Snake Date in Connecticut! May 4th, 2025

I hadn't seen my pal Ryan since the company we both worked for closed down. We both enjoy going out and looking for critters and have done so many times together in the past. We have a list of places in Hartford County in Connecticut that we have been to in the past and we finally made plans to do it again this year. So, yes... Ryan lives about 10 miles from my front door but we drove almost 2 1/2 hours to hang out with him because we are committed!! Ot should be. But it was all good and totally worth it.

Our first spot had potential for Wood Turtles and Rat Snakes but we saw neither. To be honest, we were dodging raindrops the whole way down and it wasn't super sunny yet. 100% humidity, too. But intrepid warriors that we are, we gave it our best. This spot rewarded us with a couple of pretty Garter Snakes first. Both have lovely white dorsal stripes.

I flipped a Green Frog under a log. I was more surprised than it was.

Next up was the Bike Path. I flipped a Redback on the way there.

There was plenty of water on either side of the path and if you looked hard enough, you'd see something like this Green Frog nestled into a log.

Ryan found our first Water Snake of the day, a beauty with plenty of red on the sides.

I found the next one, a cyclops.

A Bullfrog was added to our count.

Then, a small Painted Turtle. There weren't many turtles up because there wasn't much sun.

After turning back, we spied another Water Snake but it turned out to be Cyclops resting further in.

Another small Painter...

Another Bully.

Andrea saw this Painted Turtle adult hiding, yet basking, between two logs.

We were going to meet up with Ryan's girlfriend who was finishing up brunch with friends but we had to kill a few minutes, so we went over to a touristy spot that has tons of stone walls. We'd found a Ribbon there in the past. While Ryan and I were inspecting closely for the meat in a Garter Burger between stones, Andrea spotted this long, tall Sally Garter being magnificent atop the wall.

What a face!

We got to the last spot and met up with his girlfriend, so now were were four. Every time that Andrea and I have ever been to this spot, there has been a torrential downpour. Surely, that would happen again this time. Another thing that happens almost every time is that we find a Spotted Salamander under a rock outside the Visitor's Center. I'm glad we were so Spottedly blessed this trip again! First of Year.

A nice dinosaur footprint.

There were tons of tent caterpillars which are quite pretty.

Redback flip.

Our biggest targets here were Hogs, Boxes and Racers. Ryan and I went into the fields to look around for all of these and more. I finally got my eyes on a Racer who took off. Ryan came over and we were able to double-team it for a photo and a capture.

By the time we got it out to the path, it was pretty calm and Andrea was able to hold it without holding on to it. Calmest Racer ever. First of Year.

We added one more First of Year giving us a total of 9 species on the day. Yes, I'm declaring this is our FoY Peeper. It was 1/2" long and my camera could do no better. It counts, I say! Screw you!! You can see it in there!

Before leaving the park, I added a Baltimore Oriole (#47) to our 2025 Bird Count. Yay! I think it was Boog Powell. We didn't get rained on, either!

That was a great day and totally worth the drive... both ways. It was our first Snake Date together in a while and we're very happy with the results. It was lovely to meet Ryan's Main Squeeze... we both like her a lot. Good folks, good day. I did, however contract a rare (for me) case of poison ivy on my arm, inches away from where surgery was due in a week. Oops.