Ending the Winter of Our Discontent. March 12th-18th

 After a dreadful February, th first month in a decade where I photographed no reptiles or amphibians, we were excited to get out on Friday the 12th, if only for a lunch-hour, to enjoy the near-60° temps and sun, and see if any knuckleheads were out and about.

I know, we could have netted some more Two-lines in February, but why bother them for our personal goals? We waited. And it was worth the wait. That sunny Friday brought us our first snakes of the year and our first sighting was a Garter cluster. One female was crawling off with 5 males pursuing her. By the time I got my camera on them, it was just two blokes left on her.

Twisty tails!

Here is a little bit of porn that I managed to film. At the end of the clip, you can see a third male crawling along the top of the frame.

Here are two of the fellas that fell off of her

Spring, glorious Spring!

Time was very tight since it was Andrea's lunch hour. We hurried over to the Cottonwood Den from here and were rewarded with two more young Garters for our efforts.

We were glad to have had at least an hour to see our first snakes of the year. But we wanted more...

The next day was Saturday and it was supposed to be a good twenty degrees colder. The sun was bright, however, so we said what the hell... let's go back and see if the orgy broke up and they got back to safety before the cold night set in. (It got to freezing or lower in the night.)

To be honest, when we saw this frigid guy up near the orgy-sight, we were pretty scared that he was deceased, a victim of the cold night.

Nope, he was still alive but very cold. We moved him to a patch of sunlight. This other fella was over there but he was already warmed up. Well, as warm as he was going to get with temps in the low 40s.

Andrea next flipped our first Redback of the year over by Sly's Den! It was completely uncooperative and I had to haul it back up for a dirt-encrusted photo. Still, a sight for sore eyes.

The den-site back behind the Valley was almost the place of our first 2021 snake the day before... Andrea had seen a Garter streak away.  This guy was up in that spot this time... is it the same speedster? Maybe.

We made our way back to the Cottonwood Dens to see if any knuckleheads were up on this chilly day. Yes, yes there were a few. Garter garlands coiled in the sun.

We hiked on for a while, visiting the Rock Wall Dens and checking out the wetlands but saw no more animals. We went by the Cottonwoods on the way back to the car and there was another Garter stretching out, trying to warm up. Some of the coils from earlier were still basking an hour later.

We'd thought about a few spots that we didn't go to during that warm(ish) spell and were saddened that we didn't make an effort to see a turtle. Of course, we had no time on Friday and it was far too cool on Saturday. It was cold again on Sunday and it was going to get cloudy, but when we awoke to sun, so we decided to get in gear and try to get to a nearby area to see if we could see a Spotted Turtle. They are somewhat more cold-tolerant than Painters and this place would be our best shot.

We got there just as the sun was deciding it had had enough. But we were on time enough to see our first Spotted Turtle of the year... our overall first turtle, at that! Mission accomplished!

Our timing was impeccable because the sun went away for good right after that. We took a full hike, enjoying the sounds of birds (our first Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles... sounds of Spring) and getting some exercise. On our way back, the intrepid Spotted was still up, but our presence while walking by was enough to make him slide back in.

It got very cold for a few days again.

Thursday the 18th was much nicer, but it was supposed to rain. That was enough to make us (and a few friends) decide that "Big Night" might be approaching. Our friends who live a few states south of us have been scoring plenty of emerging amphibians, whetting our appetite. While our local friends didn't join us this time (we'll go back next weekend), the possibility of seeing Wood Frogs was too much of a lure, so we headed to Bristol County to walk in the dark, cold rain.

We got there at about 8 PM, noticed our shortcut path was locked up and made our way to the trailhead by way of a dangerous walk next to the road. The most troubling thing was, we heard no Peepers. Usually, they can be heard from the parking lot. But our fears were soon alleviated when Andrea said "hi!" to this pretty Wood Frog in the path. First of Year! First frog of 2021!

It was cold enough that we weren't expecting many, if any, salamanders but this Spotted was standing tall on the edge of a puddle. First of Year!

We enjoyed a cool and damp walk along the trail and encountered many Wood Frogs in the vernals, but they were not yet calling. Lots of ride-'em cowboy poses going on, though.

We did the full walk, hoping to see a Blue-spotted or a Four-toed, but despite the (heavy at times) rain, we didn't encounter any. But it was a total delight seeing frogs again, just sitting in a mud puddle with a frog face all cute and stuff. I suspect that some of the mud puddles had Bluies in them but they are deep and cloudy with mud. Likewise, the vernals likely had some Fairy Shrimp in them but the water was too opaque. We did see another Spotted on the way back, this one swimming in a puddle.

On the other edge of that puddle was this Wood Frog.

And that was the last picture of the night... of the week... hell, of the Winter!

This was a very shitty Winter, what with broken streaks and bitter cold. But ya gotta admit, that last week was pretty sweet. 5 First-of-Year species in 7 days.

Bring it on, 2021.