November Snake!!! 11-9-2014

After Saturday's bird-fest on Plum Island, you'd think we would have stayed in on Sunday! Well, we would have... it was going to be cold. But we hadn't seen a few of our friends for a while so I planned to attend a comic show in S. Attleboro and Andrea wanted to attend a nearby Stitch-n-Bitch. So, with a tear in my eye, I dropped her off and we parted our ways for the morning.

The comic show was fun and it was good to see some friends that I hadn't seen for a while. But driving back, I noticed that the sun was up and, while it was still cool, it was warm under the shining rays. So, I headed back home as quickly and dangerously as possible and packed up Andrea and we headed over to Forest Hills Cemetery to see if any turtles were basking.

Of course, there were none. BUT, we saw a pair of Buffleheads swimming around the pond!


Well, at least we tried for some reptiles.

We were also caring for our friends cats that day so we swung by there to peek in on the kitties. Hey, why not flip a few cold stones in their garden to see if any Dekay's are up?! Surprisingly enough, at 57°, there was one!

Our first November snake... ever!!!



There was also a Redback in the yard!


So, even though the herp season was already declared officially over, one young Dekay's Snake made us happy to never say die!

Hitting the BIG YEAR Goal! 11-8-2014

The herping season is all but over here in the Northeast but I had a score to settle with the Avian crew... I still needed some birds to add to my Big Year. My personal goal, which became our goal, was to photograph and ID 100 species of bird in 2014. We got #97 last week (White-breasted Nuthatch) and we were planning a trip to the ocean for Saturday. Plum Island to be exact.

But first, lest you think this would be a herpless post, I went to my friend's yard on Wednesday (Nov. 5th) because the weather was decent. I was hoping for a late year Dekay's Snake. No dice, but there were plenty of Redbacks around, some pretty plump ones, too. Here are 5 of them!


So on Saturday, it was windy and cold so we bundled up and headed to the North Coast of Massachusetts, ready to bird our little hearts out. It was in the low to mid-40s, even colder with the wind. We were a little confused about where to go, so we hit a Visitor's Center. The lady there was obviously irritated by our presence, so we headed straight to the beach. There wasn't much happening... we were in the wrong place. BUT, I saw a bird bobbing up and down in the surf, and diving under. I chased it down the beach as it kept submerging and finally got an IDable shot!

#98, a Horned Grebe!

But we were clearly in the wrong place, so we hit another visitors center to try to figure out what was what. While there, we visited the courtyard and watched the bird feeder. There was a lot of action! Like the "little blue guys", which turned out to be last week's Nuthatch, from a different angle. Here's one with a House Finch.


Here is a lovely tree decorated with Mourning Doves.


A male Cardinal is always nice...

But these were all "got its". The woman inside, who wasn't a twat like the one at the other place, very kindly showed us where to go to actually be on Plum Island. And off we went.

We got there, paid our admission to the park and the gent at the gate gave us some birding tips. He said if you see a lot of folks pulled over, there's probably something good. Snowy Owls were in the area so we heeded his advice.

Our first pull-over got us our #99, a pair of American Widgeons!


Our first place of interest was the Hellcat Interpretive Trail. We had been there before and it sucked it for herps but we remember birds being around. Well, there wasn't much to write home about this day. A Downy Woodpecker, some Canada Geese and some Mallards. All long time got-its. But coming out of a trail, there were a bunch of Wild Turkeys walking in the road, so that was cool!




We headed further in, not realizing that what we really wanted was to get back to the beach. Sure, I dissed it earlier but I was starting to change my mind. We got to parking area #7 and went to the ocean. It didn't take long to realize this was going to be good. I was eyeing a bunch of gulls and Andrea noted a huge swarm of black water birds sailing in for a landing off shore. We headed to the gulls first.

Our Big Year #100 was... a Great Black-backed Gull! Massive fella! Goooooaaaaal!

He's got some tags on those pink legs of his!

There was a rocky island in the shallows right off shore. On some rocks jutting up next to it, we found two pairs of our #101, the Common Eider!

The males were far too busy preening to get a decent shot, plus they were very far away. But I'm still happy that we got to see them at all.


The island was covered with little brown fluff-ball birds. Whatever could they be? (Stick with me... we're getting there...)


