But, cutting to the chase, we saw an old foundation that we'd never noticed before about 50 feet from the path. I flipped a few rocks around there and got a couple of very different looking Redbacks.
That Leadback is such a beast, I'd have thought it was a Dookie if we were within range!
The following Saturday (April 4th) promised a cool and cloudy day. I'd planned on staying in, but Andrea suggested we go out. Considering we'd had a soaking rain all day Thursday and Friday, we started thinking it might be good Salamander weather. We headed to our local spot before noon.
We when we got there, we saw that the sun was trying to poke out and it might be shaping up to be OK after all. True to our quest, our first observation was another mismatched pair of Redbacks.
Redbacks were plentiful, in fact.
Since the sun was giving it a shot at warming things up, we decided to check some Garter Dens. Up by Robles, we saw no snakes, but flipped a few rocks for salamanders. This rock had a previously unnoticed Garter next to it. He looked coooold.
Our rule is "Don't handle snakes near their hibernaculum sites", but I broke it to make sure he was alive. He was stiff, but his tongue came out and he started to move in Andrea's hands.
I flipped the rock.
Now, that was unexpected. Again, I picked him up and he was stiff as a board. Then, everso slowly, a tongue came out and did a slow flick. We figured these guys had spent the night under that rock and I'm pretty sure the temps got below 40 so these snakecicles were super chill. We pointed their heads right at a known opening to the underground and they slowly slid in.
So, maybe we'd see some snakes after all! We went down to the Valley and the sun was shining even more. Right away, Andrea found a Garter basking.
A Water Snake, possibly the same fella as last week, was emerging from his tree-hole.
We checked out our "new" den nearby, but saw nobody out. On the way back through the Valley, however, another Garter has come out.
Checking on our Nerodia pal on the way by, we noticed he'd been joined by a curious Garter.
This thin Garter had also come out in the last couple of minutes.
Before leaving this squamate-rich Valley, we saw a small, still-striped Water Snake had joined the basking crew.
Atop the side of the Valley, guarding the exit, was this Garter.
So, I guess we'll be seeing snakes. It's official.
We checked an area that hasn't been fruitful (snakeful?) for a number of years and noticed a path going back, veering far off the main path. This, of course, interested us. It also paid off right away because we saw a Blue-spotted Salamander under a log about 10 feet from a vernal.
Business Bluey.
We took a winding trail all around, exploring new areas. We heard Peepers, Woodies and Leopard Frogs calling but never laid eyes on any of them. It was a magical, humanless stretch of previously unexplored path.
By the time we got back to the main path, we'd overshot the Cottonwood Dens, a spot we were very interested in seeing now that the sun was burning bright. So we went in our usual exit from this spot. This 5 Redback flip was the same log we had a 12-pack under last week.
It's very hard to describe the sights we were treated to once we hit the densite. Piles of Garters, warming in the sun, and little male heads shaking back and forth, thinking about one thing... Snake-Sex. There's at least four here.
This shot shows two more approaching the pile.
Not far away, these three little fellas were basking, not yet interested in hanky-panky.
Here's a short clip showing the head waving of the top, interested male...
Obviously, after that, we were eager to get to the Rock Wall Dens, which haven't been very lucky this year. Again, we saw nobody up there. A bike trail has sprung up that goes almost through their old basking spot. I suspect they've changed their habits.
We decided to head "up" to a usually human and off-leash-dog infested area, but hit an off trail vernal we remembered on the way there. Stretching out near the path around this secluded pool was the most gorgeous female Garter of the day. Big and beautiful BBW.
Now that's a good-lookin' snake.
Up at the popular spot, we walked along, hoping to see a distant turtle. It was full of virus-carrying humans and entitled off-leash dogs and was a bit annoying. This gorgeous tannin stained Garter was basking up near the path. A dog walked right over him but only disturbed him a little.
This Long Tall Sally was the only other Garter we saw up there.
Frankly, we had to get away. The humanity is just sickening and the sight of plastic bags full of dog shit thrown into bushes 10 feet away from a waste receptacle put me into a mood. Ask me about the dog shit bags hidden under logs some time, if you want.
Anyhoo, we wanted to check the day's den progress on the way out. The sun had been cooking nicely. Yep- the Cottonwoods were action-packed!
The Valley offered us a hilarious sight on the way out to the car. That poor Nrodia was now smothered under a pile of Garters!
So, only one salamander target but countless bonus snakes... no complaints here. Except the plethora of stinking humans, it was great. Sadly, with the quarantine, there are now more humans out in the wild areas. Kind of defeats the purpose. GET OUTTA MY WOODS!!!
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