Back in the Spring, Andrea made arrangements to stay in a "cabin on a lake" in Western Massachusetts. It was to be my birthday present (which was coming up at the time she was booking it). Needless to say, we'd been looking forward to some peace and relaxing for a long time and when the time came, we were very excited.
The cabin is on a lake just outside of Pittsfield, a town I hadn't been in since I broke my arm and had it set there. That said, it means we'd be in Spring Salamander and Wood Turtle territory so those were our targets for the 4 days we'd be there. But first, I wanted to see the Stegosaurus.
My earliest memory is seeing the dinosaurs at the 1964 World's Fair in NY. My favorite was the Stegosaurus. I wanted to be one when I grew up. The studio that made the dinosaurs for the fair cast one extra Stegosaurus at the time and it had been in Cleveland before coming to the Berkshire Museum in 1997. This is the closest thing to an actual reunion with the very thing that inspired my love of dinosaurs and, probably, reptiles in general.
I will one day try to see all of the World's Fair originals, which are scattered around the country, but this was a very happy moment for me. He had just been refurbished by the studio that made him, too.
15 minutes later, we were pulling into the driveway of our house for the next few days. We were early, but decided to poke around outside for a while. We saw our first critters of the day out there... some Redbacks...
And a Tiny Toad. Not a bad start.
Since we were actually running an hour early (when does that actually happen?) we decided to take a trip to a nearby Sanctuary that Andrea had studied up on. Even though it was raining a little, we felt good about our chances because it has lots of water and, according to a 30 year old field guide, it has lots of turtles and frogs. Yes, the sandy river bottom and open fields look good for Woods.
Our first sight of the water was of this large Snapper crawling through the shallows.
And not far from that one, another was up.
Because of the rain, there were no Painted Turtles up. But they were there.
Andrea spied this massive brute of a Snapper, the King of the Pond, on the other side of the bridge.
Painters? Yeah, there were a few.
What of the frogs, you ask? Here's a couple of stunning Greens!
And a big ol' Bully.
It wasn't raining super-hard (yet) so we walked the place, hitting the boardwalks and wooded trails. We saw no Wood Turtles but saw hundreds of Amber Snails, which are very interesting.
Bunnies were plentiful, too.
Oh yeah, I had thrown my back out on Sunday (peeing... welcome to my 60s) and it was starting to bother me. We had reached a turning back spot but I wanted to sit and rest for a bit before heading out. There were a couple of nice seat-sized concrete slabs right there for a good sit. Mine, however, was ocupado. This Green had beat me to it.
We shared for a bit, then we headed out. Our recon had been successful. We saw some critters and decided that it looks excellent for Wood Turtles (which have been seen there, historically). We enjoyed some berries on the way back and saw plenty of Chipmunks on the walk.
It was now late enough to get into the cabin.
Pulling into the driveway, we saw a Fisher running across the lawn. No pictures, but it sure made it a mammally day. We got into our cabin and then went out to enjoy the lounging area down by the lake. Luckily, it was covered because it started to pour. Still, the view of the lake was wonderful, the woods and the cabin... all beautiful and just what the doctor ordered.
The next morning, it was still overcast but it was supposed to clear up. We'd slept well and were anxious to lounge next to the lake.
The rain had brought out this lovely, big American Toad.
We went back up to the cabin and made some breakfast which we enjoyed sitting on the back porch, just watching the greenery. We were very fortunate and got to watch two fledgling Robins learning how to fly. They would take tentative steps, jump and fly a bit, then make a quick landing.
It really was a privilege to see this happen.
Before we left, we noted that a few more American Toads were about, both Tiny and medium.
Using the 30 year old guide books as our reference, we decided on a place that looked good for Wood Turtles again. The problem was, we couldn't find the place, then we couldn't find a trail-head, then we couldn't even see water! But never say die, we searched the (supposed) area anyway.
We did see a Garter at the top of the hill, but he slipped into some foundation before we could even take a lens cap off.
From there, we said "we need water". That led us a few towns away to a State Forest that had plenty of lakes and streams. We went first to "North" lake and the edges had plenty of Bullfrog tadpoles. This bruiser was easily 5" long!
There was plenty of beautiful scenery.
Those chips on my camera lens are starting to be a problem.
There was a stream that fed into the lake and that's where we found our FOY Dookies! First up was a (Northern Dusky Salamander) larvae, almost ready to go.
Then a stub-tailed adult.
When you get Dooks, you get Two-lines. I always enjoy their golden beauty.
We drove off in search of a dam that is there but with sketchy roads and closed roads, we never made it to our target spot. We did see another Fisher run across the road. Again, no pictures.
That sent us to a campground. We had to park outside and hike into it through a wooded trail. No problem. It was there that Andrea flipped an erythristic Redback, not an uncommon sight in this part of the state.
I countered with a normal one, but then joined the ery club.
The trail opened up to "South" pond.