We walked down the beach, towards those "black birds"that flew in. A peek through the binoculars told me that we had spied a target! I wanted Scoters and this was a huge pile of Black Scoters, both male and female! #102!

What's that one in the front? Next to the gull butt. Hey... it looks like #103, the White-winged Scoter! Here's some more, mixed in with some more Black Scoters!


Without the good zoom, Andrea was exploring tide pools and getting excellent shots like this snail on a journey to meet his pal.


Meanwhile, this picture blows but it's our first sighting of #104, a Surf Scoter! (2nd from left)


Here is me and my sidekick, a lobster trap, trying desperately to hold still the camera with the fully extended zoom.


A bemused young Ringbill looked on...


I like this shot... some Black and White-winged Scoters (with a female Eider, to boot) all being photobombed by a gull with a crab in it's beak!


A beautifully composed shot by Andrea.


After dozens of shots trying to get a Surf Scoter (I mean, I had the backs of heads, butt-only... all kinds of bad photos), I finally had a nice looking male all in focus... in frame... and someone flew right into the water in front of him!

The bewildered look on his face says it all. Those gals in the pic might be Surfs as well... I don't see white wings on them. So, without further ado, I call #104, Surf Scoter!

These could be more females. Again, no white wing-tips visible, though they could be hidden by the water. Note the one with a snail snack.


By this time, the tide had gone out considerably. Gulls were flocking all over, looking for tasty tidbits. Here's another Great Black-backed, this one with no tags.


Also looking for snacks were a couple of adorable #105s... Semipalmated Plovers!

This guy had only one leg, but it didn't seem to affect him much!



The shadows were starting to get long...


We headed back toward the rocky island to see what was happening over there in low tide. Andrea got some great shots of this young (probably Herring) Gull with a clam that he was trying to get open.




Meanwhile, we noticed that all of those fuzzy fluff-balls from earlier were all up and poking around for food!

They were our #106, a favorite of the day, Dunlins!

They were completely oblivious to us as they stalked their dinner.



So that's that... we broke out Big Year goal and even got a bit higher! There's no point in stopping now! We'll see how many more we can get (we still really want a Snowy Owl!) and then try to beat it next year! Birders have been born. (But let's face it, when herps come back out, I'll be looking at the ground again!) The ocean has never been so much fun.

Until next time...


Much thanks to Bob and Ashley for helping with IDs!!

Herping in November 11-2-2014

It's officially cold now. The temperature on Sunday was about 42° with a windchill of Negative OhShit!° We drove ourselves out to the Big E in Springfield, MA to check out a Sheep and Wool Fest that was mercifully indoors. We got to fondle plenty of yarn and meet up with old friends in a very relaxed atmosphere, unlike some of the huge S & W Fests that we sometimes attend. Animal-wise, these shows never disappoint, whether you want to see an Alpaca using another Alpaca's butt as a pillow...

or you want to scan the rafters for House Sparrows enjoying the warm indoors.


We spent a few hours there, then found our way to Laughing Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Hampden, MA. I had looked it up and since it has a brook running through it, I thought we might get a few salamanders... hopefully the ever-elusive-in-Massachusetts Spring Salamander.

I'm not gonna lie... it was damn cold when we got there. Andrea looked a bit like this:


Nevertheless, we hit the trail along the brook and wondered just how awesome this place would be in the warmer climes. It is a super-beautiful place. Some large. flat stones along the path produced our first herps... some Redbacks and Leadbacks.



I made my way to the stream which was running fairly rapidly. I worked on the rocks along the edges hoping for Duskies and Two-Lines. The later is what I found.


Lots of them, in fact!



Now, of course, I can find both of these species close to home, so I dedicated myself to trying and trying to find Duskies!

But inevitably, I found none. I got Andrea a consolation Two-Line to ogle up close.


We were cold and tired after a long day of driving, fondling yarn, and a couple of hours of wet flipping, so we headed back to the car. Some birds were fluttering about in the trees. A damn Kinglet once again showed me who is boss. But I heard a pecking and saw a small bird silhouette way up there and patiently waited. It was flitting all over. I managed a couple of dicey shots...


With ID help from the great Bob Ferguson himself, I came to know that this is my Big Year #97, the White-breasted Nuthatch!

So, we have some herps for November already and I'm 3 birds away from my goal. But oh what I wouldn't give for a few more warm days. Like maybe about 60 more this year.