Running For Turtles. 6-10-2017

It was going to be hot and sunny. I asked Andrea where she wanted to go this weekend. She said she wanted to see nesting turtles. We based our Saturday plans around a couple of turtle-centric places in Middlesex County. They're both locations that we hadn't been yet this year. Our friend ‎Teá was hoping to join us but her plans fell through. Poop.

We got to our destination between 9:30 and 10 AM and it was already 80°. Undaunted, we hit the shady trails. This place is usually pretty buggy but the walk in wasn't too bad. Our first herp sighting was a Redback.

I'm super happy that I got a decent shot of him... it was the only salamander we saw all weekend!

It dawned on us that we had gone 10 days into the month of June without having seen a Garter Snake. This place is pretty Gartery so we made a wager... whoever found the first June Garter would have the other pony up the Cash and buy lunch. Yes, this is how we amuse ourselves. But it was pretty warm and as we strolled along, we started to wonder if any snakes would be out. Chipmunks were everywhere, making us check every time the leaves rustled. We finally hit the ponds and got a few Painted Turtles.




The water on one side was extremely deep leaving few basking sites. The culvert was a little clogged with plants so the other side was fairly dry.

A bit further up the path, Andrea pointed out two Water Snakes sitting there. Hey, I'd have seen them before stepping on them. Maybe. One slithered off into the brush but the large female stayed for a photo.

I went into the brush to take a peek for the smaller male who made a break for it and I actually found him. I'm glad I made the effort... he was a very Pretty Boy.

We named him Floyd and released him. No bites, just a little bit of musk.


This poor little Painter had a bug bothering him.

We heard the calls of Bullfrogs and Green Frogs but didn't see any. There is usually a covering of duck weed on this pond but it wasn't there this day... maybe the frogs felt exposed and were further out.

The next pond area didn't have any turtles up basking, which was pretty odd, so we moved on up to the designated turtle nesting field. Sadly, we saw no nesting turtles. Even more sad, we saw dozens and dozens of predated nests.

The mammals are eating good this year. Even more sad was a deceased adult Painted Turtle who lay in the sun, covered by flies and bugs. You know, it's nature; something got her or she had succumbed to the sun.. We come out to see life and animals and just have to accept that we will also see death sometimes.

Bummed out, we proceeded up the path. We would go up this path another mile or so, to a spot where we'd again hit the water and, hopefully, some frogs. Along the way, we spied some more Painted Turtles through the trees, basking in secluded ponds.


Though turtles sometimes nest on this dirt path, we saw none.

A flash of ruby red whooshed in front of me and I saw a Scarlet Tanager land in a tree. I wrestled with the camera for a while, then it flew off... to a better spot! It was very patient with me...

It's only #43 on the year but it's the first decent shot I've ever taken of one so I was thrilled.

We were almost at the watery spot when Andrea spied another turtle off the path... again with lots of bugs on it. Oh no, not again. This guy was alive, but covered with mosquitoes.

I said fuck it and picked him up and we took him to the water. I dribbled some water on his noggin and he started to bob his head gently. Weird.


We headed back after a quick rest at the halfway point. We searched and searched for our meal-ticket Garter but we were striking out. We got back to the previously empty pond and sat on a bench enjoying breeze, the birds and the sound of water spilling through the spillway. In the distance, Great Blue Heron nests were bustling with the fastidious grooming of young birds.


After this rest (gettin' old, folks) we started up again. Right at the water's edge in front of where we were sitting, Andrea saw this good sized Nerodia prowling the edges, looking for the frogs that we also sought.

Since it was heading in the direction of the spillway, I was wondering... what if? And luckily, I got my camera turned on in this to catch the action!

Wheeeeee!

Frogs were still calling like crazy... is this a frog? No!


Finally, determination paid off and we saw a couple of large Bulls near the edge.



We were getting pretty hungry by now. Andrea's fit-bit had gone off a while ago so we'd already hiked quite a few miles. It looked like we'd have to go Dutch when I finally said "I'll have a burrito, please!"

And a handsome free lunch it was.

First Garter of June, 2017.

Lunch was delicious and we left pretty stuffed. We still hadn't seen what we set out for... nesting turtles. So we headed towards home but turned off to go to another wildlife refuge on the way. Why not? We had to burn off some of the big, free lunch.

Things started off pretty well with a large Green Frog just off the path at the beginning.


Andrea struck first in the snake department with this small Water Snake.


Looking off a dock, into the lilypads, I'd missed this massive Bullfrog that Andrea called a green manatee. I thought it was another lilypad, so round was he.


Peeking through the reeds, we could see reptiles... a Painter and a Nerodia, specifically.



The invasive Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) are all over the place here. They hang out at the pipes, swimming against the current, jumping against the metal grates (and splashing and scaring the everlovin' shit out of me) and generally just blowing my mind at how huge and abundant they are.


Andrea was off looking at the extremely swollen river when I saw this Snapper noggin emerge from the water about 20 feet away from the Carp. He wasn't planning on coming any closer to the melee.


