Thunder Herpin'! 8-9-2013

We were supposed to be traveling to the Howlett Family Reunion this weekend, but our plans were changed due to unforeseen circumstances. So here we were on a very rainy Friday thinking that we'd still like to herp. So, throwing all common sense to the wind, we did.

We thought we'd head over to Ponkapoag as it would be very unlikely that other folks would be around and we could herp our usual spots. We got there a bit before noon and it was still downpouring. We sat in the car for a bit before we realized that it just wasn't going to let up. So we headed out.

Of course, we thought we'd see some frogs and maybe some Water Snakes but it was pouring! Still, we flipped on. One flip got us this Pickerel Frog, nestled into a log!

Most flips just got us tons of crazy worms. This one was better! We missed a few other Pickerels along the way.

On the dam, I saw a Water Snake slithering along the edge... he had been poking through some brush up top. I grabbed him for some shots.

He struck a lot (and had a white inside-of-mouth... maybe he was a Moccasin!) and musked but overall he was pretty nice.


Andrea got some good shots of the pond in mid-monsoon.


I saw another Nerodia-Noggin in the water...


Later on, a Green Frog hopped across the path and into a puddle. I got this shot:

Luckily, I stayed with him and when he hauled himself out of the water, he was one of the most beautiful Greens of the year!


A very dark American Toad was also out hopping about.


By now, in addition to the heavy rain, there was plenty of thunder and lightning. Yay! It didn't bother these two Redbacks, I guess!



We wound up at the place of tragedy our last time here... but since there were no people, we felt safe to flip. I lifted a very big heavy rock and Andrea reached under and secured this beautiful Garter Snake!

Yes, it was getting tough keeping the camera lens dry...


A nearby (very large) flip got us this gorgeous Ringneck!



Then Andrea scored big with The Twins of Ringneck!

 "The devil has sent us Twins of Ringneck"!


Eventually, it started coming down in buckets, so we took shelter at a covered area with a picnic table to munch and sit for a bit.



It was certainly raining as hard as it did on our last Connecticut trip, but we'd seen 7 species so who cares! It's amazing how success makes you feel drier, even when you're soaked straight through to the skin!

This gentle creek was a raging, white water rapid...


And for my last picture of the day, the camera focused on the many many raindrops instead of my subject!


Hot shower, warm bath and dry clothes... now I'm gonna make some hot chocolate. Herpers gotta herp. We did. We rule.