Workin' it on Labor Day... 9-2-2013

It was rainy and crappy again when I awoke on this work-free Monday. To be honest, if Andrea said she didn't want to herp, I'd have been fine with it. But she never said it. Nor did I. We were both exhausted and we both knew it, but... we hit the road by 10 AM once the rain decided to let up. It was in the low 70s and cloudy. That sounded pretty good to us!

We headed to our favorite Norfolk County pond in the Blue Hills and wearily started out on the trails. First herp? A small Bullfrog!


Followed by a Pickerel!


We reached the rocky walkway that holds back the water and started looking for snakes. Andrea, in her infinite wisdom, said "I bet we see a lot of Water Snakes". I said I'd settle for one or two. But the first snake seen there was a Garter, basking on the edge!



I saw another shortly after that, a smaller reddish one, but he slid off while I was messing with the camera, who has decided that it's fun to turn on slowly and adjust itself while your subject crawls slowly away.

Andrea saw a small Water Snake basking and got this shot...

Had we known how decent that shot was going to be, we might not have bothered him, but I picked him up for close-ups.

In the blue!



While I was on one side of the spillway, trying to photograph a spider...

Andrea was herping her ass off! This large Water Snake bested her with quickness (she only got a hand on him) but got this shot anyway!


This one, however, posed nicely and she nailed a killer shot! Notice the left side of this one's face is scarred and the eye is messed up.


Across the way, where dogs had been swimming and we figured would be herp-free, we saw this tail...

We thought it might have been the quick one in the grass, but I peeked over the rocks and saw another tail tip! There were two! A further peek showed two noggins next to each other! If this was April, I'd think they were getting ready to mate! The second one slithered off, but I picked up the larger one.


That's a fistful o' snake! While Andrea was enjoying this one, I looked for the other. She wasn't far away, in a crevice, all coiled up and facing out. Miraculously, I got no bites when I reached in!


There is something magical about holding two large Water Snakes at the same time!



We released them and they slithered home, together.


A bit further along, another Water Snake was basking.


I snuck up on a Pickerel and got his photo.


I took a picture of some clumps, hoping for a basking turtle. Nope nothing. WAIT! When I got it home and on the computer, it turns out the was a wee Painted basking!


Further along, I saw this tail...

Eventually, I found the accompanying noggin! Another shedding Water Snake!


This Garter was posing nicely for us, even when a woman walked by close with her dog and said "Icky". Thank you for your input, you douche.



Here's a gorgeous Green Frog!


We got to one spot where my friend always sees Painted Turtles, but we have never. It was our last chance for Painteds (we didn't know there was that little guy in the shot earlier!) so we hoped for the best. There was indeed some! A Shakir! (Two-pack)


And a five-pack!


So, were there any Toads? Yes! We got shots of two American Toads!


We got to a spot where we like to flip for Ringnecks, Two-Lines and Redbacks. Oddly enough, I flipped a Green Frog!


We found no Two-Lines or Ringnecks, but we did see some Redbacks!


Andrea flipped an exciting find... a plump, young Spotted Salamander!



Here's another Redback, a big guy!


A particular area that we have sworn off was empty enough for us to stealthily poke around, but we saw nothing. Not far away, though... we found a nippy young Garter!

We didn't get the shot but I can assure you that a bite on the ball of the nose doesn't sting much less than one on the nostril. The more you know... By the way, you'd think I was giving him enough pouty lower lip to land a good one!

He calmed down and was pretty nice for us.


On the way out, one of the people who live there year round (and we've spoken with about herps before) offered us the opportunity to flip her property. She knew we wanted a Milk and she's had them there before. I flipped a Garter under a tarp, but couldn't get a picture or catch him. We searched for a while, but came up empty. Just as well... we were toast. The high of finding herps was starting to not be enough to keep us alert!

We ended the day with this Pickerel, who Andrea got a shot of while I was fighting with the camera again.


So, 9 species in a little over 4 hours on a day we might not have gone out at all! Not bad! I wish we could have added a Milk or Spotted Turtle (fellow hikers had seen one earlier in a boggy area!) or some Two-lines, but we were happy as pie! Bedtime came early that night and we slept the sleep of the dead. Dead, but happy.