes?

Connecticut Herp Tour 2015! 9-5-2015

We had been itching to get back to Connecticut and herp some of our pal Ryan's favorite hot spots. It's hard to believe but it was 3 years ago that we last did this trip. Overdue much?

With Matt, the son we never wanted in tow, we hit the road early (if not bright) and got to our destination in Hartford County, CT. by 9 AM. Our first stop was a place where Ryan had had splendid luck in the past, though on our trip here we failed. Still, there was the possibility of Wood Turtles and Black Rat Snakes. In we went.

Our first two herps were Pickerel Frogs, a species that would prove to be ubiquitous throughout the day.



With everybody scouring the shores of this lazy stream, I decided to look from the other side and waded in for a water-side view. I had spare sneakers in the car... nothing to lose. The stream looked good for salamanders, too, though I found none. We spent over an hour in and out of the water, digging under branches, feeling around in crevices but coming up empty. I did manage a couple of young Green Frogs during my search.



A massive Fishing Spider watched me as I sloshed through the water.


We spent some time there scouring and then got ready for our next stop, not too far away. This next place used to be a Water Snake heaven but after some pruning, Ryan said it hasn't been so great. Since I already had two soakers, I strode into the stream (a different part of the same one as before, I believe) to get a different angle. A small pool off to the side had a Bullfrog hanging out.


Unbeknownst to me, a Painted Turtle was up basking and plopped into the water before I had laid eyes on it. I waited patiently, sinking into the muck, for him to emerge for a photo.


We set out to explore a small field adjacent the stream, still hoping for Wood Turtles or a formerly abundant Water Snake. A small piece of tarp revealed the latter, who was not pleased to pose for pictures. I had bloody knuckles to prove it.


In a year that has been somewhat light on Nerodia, this guy was a welcome sight. Best of all, while making its escape, it crawled right up Ryan's pant-leg, all the way up to the knee! Luckily, no bites were landed.

We found a sprinkler and cooled off a bit (it was quite warm by now) and Matt enjoyed it a little bit more than he should have.


Our next stop was a new one to me, a rocky hillside covered with flat shale pieces. It was mouthwatering to look at... so many possibilities! Ryan struck first and flipped a beautiful reddish Garter.

I took that photo upside-down. Better than most of my rightside-up shots.

That guy was our only find at that spot so, undeterred, we went on to the next place, a pathway that was filthy with Water Snakes on our last visit. We started out with a pair of Garters. I thought there was only one until a second head started crawling away.


It was fairly dry compared to our last visit but there was enough water there to keep the Painted Turtles happy.

^ He's balancing a piece of duckweed on his nose.

Matt soon flipped his first Connecticut snake record, a pretty Garter.


A Painter wearing a false mustache.


A little guy that was on to me...


This Green Frog hopped in front of me and I was stunned at its patterning. Turns out much of it was duckweed but its a beauty all the same.

Oddly enough, we saw no Water Snakes here.

We had one more stop that we wanted to make but first we stopped to pick up Ryan's girlfriend Angie, who slept in like the rock star she is. Then we hit a place that has been very tough for us in the past. Andrea and I even made a special trip a couple of years ago and wound up in the pouring rain. This is the place that ate multiple cameras a few years ago. Luckily, there were no clouds in the sky.

There is a pond right at the entrance to the place and we were greeted by a Painted Turtle and a Bullfrog.



On the trails, Ryan suggested that we were in a good salamander spot. Ever the expert, I said that it was probably too hot for them that day. Shutting me up but good, he uncovered a dark Eastern Newt.


Andrea followed it up with another.

A Redback was found as well, but he squiggled away.

Crow never tasted so good.

Andrea found this toad that still confuses me. Spotless belly, cranial crests touching partoid glands, but no real Fowler's spots.

I'm calling Fowleri but hybrids can and do happen.

Yup. Another Newt!


We got to an open field and we kind of split up. Andrea and I went one way while the others went the other. Our targets? Hognoses and Box Turtles. We managed a Spring Peeper, which is cool.


We heard yelling from afar and thought they must have found something. We hurried to the other side of the big field. No, they were just worried they had lost us. Awwww!

Since I never got a photo of the one Redback we had seen yet, I offered a one dollar bounty to whoever could find me another. Ryan won on his first flip.

Not a great shot but I'm posting it since it cost me a buck.

Two more specimens proved easier to shoot.



We descended a trail that lead down to a pond, a new spot here for me. A large Bullfrog noggin was up.


After telling a joke that I'm still wincing about 4 days later, Angie grabbed this guy... (almost) certainly an American Toad.

Man, the toads here are tough.

Matt and Andrea found this cool caterpillar, a Cucullia convexipennis.

Teá said we did good.

A nice Green Frog hopped into the path.


Andrea found this bruiser...


Evidently, I had said I'd give a dollar to anyone that found a Spotted Salamander, too. Andrea won that one, much to our delight. I didn't expect to see one at all. Matt added a newt to the picture.


Their close-ups:



Another bright Redback...

What was that I said about no salamanders?

We were winding down the hike and Matt got bored. For those of you who think that he is out of his tree, I assure you he is not.


Relaxing at the end, before the car ride home, Ryan and I decided to check one spot again. I swear I flipped this shit on the way in but lo and behold, this flip produced another small Spotted and a Toad that I refuse to classify... too many clashing characteristics.


This guy was under some tarp. Pure Fowler's.


On the way to the parking lot, a chorus line of Painteds bid us adieu from a branch.


Whew... what a day! Ryan apologized for us not finding our targets, but that's just ridiculous. We got 10 species in New England... no easy feat. Best of all, we got to all hang out, goof off, have some fun and see some animals. The long drive home went quickly, with thoughts of the day's animals slithering in my brain-pan.