We went further up the path, hoping not only for nesting turtles but our first Northern Leopard Frog of the year. Andrea saw a nice, yellowy Garter scoot into a crevice in a log. We waited for him to peek out.


This guy was about 5 feet away, being far more cooperative.


We got to a cross path that runs between two ponds. In the distance, we saw a lump moving... so we ran! This Painter, probably a male, wanted nothing to do with us.

"Nope, not nesting. Just crossing between ponds, you dumb mammals!"

We got to a known nesting spot and saw evidence that we'd not missed a turtle by too much.


On the way back by, the shy yellow Garter was out and about.


We decided that since we were there, we'd take the last path... making it our second full hike of the day. Our tenacity (stupidity?) paid off with a gorgeous Leopard Frog, our first on the year.


The river, as I said, was swollen. See those trees about 30 feet behind the bench? We can usually walk to them.


We were walking up the last stretch and saw another lump... so again we ran.

Nope, no nesting here.

At our furthest point, our turn-around spot, we saw this wee Painted hatchling grabbing as much sun as possible.

We took a look at him and think his right eye is swelling. He's doing the right thing... getting as much Vitamin D as possible. I hope he lives a long and happy life.

We passed back over a spillway that was without animals on the first pass. This time, Andrea pointed out a young Water Snake who was riding the waves.

He got caught in the current and took a spin.

From the boardwalk going over the spillway, we saw this big Nerodia noggin peeking out.


I did see a young Water Snake who had not made it... perhaps he drowned in the rapidly moving water. I released his body from the rocks it was stuck between and it drifted out towards the river. Somebody will enjoy a snack. This very much alive one was swaying in the current, though.


We headed back towards the car, finally reaching the main path and the last half-mile or so of the hike. In the distance, I could see something on the path in front of an elderly couple. Did they bring a dog? It's off limits! I got out my binoculars... Muskrat? They're common here. No, wait... that's a Snapper! For the third time in as many hours, we sprinted up the path to see a turtle.

And a magnificent beast it was. It was feeling closed in by four humans and stood tall in a defensive posture.

We let it cross, watching it walk tall into the brush, then into the water. Andrea had been lamenting missing the Snapper earlier so she was pleased as punch with this one, our last animal of the day.


So, you know, we didn't actually see any nesting turtles, so I guess you could say we failed. But we saw tons of beautiful animals, hiked 9 1/2 miles, got ourselves some much needed sun and had some (more or less) quiet nature time with each other. It was just what we needed.

I fell asleep at 7:30 PM that night. I regret nothing.

Spending our Gift All in One Place. 6-4-2017

I woke up feeling pretty crappy on Sunday. Was it the jaunt through icy cold water the day before? The 4+ hours of driving? Just getting old? At any rate, I wasn't feeling great and since the weather was supposed to suck it hard, I didn't mind hanging around in bed all day. Except the sun came out. And Andrea said some fresh air might do me some good. So we took advantage of the gift of decent weather and went on a quick walk through a fairly local spot... the one that was bulldozed last year.

It had clouded over before we got there but it was still pleasant and warmish. The fresh air was indeed doing me some good. Our hopes were set on seeing some determined turtles nesting. A sandy spot that is horrifyingly used as a bike track is a good spot to find unsuspecting nesters. It's also a good spot for American Toads. These two were living on the edge... under bike ramps.



We got to the bulldozed part and reminisced about Racers. This spot is still recovering and is still filled with mulch. No turtles were nesting yet nor have any Racers, Ringnecks or DeKay's been encountered since the razing. I was up a small hill when I heard Andrea say "There's a Milk right in front of me."

Three feet of well-camouflaged snake. It didn't move so we were able to get some good photos of it.



When it decided that we'd had enough pictures, it simply crawled on...

A perfect Milk and we didn't sully the moment by handling it. I did get a tick for laying down in front of it but that's fair. Seeing a flawless Milk on this devastated land does a lot to renew my hope for this spot.

We carried on for a while, going into the woods to look at a couple of other potential nesting spots but saw no Chelonian action. On the way back, I slopped across some flooded walkway boards and evidently scared up a feisty DeKay's Snake. Just take a look at his scar...

Last year, something gouged this little guy, took off all of his scales and probably nearly killed him. But here he is, feisty and ready to take you on.

Next time you start bitchin' about this and that, remember this 6" snake... he's tougher and cooler than you.

OK, I don't know why I just got so abusive but he really is one badass snake.

Not a bad day despite my being under the weather. The weather I was under turned out to be pretty nice and we saw some inspiring animals. On a day we weren't supposed to be able to get out. Win win win.

A Rare Day of Nice Weather! 6-3-2017

And there we were, into the sixth month of 2017 and we had a... wait for it... NICE DAY! It was going to be sunny and scraping the 70s. We had plans to go out to Western Massachusetts for a friend's surprise birthday party and, being the people we are, we decided to hit a favorite spot that is somewhat near their house to River-Herp for a while.

