Killing Off 2021. G'bye!

 We got out briefly during the last week here.  On Monday, December 27th, Andrea wanted to go to Northampton to take advantage of the Webs (America's Yarn Store) year-end sale. While there, I wanted to poke around in the streams of Hampden County, hopefully to see our first Massachusetts Dookie of the year. (We'd only seen Northern Duskys in PA.)

Well, we didn't, but I netted a couple of Two-Lines which, incidentally, Andrea hadn't yet seen in this state. (I had on Jan. 1st.)

A larvae, too...

These guys never cease to amaze me... that was some icy water!

The next day, it was sunny, but cold. 42° to be exact. But it was nice enough to take a walk around our local dens. One Garter Knucklehead was out, not 5 inches from the hole to the hibernaculum. He posed nicely in the sun before retreating to bed.

And that is where 2021 ends for us. My 2022 Bird Count begins tomorrow. A clean slate for everything. What will be our first reptile? Our first amphibian? Will be have a good year? Or a shit year? Who knows? But we're going to enjoy being out there in the wilds of Massachusetts and beyond.

Baby, it's COLD Outside. December, 2021.

 I don't know if we'll get out again this year, so it looks like it's time to post our December shenanigans.

Saturday, December 4th wasn't horrible out. It was fairly sunny. We discovered this fact too late, but tried the local dens anyway. We thought, "I'll bet there were a few knuckleheads out earlier!" But there weren't anymore, as the shadows had become quite long. We still managed to flip a wee Redback, though, which made the day.

Down by the Cottonwood Den, a pumpkin was being enjoyed by the denizens of the woods.

The next December day that seemed sunny enough was Sunday, the 12th. The sun was bright, but it was only 45° and windy. Still, dummies that we are, we went for it.

Robles' Den was very cool. It was empty. Walking down past Sly's Den, however, we got a big surprise. Right there, next to the path, a dusty Garter was coiled in the sun.

Outstanding!

Further exploration of the Valley brought us a couple more large females. This one was easily 30" plus.

This gal was slowly moving through the leaves in the sun, probably moving back towards the entrance to the underground.

Up at the new den in the back of the Valley (we really need to name it), Andrea spied this cutie-beauty grabbing some rays. She has a scar on her midsection; maybe she was going for a little extra Vitamin D.

That was it. (What? Only four snakes on December 12th?) The pumpkin was gone. I like to think a Raccoon carried it away and devoured the entire thing.

The only other somewhat naturey thing we did is take a trip to the dinosaur exhibit in Boston. It was loads of fun. Here is an Archaeopteryx and a Parasauropholus.

That's pretty much it for 2021. I dearly hope 2022 will be more productive and safe for everyone.