March 12th 2011- Cabin Fever got the best of us.

Since mid-December, I have been dreaming almost every night about getting back into the woods, dreaming of catching snakes and salamanders. It's no surprise that on the first warmISH day of the year, we got ourselves out and walking.

The week had ended with heavy rain so, in my stupid, innocent optimism, I figured that it might have woken up the salamanders. That Saturday, it was in the 50s so, we figured why the hell not?! Sho nuff was a beautiful day!


We headed to Hoar, our Salamander Haven. If anything would be up, it would be up there. While it wasn't exactly a successful trip in that regard, it was a fantastic two hours getting off of our asses and seeing some nature.

Well, of course the spring reveals many things, and this dead raccoon was our first animal...


But things picked up with signs of living animals... like raccoon tracks in the mud...


It looks like maybe a dog print right next to it...

Deer poop-


And a horfed up hair ball, perhaps an owl pellet!


There was some lovely Orange Jelly Fungus-


And the Skunk Cabbage was popping up all over!!




An interesting thing about Skunk Cabbage... it emits some heat when it's coming up, so it melts snow around it!


So where are the feckin' animals, beyotch?

Lighten up, yo... we had a few!

A male Mallard duck!


A hibernating bee! I flipped a log and there he was... I poked him and he nestled in deeper. Weird.


There was still some snow around, so we figured that we might be a bit early for any herps.


But lo and behold, one flipped log revealed a Redback Salamander! Our first herp of 2011!



To say that he was slow moving would be an understatement. In fact, we weren't even sure if he was alive! So, I put him back and hoped that he'd thaw out and live a productive salamander life. I went back a few minutes later to see if he'd moved and it looked like he'd started pointing himself back underground... very very slowly.

So, we're happy! We got to spend a couple of hours doing what we love most! And getting muddy-


I snapped this pic of myself for an amusing snot-dripping shot...


Little did I know that I had a passenger

A tick, who make it up and onto my neck in a minute or two, making us freak out and hurry home to strip off all of our clothes (and not in a good way)!

Ah, the joys of nature walking! Can't wait to get back out!

What's wrong with Avians?

Twas a fine day in mid-November. There had already been a frost, so herps were out of the question. But what about their beaky, flappy and oh so airborne brethren?

We headed to Forest Hills Cemetery (honestly, hoping to see a turtle, but it wasn't to be).

We saw Hooded Mergansers! Cuter than shit, they are! I think it's 3 males and a female.


Andrea got amazingly close to a heron and got some great shots!




Then some guy and his brat came clomping up and Heron-boy took flight!




Geese were enjoying the Snapper-free environment!


We packed up our asses and went for a drive after that... to Winslow Farm! Here, we saw... shitloads of cats!





There were some odd looking wild ducks...


And I got cozy with a pot-belly pig.


I need to get out and herp again soon. But it's New Years eve right now, so my chances suck ass.

Last herp of 2010... Oct. 28th

We were cat watching for our good friends... the wise and wonderful Kate and Snag (both adjectives apply to both friends...). They have mentioned snakes and salamanders in their yard, which is a 2 minute walk from our house.

It was getting dark, but the day was balmy... so we flipped a few rocks and... REDBACK!!


He quickly scurried off into the grass... leaving us with the memory of our LAST HERP OF 2010.

*sob*

October 23rd... Getting desperate...

OK, 2010 has been a pretty crummy one for nature walks and herping. There was the house-buying thing, moving and a book in design taking up most of the summer months. Not to complain, but... it sucked! (OK... that's certainly a complaint... I'm sorry)

With the viable herping days winding down oh- so rapidly, we had a day of low-60s F temps, so we went to a new favorite place... a visit to the mostest Salamanderest place of all... Hoar!

It took a while, but we finally scored a Fistful of Redbacks, directed by Sergio Leone!


After we got our herpin' eyes adjusted, redbacks started popping up all over the place! Now that's a'what I'm-a talkin' about!



The autumnal colors were quite lovely... we tried to capture them on the digital camera with middling success...


Our worrying about not finding herps was put to rest by the abundance of Redbacks... they are hardy little fuckers!



Leadback!


There are at least 4 redbacks in this shot sharing their space with a slug...


Guess what else was at Hoar today... Pill Bugs!!!! Oh, and a Spotted!


It was cold enough for Andrea to wear her Bear Claws, but the Spotted Sally didn't mind!



Redbacks and leadbacks made themselves known again...




And then another Spotted!



Well, we were certainly satisfied... Sally-riffic! If these were our last herps of the year, then we went out with a bang! Thank you, Hoar!