February in Massachuetts

It can be cold and it can be annoying, especially when both Andrea and I have had our ups and down healthwise. Thankfully, it's the shortest month but it always feels the longest. And we have no Everglades trip this year to look forward to, so... yuck. There have been a handful of sunny, not horrible days with temps in the 40s or 50s but early February left the ground frozen deeper than in January so our local den sites were always snake-free

Monday, February 24th, it was going to be in the 60s (global what?) and sunny and we knew we'd see some noggins up. We felt very fortunate to have banged in sick that day. But nobody was up yet. Of course the walk and the Vitamin D did us both a lot of good, but we really had hoped for a basking snake.

We ran into a couple that we often see on hikes in this Suffolk County park and stopped to talk with them for a spell. After that, we decided to hit the Valley of Nerodia on the way back to the car. I'm glad we did... that there was a coil nestled at the base of the tree, right near a known den entrance.

A young Northern Water Snake had emerged to get some February sun.

Needless to say, this made our day.

This snake also marks the 23rd straight month of seeing a Massachusetts snake. Obviously, knowing the den sites helps but perhaps this Global Warming thing isn't just a hoax to piss off the Right.

We eagerly await the upcoming months and emergence of salamanders, frogs and turtles. It's sure been a cold, cold winter. (That's a Rolling Stones quote in case you didn't know.)