Goodbye, May. 5-28, 2018 plus plus

As usual, Sunday was a pretty lousy day, weather-wise. After our triumphant 10-species day on Saturday, we were stuck with a raw, cold, rainy day for Sunday, so we stayed in. We weren't worried as Monday was Memorial Day and we both had it off. We wanted to hit a Bristol County spot that we hadn't yet hiked this year. One catch... it was going to be cool and wet, but with "sunny breaks". We got there late morning, hoping for a few of those sunny breaks.

It was about 57° and overcast when we got there. Oh well... might as well look around. We were hoping to see nesting turtles in some of the open areas, but didn't. The garden has plenty of stones that snakes seem to favor but they were still cold to the touch so we doubted we'd see anything. Much to my surprise, for the second time this weekend, we saw a Milk first thing. He was crawling through the cool, dewy grass.

I'm fairly certain that this poor specimen has Snake Fungal Disease. That could be a lingering hibernation sore or a healing wound, but I suspect it is SFD. Perhaps after his shed, things will look better. Needless to say, I scrubbed my hands with charcoal soap after handling him.

There wasn't a lot of animal action on our walk. It was quite some time before we saw another, in the form of a bright Red-backed Salamander.


Under a rusted car hood, we found a couple of sleepy Garters.



Out on the river, the resident Swan couple had three babies.


Those sunny breaks never came. Out in the distance, we saw what Andrea called "the us of turtles"... a Painter who refused to admit it was shitty out.


Heading back through the garden on the way out, we saw this slender Garter.


The Milk was still hanging out in the open, obviously waiting for one of those sunny breaks to get some Vitamin D to help the healing process.

Hopefully, he got what he needed over the next couple of days when, naturally, it was sunny and warm.

Not a great hike but the air was clean and we got to spend time in the woods enjoying nature. Some Crows were defending their nest (probably against a Red-tail) and were making a racket most of the time we were there. Very interesting.

As I noted, it was warm and sunny just in time for us to get back to work. Andrea made the most of it on her walk to the train... 2 Garters on Tuesday...


and 3 more on Wednesday!


Urban Garters. That's a good way to finish up May.

The Hunt for a Decent Weekend May 25th and 26th, 2018.

As usual, the best weather we had last week was on workdays, when we both were locked up tight in our separate hells. Temps in the 80s and sun, sun, sun. Andrea had the good fortune to twice see some urban Garter Snakes thriving in the garbage, sticks, and rocks along a very busy avenue on her way to
the train station.


It never fails to amaze me that these snakes can live in these harsh conditions, relying on rain water and worms for the most part. Surely 95% of the people walking past never even know they're there.

Friday night, we headed over to a local spot just inside Norfolk County at about 6 PM. It was still roughly 90° and we figured that as dusk approached, we might get lucky. Our first "sighting" was the shed skin of our target. We sought our first Milk Snake of 2018.

We sure would have loved to see the former owner of this skin.

Also, I was armed with a new camera. Andrea very generously gifted me a new Nikon for my birthday earlier in the week and I was dying to get my first animal shot. It turned out to be a lovely Redback that got the honor.


Testing the camera's zoom capability, I shot this Red Admiral from about 15-20 feet out. Pretty crisp.


This bunny was even further away.


Herp-wise, we next saw this Green Frog. Nearing the end of May and this is only the second one we've seen. 2018 is another tough year.


Our last sighting made me feel a little bad... we looked under a pallet that was over a ditch and this American Toad jumped in.

The edge was too precarious for me to try to go in so I put some branches in for him to climb out. If he wants to... the ditch was filthy with mosquitoes, a toad banquet.

That was it for the night... we went home with a pizza and got to sleep early for the next day. It looked like we were going to actually have a nice Saturday!!!!

We hit a favorite spot deep into Norfolk County hoping for some nesting turtles, frogs and snakes. It was well into the 80s by the time we arrived and we couldn't believe our good fortune when, not even completely out of the parking lot, we peeked over a stone fence and saw our First of Year Milk Snake.

He proved to be of interest to many of the people walking by. A mom practically forced her stroller-bound kid to touch it, even though the snake was biting me.



The stroller lady, having learned a bit about the park's residents from us, said she saw another snake right near where we sat. She sure did... a very in-the-blue Garter.


While Andrea powdered her nose to get ready for the actual hike, I saw another Garter in the same patch of bushes.


Before starting in earnest, this small American Toad stumbled out in front of us.

We were definitely off to a crackin' start.

This park, despite a lot of human foot traffic, still has plenty of animals. The ponds were quite high, as expected. Nestled into the shade, right in plain sight but not being seen by most people, this matched pair of Nerodia was resting.