On the way out to the western part of the state, we noticed the car's thermometer dropping. The skies turned cloudy as well. It seems we had both checked the weather in the Boston area and here we were, two hours away. Oh well... we went in and out of some light rain and got to our first stop (after a kick-ass yard sale) a little after 11 AM. Sun was poking through and it was pleasant, if a bit cool. We stopped to "look for Wood Frogs" inside an ice-cream place and outside we saw a very plump Redback.

She looks about ready to pop.

We got back on the road and drove another 10 or 15 minutes up to our spot, a state forest. It is an exceptional amphibian spot and the river that runs through it is filled with wildlife treasures. It was fairly cool and we wondered if we'd get to see any snakes. Spoiler Alert: we didn't, but we got to see a number of wonderful animals. First up here was a tiny Eft that we almost didn't see.


I lifted a large rock and saw this American Toad scoot deeper back into his burrow. Almost too deep for a shot but I managed.


I came prepared for stream-salamandering; I wore a pair of sneakers that were meant to get wet, so... in I went. HOLYBEJEEZUS it was cold! But my feet went numb pretty quickly and I got used to it. On to the salamanders! This larvae had me a bit confused in the field... I thought it might be a Dusky but upon uploading the picture, I can see it's a large Two-lined.


We soon saw an adult of the species.

I should rephrase that... we soon photographed an adult. We saw plenty but they're fast and tough to get a shot of. This one is obviously too chubby to move fast. (I know the feeling.)

Since learning more about the needs and habits of Spring Salamanders over the past few years, we had discovered that this stretch of river is optimum habitat for them, so they are always a target species here. In another case of (near) instant gratification, I flipped a rock on the edge of the river and was greeted by the biggest Spring I've had the pleasure of seeing.

I mean, this guy has got to be 7"! That's my fat mitt next to him.



We kind of fell into "anything else is just gravy" mode. Our first gravy was this beautiful (if gravy colored) Northern Dusky.

I know I'm a weirdo but I just love Dookies!

Andrea and I split up for a bit, she searched the field and woods while I concentrated on the water from the frozen-feet-in-the-water vantage point. I daresay, she did a little better than I and looked darn good doing it.

Andrea in her preferred habitat.

I saw loads of Two-lines but only got a decent shot of one more.


This place is a very good one for the erythristic (all red) phase of the Redback Salamander and that's what Andrea was actively seeking. She got this high-red but not-quite-there specimen and a pretty Classic Redback.



She wasn't without a Two-line or two herself.


I wisely got out of the water and hobbled back to the sun. On the way, I got a nearly erythristic Redback... missing his black sides at least. Very pretty and different at any rate.


Andrea had been spending some time at the edge of the river watching Caddisfly larvae. She'd seen a frog jump in over at that spot and had been taken away by these weird animals. We went back over there and a Green Frog jumped in and swam into hiding. We sat on some rocks, resting and watching the larvae.

These guys construct their own cases to wear. These ones had used mostly twigs and tiny bits of rock. Fascinating creatures... there were a dozen of them foraging the silt.

Look these guys up... there are some mind-blowing cases out there.

This spot (and I'm sure it would have been just as magical anywhere along this stretch) was breathtaking. Watching the Caddisfly larvae tuned us in to a lot of other animals in the vicinity. Andrea got this great shot of some Blacknose Dace, which were flitting around the rocks.

(It should be noted that I took about 30 pictures of the Dace and they all sucked. Andrea took one. This one.)

This Sculpin was skulking around...


A large Fishing Spider was on the side of the rock next to me.


Party time was nearing so we started to gather ourselves up to head out. Last stop before the car was a dribbly hill under a bridge that was good for another Dookie.


Once in the car, we kept our eyes out for anything that might be warming on the road, but we saw nothing. We did make one stop and saw this Dook of a different color.


We soon got to our friends Jen and Dave's home, also known as Frog Hollow. I think I have described Frog Hollow as "idyllic" in a previous post and I stand by that. It was Dave's birthday and the surprise was successful. They are two of the most wonderful, kind hearted people that we have the pleasure of knowing. I can't think of anyone who more deserve the beauty and magic of this place. Here's proof: while walking their dog once, Jen noticed he had peed on an Eft (which are plentiful here). She actually took the Eft home, washed it and returned it to the spot. That, my dear, is a friend of nature.

Of course, we had to poke around the place ourselves. This Redback was our first sighting.


An old board leading to a shed had two guys under it... a bright Eft and an American Toad that was almost the size of my fist.



We were scolded quite a few times by an Eastern Phoebe... there were two nests there. This one was so full of baby birds that it looked like an ice-cream cone ready to topple over.


A few of us went down to the river (yes, it runs right behind their property... I tell you, this place is heaven!) and Andrea and I got to talk about salamanders to people who seemed to actually be interested. This Dook was there and it was the first one we've seen at Frog Hollow.


That was it for our nature sightings for the day, though down by the river, I flipped a stone with a Two-line and another almost-erythristic Redback under it, so the gene is pretty abundant out this way. More importantly, we got to see some friends that we just don't get to see as much as we'd like, and make some new friends.

The drive home was long but we had good memories to tide us over until we made it. The cat's were wondering where their 4:30 food was. It was well after 9...