It's the End of the Year and I Know It. December, 2018.

Turtle Season ended pretty much as abruptly as it started and Andrea and I found ourselves facing the dreaded Winter months indoors. But Mother Nature threw us a few bones during this last month of 2018 and we took to the trails for a few last moments of cold stupidity.

Saturday, December 22nd
With a warm saturating rain the night before and temps in the 50s for Saturday, we decided to make a trek to an Ambystoma-laden place nearby to see if any individuals were fooled into coming up. Yes, there has been plenty of frost and sub-freezing temps but you never know. Well, as soon as we hit the trail, I realized I was way underdressed. I was freezing and there was still frost under many logs. Andrea came through in the clutch with a pretty Leadback before we turned around.

Brrrr....

Sunday, December 23rd
We went to the Arboretum to look at birds. I added two more species to the year's count. This House Finch, snoozing above a feeder, is my last 2018 bird, bringing the year total to 108. Not too bad.


Wednesday, December 26th
We made a Day-After-Christmas jaunt out to Western Massachusetts (Hampshire County) to hit America's Yarn Store and check out a nearby stream that has Two-lines and Dookies. We got to the stream fairly late and noticed that it was much deeper and faster than we'd anticipated.


I was without net or observation tank so I had to stick to calm, shallow spots and hope for the best (Stream-side rocks would be no good... it was pretty cold and icy out there.) Finally, I saw a golden body and snapped a shot of this Two-lined Salamander.

I hadn't noticed the little 2-lined larvae body heading under the rock or the Mayfly larvae until I uploaded the photo.

Saturday, December 29th
 Never say die. It was 49° and sunny and we sought to end this rather shitty year on a high note. Of course, Mother Nature has had other plans in store for us all year long, so who knows. I mean, no Ribbon Snakes (what the hell?!), no Northeast vipers, no Greens... it has really been an underwhelming year.

So, with the sun up, we headed to our local dens in hopes of a knucklehead poking out of a hole. At our first stop, the Valley of Nerodia, we hit pay dirt. We saw the coils in the sun from 10 feet away... a beautiful Garter Snake.

I thought it might be the same specimen from 2 weeks prior but upon closer inspection, we determined that it isn't.


Even though our target was hit, we went on to look at the Cottonwood Dens. Sure enough, one Garter was coiled in the sun in that location, too.

This olive beauty has a bit of a scruffy nose so he might be out to grab some medicinal Vitamin D.

We walked on, checking a few more den sites but seeing no more animals. Heading back, we made one last pit stop, to check on Robles' Den. We hadn't seen anything up there for a couple of years but you never know. Sure enough, there was a coil warming in the sun.

Skinny Garter, that one is. Umm... wait... look closer...

It seems that with three days left in the year, we'd finally seen our FIRST OF YEAR RIBBON SNAKE!!! Dusty though he may be, this might be the most satisfying sight of the entire year.

And our last one.

May 2019 treat us all very well.