Nearby, Andrea spied this other small male coming out of the water.


At a spot we call "the archipelago", though it isn't one, we saw this cool coil of Garter.


Alongside the archipelago, this high-red Water Snake was looking for a snack.

I had to practically grab it before a kid there saw it. Blind little dork.

Green Frogs were calling and we finally found this one. A big beauty, it would only call when we walked away. I had to settle for a deflated sac, man.


With the high water line, we expected the exposed perches to be filled with turtles but that just wasn't the case. This Painter had a prime slab of real estate all to himself.


We got to a waterfall spot, a gorgeous place that often has Nerodia present. A couple of kids rode up on bikes and I swear I heard one say "Water Snake". I asked if that's what they were looking for and the bespectacled nerd one said yes. I pointed one out that was laying low in the brush.

He said "Northern Water Snake?" (picture that in Richard Pryor's white-person voice) and I said, "yes". The kid was OK in my book, even though he didn't know the Latin and he said he'd seen a Hognose here before. (He hadn't. Wrong habitat.) Still, I told his parents that he was awesome and I hope they encourage him. They didn't call the cops, so that's good.

Distant basking spots were mostly turtle-less. One spot had a couple of Painters, though.


A section where we have seen Snappers and Painteds nesting (or cutting through to nest) has had a lot of sticks and shit removed from it so we were worried that they might have cleared it after nesting happened. Upon closer inspection, we doubted it happened that way... the clearing had been done a while ago and turtles should just be starting to nest. But who knows. We then flipped a very nice Ringneck.


We didn't see anything for a while until this Garter darted into the bushes. I pulled it out and we were amazed by the head markings. Check out those two white spots.

This poor guy also had a healing neck wound that made his neck lumpy. He nearly lost his head over something but is well on the way to healing. Note the disappearing dorsal stripe, too.

I'd found a peanut-butter cracker on the trail and saved it for the fish at one pond. These guys follow me for food so I didn't want to disappoint them.


Another Green... three in two days. Now, that's more like it!


We got back toward the beginning and looked into a little structure that Barn Swallows were flitting in and out of. I hadn't seen any nests earlier but I obviously hadn't been looking very closely. There were a half dozen and they all had occupants. They became my #70 bird on the year.



Heading back, Andrea spotted a large Bullfrog. I snapped this flattering photo.

He was twitching a bit and Andrea suggested the 'skeeters were bothering him. She was right.


Down by a stream I flipped a rock that looked promising for Two-lined Salamanders. There were two!



Check us out, we were at 9 species. But we were almost at the end of our walk. Just a couple more spots. But one of those spots was a fountain that held our tenth species, a Pickerel Frog, only our second on the year.


While I was working on that portrait, Andrea saw a speedy Garter go by under a tree and got a suitable voucher shot.


Before leaving, we took another peek behind the stone wall where the Milk and two Garters had been hours earlier. This beautiful Garter was sleeping it off in a patch of afternoon sunlight.


See? When we finally have decent weather, we have decent luck seeing animals. We were both very happy with the day, and I love my new camera. Can't wait to get back out.

Another Place Bites the Dust. 5-20-2018

We were finally going to have decent weather, though we'd have to time it right to dodge the raindrops. We decided to (finally) get down to one of our favorite spots in Bristol County to see if it had survived the winter. We arrived late morning and while it was cloudy, it was still warm and we were raring to go.

We'd been having diminished success at this place in recent years since they have been opening it back up for humans to use. They've done clean-ups (removing my board line) and allowed boats and cars but nothing prepared us for what we saw.

On the left in my old board-line field. They flattened the hills (dens?) and cleared everything out. A few years ago, we'd see Racers, Milks, Ribbons, Garters, Ringnecks, Redbacks and Fowler's here. No more. On the right was a wonderful bramble filled field that is gone. It will all probably be paved soon. Many of the paths have been recently tarred over.

We were pretty sad to see that, so we moved past. The lake's water was super high and many of our good viewing spots were inaccessible. Luckily, plenty of birds were out and singing so we weren't completely beat. I saw a small stack of distant Painters trying to enjoy the day.


We got to a pond that we always love to look around. We poked through a small stone wall that hasn't been dismantled yet and saw a plump Fowler's Toad.


A stone high up on the beach (that hasn't been removed yet) had a stash of Fowler's under it.

Trifecta!


Sadly, the beach area has become just that... all of the wonderful grasses and sandy nesting areas have been leveled and filled in, making it an actual beach for swimming. Humans will soon have the pond, not the animals. The water level was super high... I couldn't tell if it's natural or if they're somehow filling it. At any rate, this beautiful sight of toad-poles saddens me in a way. Where will they go when they outgrow the water?


