Salameandering:2017. October 14th

In a very 2017 move, the weather decided to prove all of the warm weather forecasts wrong and be shitty for the weekend. Again. We're getting used to this but decided to play along. Instead of looking for turtles and snakes (our original plan when it was supposed to be warm and sunny), we switched to salamanders for this wet, cooler Saturday. Plus, we stayed local, visiting a spot right here in Suffolk County.

It wasn't until about noon that we actually hit the trail. It was in the low 60s and overcast, even sprinkling a bit. Our first search took us to a muddy, dried up vernal pool and our first find was our most sought after target... a Blue Spotted Salamander.

A big one at that. That's my fat finger for size reference.


Our next species was the other Ambystoma that we were hoping for... a Spotted Salamander.


Next up was our first lungless salamander on the day. For a Redback, this was a pretty large one.


This dried up vernal had been very good to us. As I was exiting the muck, Andrea spied this large Peeper hopping toward the edge.

He hopped on to a tree and started scurrying up to get under the bark. I got this hilarious shot just before he went out of sight.


Back on the trail, our rock formerly known as Old Reliable was once again fruitful. This little Orca of a Spotted Sal brought us much joy.



We'd been wondering if the Garters and Water Snakes had yet returned to their hibernaculum area but with the cool, wet weather, we had no sightings. (Our pal Ryan was here later in the day and said there was one Nerodia present near the dens.) Ol' Sly's vernal was the current home to plenty of Redbacks. The first one was about 4" long (didn't notice the second one in the shot until upload) and Andrea found that gorgeous orangey one.



The rain picked up but we stayed out because it wasn't too cold and it wasn't pouring. The rain really perked up the Peepers, though, and we were surrounded by their calls. Back by the Cottonwood dens, there were a few Peeper sightings but I only got the camera on one of them.


We took a look at a few more den spots but saw nothing so we went on our merry way. Passing a pond, we saw plenty of Green Frog noggins poking up.




We got up to a rock-strewn walkway and despite my hurtin' arms, I decided to flip a few to try to answer our question. Were snakes still out or back to their winter homes? My suspicion was that we could find a neonate snake who didn't yet know any better. It turns out, we did. This is a This-Year's-Model Water Snake.


I sure wish I could get my camera on a beaver when it's doing this.


So, despite the chill in the air and the rain and clouds, we were having a pretty good little quickie hike. To make it even better, we found this feisty yearling Garter.

He musked and pooped on us, then calmed down.


So all in all, it wasn't a bad day for animals. Seven species in a couple of hours and targets achieved. Those two snakes were our first in October, so that felt good. We're already at the point when we don't know when we'll see our last of the year.

We went home and ate lunch in bed watching Blacula. Not a bad day at all.