Run to the Hills. October 22nd and 28th, 2017.

Having struck out on Copperheads the last time Box Turtle Tim and I went for a peek, it was only natural that we'd try one more time. I truly hate the thought of tromping through sensitive habitat too many times but I figured once more would be OK and we are always careful. Our pal Ryan was coming as well, and Andrea was in this time, too. Four sets of eyes. A warm sunny Sunday... we were overly confident.

We hit the trail a bit late because we had to watch a loose dog that kept running out into traffic. We got some rope and tethered her to a safe place after a while. Her stupid, careless owners passed us on the trail as we were going in. They had another dog off leash and didn't seem to care that we'd get their dog alive. Anyway, we flipped a log not too far in and were treated to the largest Spotted Salamander we've seen since Big Night... of last year!

That's over six inches of maculatum magnificence.

Paling in comparison in size, but beautiful and clean was our second Spotted.


How about some lungless love? A couple of Redbacks, a Red and a Lead.



We got up to our climbing spot and ascended. Naturally, it would just be a matter of time before we started seeing Copperheads. After all, we had 16 here last year on a similar day. I was also hoping for some Racers, a species that (incredibly) we hadn't seen this year. (Three of our former Racer places had been decimated, to make the landscape better for ungrateful humans.) I even had a $1 bounty for the person who found me a Racer. I saved my dough by seeing this guy first.

Over four feet of Racer, at least.


We proceeded over the hill to the Copperiest part of our mission. Ryan had found another Racer... even got it pretty much in hand for a photo, but the tail end turned out to be the head end and it started defending itself somehow; it got away. But Tim spotted one crawling down the hill toward me and I got a shot before it slipped like spaghetti between two rocks.


And we looked. Into every crevice. In front of every opening. We saw no Copperheads. Ryan and I were feeling bad because we really wanted to get Tim his first Massachusetts Copper. It was so easy last year! Once again, we got the message... even when you think you do, you really never know what animals are going to do. I managed one photo of a copper-head.


We gave up on that area and went to another  open sunny spot. We checked it for about 45 minutes, then decided to head back. We'd been beaten. Again. Things were good on the way back, though. Ryan and I were up ahead when Andrea and Tim called for us... they'd just found a This Year's Model Garter.


Further up the path, Ryan found this (probably yearling) Garter who would not sit still for a photo.

Until, that is, it went to coil up in the leaves.


Well, we struck out on our main target but managed our First Of Year Racers, so I was pleased. Tim, however, gets Racers in his yard so I still feel badly that we failed him. We'll have to try again in the Spring.

EXCEPT...
Ryan put out the word that he was going to try one last time the following Saturday. I wasn't sure I wanted to go. I'd said, no more going through the sensitive habitat this year. Tim was unable to go (though he looked again on that Friday. Racers, no Coppers.) but Andrea and I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, Ryan assumed we weren't going and never got our messages that we'd decided to go.

We got there and hit the trail alone. It had rained during the night and it was pretty cool. Our luck didn't seem very good for snakes. Salamanders, however, seemed very possible. We approached the log under which we'd seen the massive Spotted the week before. It wasn't there. But this was...

This was the first non-larval Marbled Salamander we'd seen in over two years and what a stunning specimen! If that's our consolation prize, we're everso thankful.

Here's yet another color variation of a Redback. I need to work on new names... maybe Chocoback?


Approaching the hills, we turned over a log at the edge of the path and saw another Marbled.

Who was sharing space with a Redback.


And that is what we saw in our limited time. To be honest, we had to get to a wedding before too long and I had a massive headache. We did, however, let Ryan know there was a beautiful Marbled in an easy to find place so he came by just as we were leaving to view that alluring Ambystoma. He did see one Copper up on the hill, too.

So, we end the year with no Copperheads (or Timbers for that matter) but our Copper searches got us a few last minute F.O.Y.s so I have no complaints. Plus, we got to spend time together and with good friends. The weekly hikes are drying up for the season so every time is a gift.

They Grow Their sirtalis Pretty in Essex. 10-21-2017

We had been wanting to take one last look at a spot in Essex County before the temps got too cold and this was going to be the day. It would be well up into the 70s and sunny. Plus, a friend was vacationing in the very same County so we mapped out a whole damn day.

We got to our destination by 11 AM and we had plenty of time to look around before hitching up with friends. This Garter Snake knew we were on a fairly tight schedule so she was right there next to the parking area, getting us warmed up as she warmed herself up.


Ah, Plethodon cinerus... so common but always so interesting. We flipped these three in a row; a Leadback, normal Redback and a Burgundyback.



The salamander has a burgundy back, it's a Rip Off, such a Rip Off! Do it again!

Another 2+ feet of Garter perfection.

This is right around where we started declaring these the most beautiful Garters in the state, the Cape be damned!

We got to a pond edge and poked around the rocks where the water had receded. It was also a good place to sit down since I was Prexxing. I flipped a confused pair of White-footed Mice.


We found a Nerodia skin that we really wanted to see the former owner of.


Sitting down for a bit, I got a pretty decent shot of a Greater Yellowlegs, #81 on the year.


We were sitting down with a flipped Nerodia, certainly not the one whose shed we'd found.

This guy has an interesting battle scar, an inch below the vent.

Believe me, if something grabbed him there and he blew some musk on it, they let go fast. This guy musked us into next month and it stunk!

This was what we looked at as we sat there. You can see a few Yellowlegs in the shallow edge.


We started back onto the trail but Andrea had to go look for Wood Frogs so I took a slow stroll up the hill and sat on a stump next to this gal.

We just hung out for a bit. She's a good friend now.