The water was too deep for us to see any of our usual basking logs. Or maybe they too were cleared out. I did manage to find out where some of the turtles had gone. While walking past a spillway, I saw a few small Painters plop into the water. Stealthily, I snuck up for this shot.


This hatchling had probably over-wintered in its nest.


All kinds of leaves and sticks had settled over in this corner, sucked over by the spillway current. Small Painted Turtles were pretty easy to find.


I said to Andrea, "I could probably just run my hands through this debris and pull up a turtle." which I then proceeded to do. Our first Musk Turtle on the year had a crooked smile and a feisty attitude.


I saw another Musk shell sticking out of the cover. I thought I could smell the asphalt paving that has been going on but realized it was the Stinkpot!

There was a small Nerodia down in this area as well but we couldn't get a photo.

So, if the level goes down and the spillway starts spilling again in earnest, what becomes of these little turtles? Ah, as long as the humans are happy, who cares, right? Damn.

Andrea was taking a path above me and saw a nice in-the-blue Garter with almost no dorsal stripe.


The far end of this pond was much quieter. Not as many filthy humans get over there. We saw some pretty Fowler's out for a hop.



We took a path out even further away from humans, though a couple of big, cool boy-men on vwoom-vwoom bikes went speeding past us. They're so neato. There were a few Painters basking out this way.



Back to the usual trail around this pond, we saw a Painter in a jai alai basket.


We saw this Red-eared Slider here last year... a big one that seems to favor precarious perches.

That's my first RES on the year. Andrea had seen one a couple of weeks ago on her lunch break.

Know what breaks my heart the most about the humanizing of this place? The ignoring of a healthy population of an endangered species, namely the Red-bellied Cooter. This shot, from a path about 30 yards above the pond, shows four Red-bellies and roughly14 Painters sharing some prime real estate.

I guess keeping the white-trash humans happy is more important than saving the habitat of these magnificent creatures.

This Painter was enjoying having a spot to himself.


We got to a spot where two Toads were jumping around. One was definitely an American. Fowler's outnumber Americans 9 to 1 here so I really wanted to get a shot. The other was a Fowler's or, possibly, a hybrid. I thought, after a collision they'd had, I had the American in focus...

Oops... wrong one and even looking at it on the computer, it's inconclusive. Possible hybrid. Oh, well.

The next area we checked had a guy fishing and two Painters basking, but they plopped in when we walked by. We finally got our orbs on a frog, though... a small, secretive Bullfrog.


I caught the Painters up when we walked back.


We walked through some destroyed habitat, past big machines ready to do more damage and piles of broken rock and saw a small toad hopping. He was dusty as hell, so we poured a little water on him, which he seemed to approve of. This, we were happy to see, was a real American Toad.


Despite the destruction, there are still a few beautiful spots that they haven't reached yet. Time will tell.


We got over to a vernal pond area and our hearts broke. The pond was still there but the entire area has been paved and they're setting up outlets and cookers and making the area ready for camping. This poor Painter will probably be homeless soon.


I thought I saw another shell... or is it a rock?

"I ain't no rock!"

Walking back, we saw plenty of trash, thanks to humans. The habitat destruction, the litter, the conveniences being set up to attract more humans... it just kills me. I do not think we will be returning here.

We went to get some food but the restaurant was too busy and we didn't feel like waiting so we departed to check out a nearby place that is always good for a Water Snake or two. On the way there, doing 45 MPH on the busy road, we saw a Painted Turtle scooting across. I swerved and missed it and watched in horror (in my rear view mirror) as it sped across, through traffic, finally making it to the white line and beyond. *whew* She took a few years off of my life.

Sure enough, even though it had clouded up and the predicted heavy rains were coming close, a few Nerodia were up, still basking. Check out the meal in the first big girl!

The smaller fella is in the blue.


Our last sighting was a Garter coil resting comfortably, also with a meal-bump.


And then the rains came. Violent and hard. I hope those snakes all made it to cover quickly! It was a huge downpour that we drove through. We got to the area where the Painter had crossed... and she was coming back!!! She made it to the middle line... just barely... and there was nobody behind me in sight as she proceeded. Hopefully, she made it.

We finally stopped to get some pizza and when we left the pizza joint, we heard Gray Tree Frogs calling from the wetlands next to the place. Dousing our plans to explore, the rains came again, hard and heavy. We headed home.

So, we have another place destroyed for the sake of greedy humans. Where will the next casualty occur?