The Second Weekend in May... the 7th thru 9th.

 True to form, the temps were going to be crappy and Mother's Day was Sunday. I had written off the weekend entirely. While running errands on Friday morning, however, it seemed OK outside so I suggested we hit the local dens on Andrea's lunchbreak. And we did.

We didn't encounter throngs of writhing snakes or heaps of exotic animals but we saw a shy little Rednack.

A small Green Frog in Sly's vernal.

And lastly, a small Redback being bullied by a worm.

Better than sitting on a couch.

The next day, Saturday, was cool and cloudy... mid 50s for a high. Not exactly reptile weather. But based on success we'd had a year ago to the day, we headed into Plymouth County with the hopes of seeing animals. As I often say, thank heaven for Redbacks! That's how we started things. Leads and Reds.

I was a little surprised to see a Spotted Turtle up, trying to catch some nonexistent rays.

It wasn't going to be a great day for reptiles or amphibians, but birds were plentiful and I took the opportunity to add a few species to the year's count. (Finally) #50, a Yellow Warbler.

Our #52, the Osprey, was flitting back and forth to the nest, bringing choice morsels to his nesting partner.

We finally got a few glimpses of Painted Turtles, too.

Let's hear it for the bunny. Let's give the bunny a ha-ya-ya-yand.

I was all eyes to the sky trying to get an IDable photo of this Turkey Vulture (#54) while a small Water Snake slithered across the path right next to me and into the drink, only to disappear before I could get my camera down.

Oh well, the vulture shot isn't horrible.

Here's where the story starts to suck. Feel free to stop right here.

Andrea saw a small Painted Turtle on the ponds edge. We photographed it, but something wasn't right. She picked it up and we saw that it was deceased. We tried to figure out how. Maybe the cold of the night slowed it down too much and it couldn't lift it's head out of the water, drowning? We just didn't know.

Not far from there, we were redeemed with a live Painter on the shore.

But upon closer inspection, this one had a large swelling on the left side of her face (not visible in the photo), like an abscessed ear or something. Healthy in every other respect, but it was an alarming sight.

While Andrea was inspecting that one, I saw this male Painter on the edge. He has an obvious eye problem; his right eye was a ball of gelatinous pus. He will lose that eye, though I don't think it's life threatening. (I've seen plenty of one-eyed turtles and snakes over the years.) Still, not the way I want to see my wildlife.

Then we saw another, larger, drowned Painter. What a bummer stretch of pond. All 3 maladies (ear abscess, pus-eye, lethargy) can be attributed to Vitamin A deficiency in pet turtles, but what did it in the wild? Weird and sad.

Things perked up shortly with this proud and healthy Bullfrog.

Later, a Garter was seen, but not photographed... it had eluded our cameras easily. We finished this depressing day with the birds and the bees. #55, Tree Swallow.

#58 Eastern Towhee.

A Bumblebee filling his leg pouches.

The next day was Sunday, Mother's Day. We decided that, since it wasn't too bad after all, to go check out or Green Snake place. (Green Snake place as in we've seen 3 over the course of about 6 years.) It was sunny and a bit warmer and we had about an hour to invest before heading to Andrea's mum's house.

HORRIBLE SHIT ALERT:

Our first sight there was a total, heart-breaking nightmare. We saw a Green Snake. It had been a healthy adult, probably around a foot long and in very good flesh. But it was dead. Recently killed. It's tail had been "tied" to a stick (unravelling in rigor mortis) and it had been whipped or something. Human cruelty knows no boundaries. My hatred of my fellow man knows no boundaries. I hope the person responsible for this murder dies as horribly as that snake's last moments were. 

Obviously, we were staggered with horror, hatred and sadness.

Nearby, this Garter cheered us up with it's beauty and innocence.

We did see a First-of-Year in the form of one, then another DeKay's Snake. Andrea's perfect coil flip is stunning.

A look around didn't get too much else. Here is a Garter sunning in a bush... voucher shot at best.

One last flip on the way to the car.. a perfect, sleepy coil of snoozing Garter. Didn't even wake up completely when we picked him up to replace the rock. Zzzzzzzzzz... Charming little fella.

After visiting Andrea's mum and before my recording session, we pulled over on the way home to an urban spot where we've seen some sidewalk snakes among the rubbish. Having broken the DeKay's seal, we saw two more specimens under some rocks at a bus-stop.

I worry about the snakes that we see here, living in a world of humans that can be cruel and ignorant. Check out the scar on that second guy. Tough little ass-kicker. May they grow and live long healthy lives.

Fuck humans. Seriously. I'm ashamed of my species.