Back on the trail together, Andrea and I saw another perfect Garter slither behind a tree. I managed a quick photo.


The pond was surprisingly frogless, much to my chagrin. Turtles were tough to find too, but we finally did, though these duckweed covered Painters weren't very easy to see.


We got to another pond area, Andrea stayed high and I worked down by the water. No sooner had I said "you know, we haven't seen anything over here in two years" then I looked down and saw this stunning sirtalis at the water's edge.

It was chilly in this shaded spot and she wasn't moving. I went to nudge her and she showed me she was very much alive.

Heading back past the duckweed pond, we saw a few more Painted Turtles up.


The above two are obviously not on speaking terms but it looks like a mediator is coming up between them to help sort things out.

Our last goal was a powerline cut that has been very good for Garters and Waters and we suspect is a den area. There's gotta be Racers up there, too. Walking past a dried up vernal, Andrea commented how we'd never seen a Spotted Salamander or a Wood Frog in this place. Our next flip?

Like the Milk Snake the day before, this was our "holy shit" moment for this Saturday.

The view up on the cut was better than our snake-finding luck. We saw zero animals but it was lovely all the same.

The temps had hit 80°... might have become a bit too hot for sunning snakes up there.

So, with time getting tight, we headed back. Spots that had been empty on the way in now had some snakes catching rays. There are two Garters here.


I saw some rocks in the pond through the trees. Were there turtles on them? Yup.

Painted Glory.


Our last animal before leaving the place was yet another gorgeous Garter. Andrea nearly stepped on her.


Now we had given ourselves every chance to get ice cream. We'd said if we see a 4-Toed Salamander (nope), seen 10 species of herp (nope), seen over 10 Garters (nope) or 3 baby Nerodia (nope), we could indulge. Ah, screw it. We got ice cream anyway. Then we headed into Salem two weeks before Halloween, something I said I'd never do again. But some friends were up from Tennessee and we made the effort and had a lot of fun. Andrea met Frankenstein's Monster.


And that, my dear, was a long but fun day.

The Snake Days of Autumn. October 20th, 2017

Due to work being super slow and my hours having been cut, I found myself with a four day weekend. Needless to say, I wasn't too upset by that. I hoped that Andrea could get at least one of those extra days off and much to my delight, she got that Friday. The weather was going to be nice (sunny and around 70°) so we went to a spot deep into Norfolk County that we were unable to visit a couple of weeks prior, due due typically shitty 2017 weather. This Friday was very nice indeed.

We got there in the late morning and it was warming up nicely. Andrea visited the facilities while I sat outside on a rock wall. I had found our first friend to observe... a beautiful olive toned Garter laying in the sun.


When Andrea approached, she got this well lit photo:


While watching that snake forage for a bit, we noticed another not-as-striped body moving about...


We let them be and went around the visitor's center to flip some debris before hitting the trails. This triple Redback flip was pretty exciting. Look at how tiny those wee ones are. That's a dime, Mortimer!


Around the back, Andrea scored a Leadback and another tiny tot.

Just how cute is that noggin?!

One more stop before heading out in earnest... a woodpile where this bright Garter was exploring.

It was official. We were off to a great start.

Once we were on the trails and next to the ponds, things slowed down a bit. But just a bit. This Garter was in Snakespread mode, collecting some morning warmth.


A peek into the pond got us a glimpse of one Painted Turtle, despite the low water level in this particular area.


I had walked right past this dusty Water Snake. Andrea saved the day and got the better photo, to boot.


A Painter, livin' large.


I never have enough fish on the blog. Here's a young Pickerel. (Thanks to Mike Z for helping me ID)


We got to a good 4-Toed and hatchling turtle spot but saw neither of those things. We did, however, flip a remarkable Spotted Salamander.

The blue "enameling" on its side made Andrea send out some queries about the possible hybridization between a Spotted and a Blue-Spotted.

We're sticking with pure Spotted but it sure is an interesting individual.

While she was concentrating on that salamander, sending pictures back and forth, I looked down and saw a skinny little Ribbon Snake.

I caught it so Andrea could see it... not the easiest thing I've ever done.


Further along, while looking for salamanders, I flipped a Bald-faced Hornet queen.


We got to a point where there's a small smattering of round rocks on the ground, not even something we would normally look through. Except a couple of years ago, Andrea unexpectedly pulled a decent sized Milk Snake out of there. So, we've looked ever since. But this day, Andrea flipped one rock and then said what a fluke it was that one time. Before leaving, I casually flipped one small stone...

That was our "holy shit!" moment for the day. Check out that wolf-mask on the top of his head. Halloween ready. It was a feisty one, too. Obsessed with Andrea. Her shot:

My shot:

Pretty cool. Only the second Milk we've ever seen at this park. Same unlikely pile of rocks.

We continued on, realizing that we hadn't had a four snake species day in a hell of a long time. We sat for a bit, just looking at the water and autumn colors. Sadly, the shadows were already getting long and the temps were dropping. You tend to forget that days are so short at this time of year. We started back, taking a trail along the pond again. A few die hard Painters were still grabbing some rays.




Craning my head (and camera), I saw a humorous turtle pile-up in the distance. I had a good idea where this basking spot was... and we were headed that way.


This Water Snake still had a sunny patch and was reluctant to give it up. This is near where we saw the morning Nerodia.


We got to another angle of that pile-up and it wasn't quite as messy as it looked from the other angle. Still mighty impressive, though.


Before leaving the park, we looked in a few more places, which got us a squiggly Two-lined Salamander.


So, was seeing a bunch of animals while hiking in beautiful weather with the woman I love better than being at work?

Ummm... yup.