May 1st was a Sunday. It was going to be warm and the sun was up. We headed to a spot in Bristol County in hopes of a Milk or Ringer or something. I mean, it was warm, finally. T-shirt sleeves. What could possibly go wrong?
On the day, we saw quite a few Redbacks, which is always nice.
But the thing is, we only saw some Redbacks. It wasn't long before we realized that we were getting skunked. Even though the temps were warm, we weren't seeing what we expected. No Painters, no snakes, no frogs...
Finally, almost to our turn-back spot, Andrea spied a Garter. Of course, he started to slide into a hole just as I was trying to photograph him. So, I grabbed him, gently pulled him back, and covered him with my hands to calm him down for a shot. Now, I don't handle much anymore and I rarely do the "pose" thing, but wouldn't you know it... as I had my hands over the snake four fucking people walked by and saw what I was doing. So, for all the world, I looked like one of those guys.
Kinda worth it, though... what a beautiful Garter!
At our turn-around spot, there are usually Painters up on rocks in the distance but I couldn't see any this time. Upon inspecting the furthest out rock, I saw it wasn't really a rock at all... it was a Snapper!
He was a long way out and I tried with about 50 pictures to get a good shot, but this one, the first, was still the best. While I was trying, a closer rock became occupied.
Despite not seeing much (we were already a few hours and miles into this), we were happy to be out in the world, getting some sun and breathing (more or less) fresh air. There were more humans than usual at this spot, but since it was the first nice day of the year, we kind of expected that. To celebrate May Day, a Mayfly landed on Andrea's glasses and wouldn't move.
You can't say we didn't try. We did see a few more Redbacks, like this shy one:
We were almost back to the car but we decided to check the river one more time before leaving. We were rewarded with some basking Painters who were unphased by the human activity nearby.
Admittedly, we expected a lot more sightings on the day but, as always, this stuff is unpredictable. We headed home pleased with what we did see.
The next Friday, the 6th, Andrea took off from work. I mean, every Friday has been nice in the past month, so... what could possibly go wrong? Well, it was going to be in the 50s and overcast. We remained undeterred. We decided to take our first trip into Worcester County to look at the tree.
It was breezy and cool there and we headed straight to the tree. We got a glimpse of a Rat, then he disappeared, not to be seen again.
Main target attained, but as always, it was a bit bittersweet. Too many people know about the tree and it appears that some asswipes have been climbing it to look inside it. The tree is cracking in half. If we're going to take care of the state's rare snakes, this type of bullshit behavior has to end. Personally, I think they should fence up the tree. Photos would still be obtainable and the habitat would be spared.
We had plenty more targets on our minds, though. We figured we could flip a Milk or a Ringer or some Garters. Nope, no snakes. Redbacks were again the easiest thing to see. Here's a Lead and a Red.
While we incorrectly thought that we might see a few snakes, we (also incorrectly) thought it would be a lousy turtle day. But Painters are intrepid warriors and they were plentiful, doing their best to soak up some of the hidden sun.
This next one looks like a band photo.
Even with all of these lovely wetlands, we saw no frogs. But we did hear our first Green Frog calls. Just couldn't find them!
Walking back to the car yielded a huge surprise. Andrea, who definitely has a gift, saw this little over-wintered hatchling Painter walking along the side of the road towards the wetlands...
Unbelievable. Of course, that made us scour the area for a while longer, but we never saw another. We released this little fella on the edge of the water, wishing him well.
It was still fairly early, so with baby turtles on the brain, we headed over to another spot nearby where we'd seen a half dozen baby turtles last year who were trapped in a spillway. We saw none this time, though there was an adult Painter trying his best to bask.
We walked a trail next to a stream for a while and finally saw a May frog!! This Bully was pretending he wasn't visible, we we knew better.
Walking out, we saw a Veery (#68) hopping around next to the water. Since they are pretty tough to get a shot of, I was delighted that he was so cooperative.
Again, not a great day but well worth our time and effort and gas money.
We'd planned to go to Green Snake Place on Mother's Day but I took a wrong turn and headed us in the wrong direction. So, we just went over to the local cemetery instead. When we got there, the wind was freezy and we decided that it was a good thing we didn't go to the other spot, which is windy at the best of times.
This spot paid off immediately. We could see turtles from the car. A pair of Red-ears were first.
Some trees had been trimmed on the little islands in the pond (one island has disappeared with the high water and treelessness). This little Painter was relaxing on a stump, which is obviously a favorite spot of the local Geese as well.
Around the other side of the pond, there was an extraordinary sight.
We've got Canada Geese, Barn Swallows, Red-eared Sliders, Painters, a Yellow-belly Slider (1st of the year, at that) and a lifer bird in front, a Solitary Sandpiper (#69, Lifer #199).
Here's the Sandpiper up a bit closer...
Then, this guy popped up... not sure if it's Whitey, but he seemed interested in the bird.
So, here is the picture with Snapper added but Geese subtracted.
The Snapper noggin is between the two bottom rocks, to the left.
Here's a good look at the top rock, with a Red-ear on the left and a Yellow-belly on the right. Both released pets, but both beautiful, magnificent animals!
It seems Orioles have arrived for the season. We had a youngster in a tree right over us that had just bathed and was shaking and flitting all over to dry off.
I couldn't get any good shots but I sure as hell got a funny one!
Baltimore Oriole, #70 on the year.
Proceeding around the pond, we found a secret RES doing some basking yoga in a hidden spot.
Then, right up on the grass where we were walking, another Red-ear was basking on the shore, paying us no heed.
Our final sight before heading over to Andrea's mum's for Mother's Day festivities, we noticed another Painter joining his bud on Poop Stump.
So, I'd say that May is off to a less-than-usual start but I can't complain. As long as I can still get out and walk around at my advanced age, I'm glad to see anything that I can. All hail Painters and Redbacks!
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