What Snappenin'? August 15th and 16th

The weather was supposed to break and it was going to be cooler on the weekend. As usual, we couldn't decide where to go so our last minute plan was to head to one of our favorite hit or miss spots in Plymouth County. It was downright cold when we got there and I wondered if we'd see anything.

I'm happy as hell with the picture I got for my #6 in my 2020 Grasshopper Project. I present to you the lovely Grizzly Locust... as found.


Reptiles and amphibians were extremely tough to come by. It was sunless and cool so turtles weren't going to be easy. The occasional Painter noggin was all we could hope for.


We'd had a few Pickerel Frogs hand us our collective asses but we finally got the lens on one.


The only snake of the day was this Water Snake who was probably also noticing the abundance of Pickerels.


Here's a couple more hoppity Pickerels.



We found a Bullfrog hot spot and photographed these two knuckleheads.



It should be noted that as well as being very overcast, windy and cool, there has been a hell of a lot of pruning done at this place... to the point of what I consider decimation. There are no hiding places next to the ponds anymore nor are there barriers to give turtles any sense of privacy should they want to bask.


Overall, despite seeing a few animals and getting a good 5 miles of hiking in, it was a bit of a disappointment. We'd hoped the cooler weather would bring out more snakes but it wasn't to be. We got back to the car and started to leave.

But along the driveway out, I noticed a Snapper up against the chain fence next to the dirt road. We had to investigate.

It looked kind of dead but it moved a bit as we approached. Andrea touched its claw and it moved. I slipped my finger under the plastron to see if it was stuck. It wasn't and she gave a snap like a gunshot! It turns out, she has the one bum eye, so she didn't see us coming but she felt us. Then, when we were all up in her grill, she showed us who was boss.

We're not sure what she was doing there but she was safe and would have no problem reaching the water from her side of the fence. Second clutch nesting?

The next day, I was a little sick but we wanted to walk a little again anyway, so we went to a nearby spot in Norfolk County. It was once again very cloudy and cool, but it wasn't windy. We headed into the woods and hit the trail while it was spitting out. Eh, who cares if we get a bit moist?

This small American Toad almost went unnoticed as we peeked under a board. If he didn't move, we'd never have seen him.


We got to the Alley and I was concentrating hard, hoping to see a Leopard Frog in the grass. They were prevalent last year but we've been skunked here thus far in 2020. Much to my self-disgust, I saw a small Milk Snake head into the path, then turn back. I dove to catch it for photos, had my hand on it... twice... and it got away. I've been wearing gloves for my eczema and I couldn't tell how hard I was or wasn't pressing down. As I always err on the side of "not squishing"; I didn't have enough pressure. No pictures.

I was beating myself up horribly when this appeared on the path in front of us.

OK, that helped.

Evidently, Milks kind of like the overcast, wet weather.

We got to the end of the Alley. As always, we like to check up top by the train tracks before heading back. It was up there that Andrea saw this...

This heartbreaking sight is a demolished Snapper nest. Something dug it up and was either scared off (by us?) or got a mouth of Snapling musk or who knows what. But there was broken eggs, turtle bodies and yolk strewn all over the place. One little body was trying to walk, though, so with this sign of life, we starting inspecting the carnage. Some bodies moved a little when we touched them, some did not. Ants were moving in to munch, so we got serious. If it looked like something might have moved, we put it in Andrea's handy turtle pouch. (She carries it in case we see hatchlings that need moving. This certainly seemed to be the case.) We wound up with a pile of dirty, likely dead, premature baby Snappers.


Thanks to some friends' advice (Chuck, in particular), we took the babies home and cleaned them and removed the dirty, broken shell. Most of the babies still had their yolks attached. The final count was 11 turtles and two eggs.

One of the eggs had a massive dent and was obviously a dud.

