Tried and True and Something New. April 24th, 2021

 A decent day was going to be upon us for a change... low 60s and sunny. We had choices to make and decided to visit "The Tree" in Worcester County for a shot at seeing rare (in Massachusetts) Rat Snakes and a few other possible First of Year species. We hit the road and got there in the late morning with the sun high and warm.

We poked around the parking lot edges before heading to "The Tree", ground zero for Rat Snakes. Having turned up nothing, we headed to our sweet spot. As hoped, but never expected, we saw our first Black Rat Snake of the year, draped along the top of that wonderful tree.

A close-up of ol' dirty face.

As I went around the front of the tree for that second shot, I saw two more Rat Snake noggins pull into a crack that goes up the center of the tree. We tried to wait them out, but they didn't reemerge, so we went on to explore surrounding spots.

We headed down to a flipping area that came up empty, dashing our hopes of Redbellies and Ringnecks, but found a dirty Redback under a rotted log, so all was not lost.

Passing the tree on the way back up, our garland friend was still basking at the top and one of the faces was back, popping out of the crack.

Moving on, we scored another Redback.

We got to a pond area and looked for basking turtles. This little Painter was caught mid-hoist, working his way into the sun.

Further on in that pond, the stacks were more generous.

Andrea spotted a pair of Wood Ducks (#49) in the distance. Here is the male.

This place is pretty small, overall, and we can see what we want to in just a couple of hours. We went back by the tree one last time. The draped guy on top had moved in a bit and was barely visible, but the crack was hoppin'!

That's both of them back out... this guy (head hidden)...

And this guy... head showing in the bottom of the nook.

A crack on the shady side of the tree had one shy Rat in there...

That tree really is a gift. Snake lovers in Massachusetts have a real treasure right there.

So, it was only 2:00 PM and the sun was still high, so Andrea looked on her map-phone-thing and asked if I wanted to explore a nearby place. Yes. Yes I did. So, we made our way through a small town for 15 or 20 minutes and came upon a park with a waterfall and a large pond. There were humans there, but it was big enough and enticing enough for us to take a look.

First, we followed a shady stream that cut through the woods on the opposite side, away from the pond. It was beautiful and we had visions of Dooks and Two-lines, but found nothing in the short time we allowed ourselves. We did see a Green Frog on the way back to the pond, though!

The pond edge was pretty excellent, too. I got my feet wet by retrieving a ball for some kids, so I was ready for wet action. This Bullfrog watched me with zero interest.

I'm calling this guy a Fallfish. He stayed nearby as I photographed him from the shore. If you think it's something else (a Chub of some sort?) please let me know.

A shy little, colorful Green Frog.

The further we got from humans, the more Painted Turtles we saw. In fact, by the far end of the pond, we were seeing them on every possible basking spot.

There was a dam/ waterfall between this pond and the next. We made our way through a wooded trail to explore the other pond. In between, there was a boggy area with some Bullfrogs. The second one here was absolutely massive... one of the largest Bulls we have ever seen.

^^ This guy is a brute!

This side had more Painted fun.

Andrea spied what is actually only our second Garter of April. And a gorgeous one it is!

Since this was our second hike of the day and we were a couple of miles in and we had no idea how far it went, we turned back around here. Fatigue was starting to set in.

We walked the pond edge when we got back near the parking area, intent on a quick look at the other side of the waterfall. Over towards a spillway, this Green Frog was hanging out, alongside a fresh-water snail. The snails are abundant at this location.

I looked down into the spillway, as I am wont to do, and I saw a tiny Painted Turtle down there. He must have floated over the edge when the water was higher. As I was trying to photograph him, I noticed a second one... trying to scale the wall!

We started to think there might be a problem and I thought that, since my feet were wet, I'd try to get to that area for turtle removal.

I walked across the street to see where I could enter. The tunnel was low and I'd have to hunch but I could manage it for 20 or 30 feet.

Damn, that water was ice cold under there! A little over my ankles.

I started scooping up Painters and placing them into Andrea's hat.

I came up with four turtles... 3 Last Year's Model (overwintered?) and one slightly larger one. I handed the hat up the 8-foot wall to Andrea.

Walking back under the road, my feet froze. But it was all worth it. That's the exuberant climbing guy crawling out of the hat, the larger guy on the right.

We took them about 25 or 30 feet away from the spillway and released them. Climber took right off. The other two hatchlings were more shy.

I wonder how many have fallen back down the spillway during the following week.

So, we call that a good day. FOY Rat Snakes and a successful exploration of a new place. And who knows, we like to think we helped those fallen knuckleheads, too.