We both had the Friday off again and we wanted to go to Brimfield, the massive antique show in Hampden County. Since we'd be in the area, we thought we'd stop by the near(ish)-by park to check out The Magic Tree, a county over. The Magic Tree has been mentioned here before because it is ground zero to a population of Rat Snakes, a species that is endangered in this state. Any day you can see a Rat is a good day.
We got there nice and early and it was barely 70°. The recent rain had the grass dewy and it was moist under logs and rocks. That made it very good for seeing our first Redback Salamander since July 8th, when we were on vacation in the Berkshires!
Some folks take the common stuff for granted but we never do. This guy was great to see!
We next unearthed a brand new Ringneck!
Off to a good start!
I flipped a piece of wood and a massive Pickerel Frog hopped away unphotographed. ARGH!
We walked up towards the tree but saw nothing. I retreated to the woods nearby and flipped a pair of Efts, our first since June 17th!! Thank you, rains!
Right next to that (piece of bark) we startled a Pickerel! Revenge was sweet!
Andrea said she thought she'd seen a coil near the top of the tree, so we went back over to inspect. Sure enough, that there is a tail. Look at all of that skin on the side!
We were talking to a ranger there and he said the Rats were all over the place in the heat but he hadn't seen them in a while. (Figures... every other snake was in hiding during the heatwaves!) He also said the drought had dried up everything and the swampy area was turtle-free and that Water Snakes had gone to the lake, startling swimmers on the beach at times. I like stories.
From there, we went to a flipping spot. One board had two shoestring Garters under it. One made his escape but Andrea managed to grab one for a photo. He was a badass.
Even after she put him down, he remained, striking and showing us who is boss.
Moving on, we saw a few more Pickerels. Here's one...
Andrea, having broken the seal, made it possible for me to flip these two Redbacks... a Red and a Lead!
I was a little reluctant to look at the swampy area, for fear of it being bone dry and depressing but the recent rains had refilled it a bit and there were a number of Painted Turtles up, covered with duckweed, and enjoying the morning rays.
Moving on towards the lake, we saw no Beach Water Snakes but this spider had a pretty good set-up out there.
We took a wooded path from the lake towards the road where there is a nice spillway that runs under it. The shady path was good for us to cool off (we were sweat factories again) and see another Redback.
Now, this was a good day. Not one for numbers, but we had four snake species on the day! We'd only had three in all of August.
Our last wooded path sight... a small American Toad, happily hopping on his way.
We got out to the road and went to the spillway to look out. A happy Painter was awkwardly basking on a log.
Looking down into the rocks around the concrete culvert, I saw an adult Nerodia noggin pop up and stay there for a bit.
On the other side, the stripes of a Garter were visible between rocks.
We'd already had a day that was much more fruitful than expected, but it was about time to go. We headed back up towards the car, but decided to take one last peek at the Magic Tree.
On the way there, we saw a cherry tree that we decided we did not need any fruit from.
Ah, the Magic Tree. Hot Damn. Right there was a this-year's-model Rat Snake, stretching out and getting some rays.
Around the other side of the tree, slithering into a knot-hole, was another Rat who had popped out of an egg earlier this year.
This is the kind of luck we usually don't have and it felt darn good.
For you counting, that's eight snakes on the day. One more than August's total. A nine species day, and all in about two hours. Thank you, rain, Mother Nature and Lady Luck.
By the way, Brimfield was fun and I found this model kit:
Does that count as our tenth species?
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