The little guy on the left is called Wrappy. When I opened up his shell to clean the dirt, he was still in his Saran Wrap bag. I cleaned the dirt out of the egg shell and put him back in so he'd feel safe. Soon, I saw his claw go slashing through the Saran Wrap, followed by his noggin. He was eager to get into the water, dragging his huge yolk sack.


This is how it looked a few days ago.


We have since lost a couple of hatchlings but the full egg pipped and the baby from inside is a beast... very eager to swim and frolic. Now, 5 days later, there are 9 turtles on our breakfast table. I have worries about 2 of them (sadly, Wrappy being one of them... he swims a bit funny and has a crooked tail) but the other 7 are growing fast and their plastrons are, for the most part, yolk-free. When their belly-buttons are closed, they will be returned to the water near where we found them.

Hopefully, some will survive. Even if it's just one, we'll feel we helped out.

Nerodia By the Pound. August 8th, 2020

Not really too keen on keeping up with the blog, but here's stuff from last weekend.

Saturday was going to be super hot again and we were also going to see Andrea's mum so I picked a spot where we could at least see some frogs and turtles before heat and family kicked in. We headed to a spot in Middlesex County where Leopard Frogs are the easiest frogs to see (they're tough pretty much everywhere else) and Blanding's Turtles are a (rare) possibility.

The place was really full of humans and it immediately got on our nerves. Not just mine, but even Andrea was in "want to kill" mode. It took some time before we saw anything and when we did, it was just the noggin of a distant Painted Turtle.


We finally got far enough away from the main path that humans weren't as thick and irritating. It was then that we started to see some animals. Our target frogs were a delight to see. Behold the emerald beauty of the Northern Leopard Frog.



Getting away from the riff-raff, we were finally able to see some basking Painters.


Andrea then saw this massive fatty of a Water Snake. She is ready to pop any moment now.


Not too far from her was another humongous preggo.

This place is going to be literally crawling with baby Water Snakes soon.

Andrea was looking for Wood Frogs, reportedly just above an underground Yellow Jacket nest, while I saw this young Painter noggin.


This young Water Snake looks massive in the picture, but he was only a little over a foot... the branch is of baseball bat thickness. He plopped off just before Andrea got a look at him.


She spied this Bullfrog hiding in the brush.


We'd already had one Garter Snake evade our cameras and we had a subsequent one do it as well, so this crappy shot of the second Garter sighting on the day will have to do.


Yet another massive Nerodia gal slid across the path and we failed to photograph her. I had just said "I wonder how many pounds of Nerodia we've seen today" when Andrea spied this big gal next to the path in front of us.

Filled to the rim with kiddos.

We finally got another glimpse of the pond through the trees and saw some more basking Painters.

Look at how happy this guy looks! Oh, to be a turtle!


Adding to the total Water Snake weight, another massive snakelet machine.


Here are a couple more Leopard beauties.



Improvising a basking spot on a lily-pad is easy when you're not too big.


We were heading back by now but still keeping a close watch. Heading towards the river, Andrea found a young Green Frog enjoying a mudbath.


At the river, we could see some yoga on the far side.


I added another Green Frog to the photoshoot.


Before taking the main trail back to the car, we took a quick look up another side trail. Just as we turned on to it, I heard Andrea yell "TURTLE!" and she broke into a sprint. A turtle trot. A reptile run. She got up to this strolling Painted Turtle in no time.


I heard her say "Hi! You're all mossy!"


That was all of our animals for that sunny Saturday. Also of note, the lotus was in bloom and that's always a beautiful sight. Especially when a beautiful woman is there, too.


The next day, Sunday. was going to be 95-100°. We managed to sleep in a little and got a late start. While we had little chance to see any wildlife, Andrea wanted to swim so we went to a favorite pond in Norfolk County. We got in our 4 miles of hiking but, as expected, we were all but skunked on our search for reptiles and amphibians. This young Garter was our only find.


But this is why we came.


I also added a Camel Cricket (#5) to my sad Grasshopper count on the year.