Well, the FOY Dookie earned us ice cream, so we headed out and indulged. We got back "home" and headed straight to the lake. As hoped, some Painted Turtles were up.
Then we really hit our stride.
Off of that dock, there were dozens of baby Largemouth Bass that could only have been a couple of weeks old, recently released from Dad's supervision.
It was time to take the kayaks out. It was Andrea's first time and my second time. She took to it like a pro.
The water is super shallow... those basking spots are trees that had been cut down and massive exposed roots would sometimes scrape against the bottom of the kayak. We heard Bullfrogs and Green Frogs out there.
After we were done, a Painter decided it was safe to come up to bask.
We assumed our positions for the next couple of hours.
I lay in state in a lounge chair, just watching the water reflect on the leaves.
Eventually, I went up to the car (and saw a corpulent Groundhog on the way) and gathered up all of my to-shred old bills and stuff and had a good ol' bonfire.
Eventually, we went back inside for dinner. From inside the kitchen door, we saw that our chubby pal was back.
That was it for our first two days. No targets seen, but plenty of beauty. It's really hard to put into words just how much this meant to us. I mean, this is what I want from life. I don't know when or if it will ever happen for us, but it's a very tasty carrot at the end of a (very long) stick. I'm ready right now.
We were gearing up for our long-awaited vacation in the mountains, but decided to spend Sunday in the southern part of the state. We headed for Bristol County and a long favorite spot, planning to make a day of it.
Typical of this time of year, it was pretty warm. We got there early, while the grass was still dewy. We got instant gratification when, in the Garden, we flipped an in-the-blue Ringneck.
We'd never seen one of these guys in the Garden before!
Down by the river, a few Painted Turtles were already up in the sun.
We went for quite a while after that without seeing any critters, but the day was so beautiful, we were fine with just being out there. We got to a spot that we have suspected is a big Garter hangout. There was in fact a Garter or two hanging out there. But they slithered into the brush as we passed. This is the best I could do.
The waterfall was very occupied by a large, noisy gathering of humans. We didn't stay long. But we did see some distant Painters from that vantage point.
The waterfall is usually the far-point of this hike, so we turned back. Upon passing the Garter Hangout, we now saw three peacefully sunning themselves. The last one might be the one I got the shot of earlier. Check out that cinnamon one!
Andrea discovered she had lost her sun-hat on the trail somewhere so we retraced our steps on our return hike. That brought us to a spot where we could quietly relax on a bench and watch the river for a bit. (The hat wasn't there.) Some Painted Turtles were basking, but it didn't last long.
Bugs kept bugging them and one slid back into the drink. The bigger guy dealt with it for a bit longer...
Eventually, his movements sent him into the drink. He didn't look too happy about it when he emerged!
That was it for this first stop. Andrea found her hat in the Garden, so all was well. We hit the road and headed to another nearby place (actually just inside Plymouth County) and saw a young Snapper basking on a log.
A much larger one was poking through the reeds but this is the best I could do before he submerged for good.
Onward and downward, we went further into Plymouth County to our Musk Turtle spot. You always need a Stinkpot or two, right? Our first sight there was a pretty candy-stripe Water Snake tooling through the shallow water.
We watched it go on for about 30 feet, then her turned and headed back, going by right in front of us, doing his Water Snake thing, never even noticing us. Very, very rewarding.
We watched some Banded Killifish in the shallows, too. One was being a jerk and attacking most of the smaller ones. This guy that I got a photo of was not the jerk.
We crossed the street to the better Musk side. It was occupied.
We gave him plenty of room, then I got right down in the action and got an old-timer Musk in hand. Handsome fella... missing a bit of lower beak there.
We went to the reedy area near the beech. The water was super low but we discovered what baby Stinkpots do when the reeds are out of the water. They tangle themselves into floating plants.
We saw three youngsters total. Here are two hiding in the muck.
A cluster of (Brown?) Bullhead babies was fascinating to watch.
My last photo of the day was of some Clam art!
The next day was the 4th of July. We had to get to Andrea's Mum's house so we didn't have much nature-hiking planned. But we did go over to Green Snake Place to try yet again for Greens.
Funny... we have seen three Green Snakes at this spot in eight years and it is our most reliable spot in Massachusetts. Pathetic.
Not only did we see no Greens but we saw nothing until we were leaving and we found this massive super-preggo DeKay's Snake rolling around. Too fat to move much.
On the way to the car, Andrea spied this pretty Garter that had slipped out into the sun since we'd last walked by.
We got to Malden, dropped off Marge's coat and went to the nearby cemetery to pay our respects to Andrea's dad... a great man. While there, we walked around the pond, which was also very low, and saw no turtles. Until one Red-ear threw us a bone and popped his head up. Yay!
So, we did four counties in 2 days and saw 8 species of reptile and amphibian. (Where my frogs at?) No records broken or fancy things spotted, but a couple of good days doing nature walks. No complaints.
