My Covid Summer. 6-24-2022

 Well, I finally caught the 'Vid, but it didn't hit me super hard. I was just very fatigued and achy for a few days. I mean, more than my usual baseline of fatigued and achy. Friday was going to be nice... warm and sunny ahead of two days of super-hot n' sticky weather on the weekend. Since I was feeling shitty, I didn't want to exert myself much but I wanted to get some fresh air, so we went to a spot in Norfolk County where we know there are plenty of benches along the walk.

Instant gratification is great. It instantly gratifies. As soon as we got towards the water, we looked off onto a semi-secluded "beach" next to a stream. Two large Water Snakes were instantly in view.

In the grass, closer to the stream, another Nerodia was catching some secret rays.

The colors were poppin' on all three of these snakes!

We turned our attention towards the pond. On the partition, where the pond spills into the stream, a gooey-eyed Water Snake was grabbing some Vitamin D to help heal his orb.

I heard a rustling in a bush next to the pond but was pulled away from exploration when Andrea spied this huge Bullfrog on the pond's edge.

Looking out toward a little peninsula that is usually crawling with humans, we decided that Fridays are the best time to visit this place. Never had we seen a Painted Turtle basking near the peninsula before.

We finally got back to that rustling. Andrea peered into the bush and saw a "good sized Garter" (one of my favorite terms) crawling through. I watched the edge and a small Garter noggin came out and disappeared again. Presto change-o. I did manage to get a voucher shot of the big gal inside the bush.

By the time we got to the peninsula, the Painter had turned into a Water Snake.

We saw a few Barn Swallow nests. All were brimming with sleepy, big headed babies.

Not a frog.

We could see some Painted Turtles through the brush but this is as good as I could photograph them.

We'd made many pitstops by this time and I said I wanted to try to make it to the waterfall. Typically, that's 1/4 of this hike but since I wasn't doing great, we made baby steps. We made it there and, looking off the bridge, saw a chunky Nerodia digesting a pretty big breakfast.

This guy was chillin' next to the waterfall.

This was great to see because the waterfall area is usually filthy with humans. Thank you, Friday.

I said I could go a bit further. Because of that, we saw this dusty Garter. Thank you, me.

I laid down on a rock for a while. That helped. We were at a pond and could see some distant Painted Turtles basking. This was our turn-back point.

"A good sized Garter" was seen crawling away. She did stop long enough for a quick head-shot.

A few of Painted Turtles were seen from a spot that had been empty on the way in.

Remember the rustling bush? We checked that area on the way out. Both snakes were neatly folded and getting some early afternoon sun. The gal:

and her suitor. He looks tired.

Remember ol' Gooey-Eyes? He had neatly stuffed himself into a hole facing the sun in the wall that he had been draped across earlier.

That's all I had... we struggled up the path to the car, ending up doing 1/3 of our usual hike. But you know what? It was great sitting on a bench with the birds singing, the cool breeze blowing and seeing a few critters. That is what makes me feel better. On the way out, we saw a couple more Garters, including another "good sized" one.

Luckily, the weekend wasn't going to be good for hikes, so we stayed in and rested a lot. Two days after this walk, I started testing negative, so it was back to work, whether I felt ready or not. Eh, I'm OK. This is why I'm all vaxxed up and shit. I didn't get hit too hard at all. But it still sucked.

Ending Spring... June 17 and 18, 2022

Off again on Friday! The forecast was for a warm and sunny, maybe even hot morning then thunderstorms in the afternoon. We made the decision to hit our favorite pond in Norfolk County, not just for the chance to jump in but it is a good Ringneck and Spotted Salamander spot... two species we incredulously hadn't yet seen on the year.

Things got off to a familiar start... a pretty Redback was flipped on the way to the dam.

At the dam, I could see a Bullfrog but didn't really have a shot. I struggled and twisted myself and it paid off with what might be my best Bullfrog shot ever! Not a braincell to be seen!

Here's an Eastern Pondhawk resting on a lily pad.

There was an exposed mudflat not too far out and I could see a Painted Turtle up basking. I didn't notice the Killdeer behind him until I uploaded the pictures! We did, however, hear the Killdeer yelling at a Heron not long after we saw this turtle.

Another shot I'm quite happy with... a Painted Turtle noggin emerging between some lily pads.

Andrea finally spied our first snake... a large female Water Snake resting in the bushes.

Contorting myself again, I got a shot of her face.

The water level was a little lower than usual so we figured the Spotted Turtles might be further out or moved on to the bog by now but there were at least two stalwarts.

We went for quite a while from there without seeing anything noteworthy. But it was gorgeous, if a bit hot, and we were enjoying every step. Finally, on the other side of the pond, across from the dam, I rolled over a large log that was in the path and this Garter was resting under it.

So cool! That never happens!

Well, the Hobo Camp finally gave us our first 2022 Ringneck. It was all heated up and ready to move so we had to catch it for a photo.

And then another!

I always try to get the "Ringneck Release" shot but they're speedy and squirmy and I usually fail. This time I didn't get a great shot and I wouldn't have included it here except for the massive tick visible at the front of the rock.

One more Ringer for good measure. The Camp was very very good to us.

We headed down the trail towards Ringneck Hill, a place not only good for it's namesake but also for Spotted Salamanders. Going down a steep, rocky path, we saw a rather odd thing sharing the lane... a Painted Turtle.

She was probably about 100 yards from the pond and she was on a shady trail. Not sure how she got herself into that predicament.

We got her to the other side of the rocks and wished her well. Hopefully, she knew what she was doing.

We got to the pond's edge and sat for a while, just watching the water splash against the rocks and enjoying the breeze. As we sat there, this pretty Water Snake emerged over the edge of some land right next to us, slowly lowered herself, then fell into the water. Here she is just before putting her whole weight on a skinny little plant.