That's what we saw.

Two Days in August. The 1st and 2nd, To Be Precise.

What to do? Where to go? Things seem so limited these days. I made the big call to go check out a place that we pass on the way to another Norfolk County park that we love, but that we'd never explored before. Of course, indecision and laziness got us a late start and it was pretty hot when we got there.

There was a squished Garter in the road so, sad as that is, it was a good sign. But as lovely and potentially great as the place is, we saw nothing as we climbed and walked for an hour and a half. There is no water there and that cuts our chances down by plenty. We proceeded to our tried and true place a few miles down the road.

As human-filled as this park tends to be (not the case with the other spot), there are still plenty of animals around. We started off the hike with a big surprise... a hot, summer Redback.

Though these guys are otherwise common, in the summer months they stay underground, avoiding the heat. This fella was not expected.

It was 85° and humid and we didn't predict too much action but this small American Toad was hopping along, undeterred.


Surely, no snakes would be out and about. It was a hot mid-afternoon. But along the water's edge, sleeping it off in the shade of the brush, this Water Snake was coiled up.


Not far from that one, another Nerodia was relaxing in the bushes. Just check out how bright red those saddles are!



Turtles were pretty hard to come by, oddly enough. Finally, Andrea spied this Painter catching some rays.


And another snoozing Water Snake.


Some humans and their dogs were on a beach area and when they moved, we went and explored. Evidently, one of them had stepped (or stood?) on a log. When I flipped it, this tiny Pickerel with a skinned heel was under it.

I'm happy to report that it hopped off as if absolutely nothing was wrong with it. May it live a long and happy life.

Due to the time and effort we'd put in at the first place, we didn't have enough gas for a full hike here and we wound up turning back before too long. Still, the best was yet to come. Back towards the beginning of the park, we saw this gorgeous, large Water Snake laying in the shallow water.

We got to sit there, just us and the snake, and watch it float, explore and eventually take a graceful swim off into the reeds. Pure magic and a gift from nature.


The next morning, we had our Sunday pancake breakfast in the car in an effort to get into Bristol County before the heat hit hard. We got down there by 8 AM and it was already pretty toasty. Still, our first stop in the garden rewarded us with a small (last year's model?) Garter Snake.


In the shaded woods, more Cuadate surprises awaited us. Under the cool, moist logs, Redbacks and Leadbacks were plentiful!




We explored a nearly dry vernal pool next. There is still enough water to serve whatever stragglers might be late to morph and we startled plenty of chirping Greens and Bulls but never got our cameras on a frog until this Wood Frog hopped into view.


Andrea then spotted a few newly emerged Peepers! This little speck of a frog was pretty hard to photograph. (He's on the stick.)


Andrea spotted another Wood. The flash on the camera was behind a leaf, thus the greenish tint to the picture.

It's interesting that Wood Frogs, a species we see mostly in March when they come out of hibernation, are also fairly common in hot weather.

I was sneaky. I was stealthy. I got this shot of a Painted Turtle through the bushes before he could see me.


These two Garters were close together, gearing up for a big day of being snakes.



We got down to the waterfall, traditionally our half-way point, and took a sit-down. In the distance, we could see some Painters up.

Here's some closer-ups...



I saw a dot sticking up in the water about 20 feet from where we sat. I zoomed in.


Another distant basking spot was well occupied with Painted Turtles.


Carrying on, we got to a rusty car hood in a field that was likely to be empty underneath, thanks to the heat. But one hot Garter was under the edge.


Under a rock that was right out in the open and in sandy soil, this Leadback beat the odds.


Back to the river, near the beginning... three Painters were being Sun Turtles.


The bunk beds have been snake-free for us for the last 5 years or so. Still, we always look. I'm glad we did, so we could see this resting Garter digesting a meal.


Andrea wasn't feeling well, so we decided to call it a day. This happy Painter was our last animal of the weekend.


And that is that.