We got to the dock and, mercifully (because it was Friday and the season hasn't really started), we had it more or less to ourselves. One guy was sitting there reading. We soaked our feet, cooled off and saw this Nerodia gal swimming towards the rock steps.

Later, I checked the rock steps and she was sunning and standing tall.

The storm that we'd been hearing about was starting to remind us of it's imminent arrival. We could hear distant thunder and the skies got fairly dark. The Water Snake lady tucked herself under a step...

We took her cue and started to head out. We were still about a mile and a half from the car. We got to a covered picnic/ camping/ boating area and thought it might be a good idea to wait out the impending rain. It hadn't started but it even smelled like rain. We sat for about 15 minutes.

Of course, it never rained.

We decided to make sure it started soon and headed out. What's the worst that could happen? Get wet? Besides, we flipped our FOY Red Eft stage of the Spotted Newt on the way out.

With about a half mile to go, the skies opened up. We were under a canopy of trees for much of the way but after a while, even that didn't matter. Funny- if we hadn't sat in the protected area for a while, we'd have been back to the car already.

But you know what? It was fun. We got soaked to the bones and enjoyed every minute. We only had to protect our electronics.

The next morning was sunny but that rain had cooled things off considerably. It was in the 60s and kind of breezy on Saturday. Deciding to stay close and try our luck with some Ambystoma, we went to another part of the same reservation as the previous day, also in Norfolk County. We'd hoped the rain the day before would help us in our quest for Cuadata.

Andrea struck first with a very dark Leadback!

Next, we finally broke the seal on Spotted Salamanders. Having missed any sort of Big Night this year really set us back. This large, plump fella sure was a welcome sight.

This American Toad was right there next to us as we tried to photograph the Spottie.

This spot is also a decent spot for Garters, Racers and even possible Copperheads but we saw no snakes. It seemed like it would be a good day for them but I guess not. We settled for a couple more salamanders... a Redback.

And another fattie Spotted!

We hiked a few new-to-us paths and got a bit mixed up but never totally lost. It was a lovely day and we'd seen our main target so all was well with the world.

It got stupid cold later that night and remained shitty on Sunday so that was the extent of our Weekend Critter Sightings. 10 species seen in Norfolk County. I call it a good way to end Spring.

Déjà View. June 11 and 12th.

My car has been acting up and, well... gas prices are stupid, so we have to plan our outings accordingly. I splurged and sunk an extra $20 into the tank last weekend so we could go to Plymouth County, once again in search of a Hognose, Green or even a Ringneck. I'll cut to the chase, the only snake we saw was  the grass moving in a serpentine pattern away from us at one point... likely a Racer who saw us first.

Here is what we did see... for the second time in a row, we saw a Painter basking atop a tire in the vernal that we made famous in the story "When the Pool Runs Red". Ok, maybe not famous...

From there, we headed over to the bog where we always see frogs. We saw frogs. Bulls and Greens, some stunning examples of both. I'm not labeling each one because I'm likely the only person still reading this, and I know which is which.

Andrea found this neat, adult Antlion.

A couple more pretty Bulls.

As we got closer to the pond, we heard a lot of splishin' and splashin'... when we got to the edge, this was all we could see of a Painted line-up.

It was quite hot and Andrea wanted to cool off.

This Bull and I watched her from the edge.

We sat down for a while to relax and watch the water. There were a few Painters nearby but they were safely hidden from my intrusive camera.

Before leaving the bogs, I photographed one last Green Frog.

The next stop was the one where we had the highest hopes of snakes but, no... we failed. But the pond had a nice fat Bully.

Not to mention some distant Painters.

The recent rains had things moist under most of the logs but this shy Redback was the only salamander seen.

One positive... whereas we'd seen no toads on our previous visit, the place was literally Hopping with Fowler's Toads this time.

As we always do, we headed over to see if any Redbellies were up basking. There were. We could see 11 in our line of sight and they were all massive. Here is a glance at 7 of them...

From near to far, here are close-ups of the ones in that picture...

^ A couple of adult Painters for comparison.

These three Redbells were also right there.

Sure, we see them every time but it's always a real treat.

One thing we'd never seen there before... goats!

So, same ol' same ol'? Well, yeah, but all of the animals we saw are beautiful and it's worth the gas money.

That said, I had to ask that we stay close to home on Sunday. We went over to a nearby spot in Norfolk County for a hike. It was pretty warm but breezy and it seemed like a perfect day. We hiked in, got to the Alley and hiked the length of it and admittedly, I was getting a bit cranky after  over 2 miles of nothing. I just wanted to see a damn snake.

We finally got back and went through the tunnel to walk the woods. We were pretty much instantly rewarded with the first Wood Frog we've seen in over two months. A lovely rusty one, at that.

Then, Andrea unjinxed us when she saw a beautiful Milk crawling through the brush. I could reach it, so I pulled it out for photos. It was not happy with my decision.

A feisty, tail-rattlin' tough guy. We let it be but it still  wanted a piece of us.

Well, that felt good. I was happy after just the Wood Frog but this was finally an actual snake!

Even better, Andrea next spied this absolutely perfect Garter gal... easily 30", probably closer to 3 feet.

Perfect tail, no scars that I could see and the most brilliant solid white stripe ever! Stunning!

That helped my mood out quite a lot. We did over 5 1/2 miles on this hike and it felt good to finally see a few critters. This little Redback was our last find.

So, we didn't get to check anything off of our huge "need-it" list this weekend but we got our sun, our exercise and got to see some critters. Nine species is OK considering we've not put a lot of effort into it other than walking a few miles with our eyes open.