Everglades 2018... Day One: Friday, March 9th.

After getting snowed out of our 2017 trip and showing up (late, due to snow) during an Everglades "winter" in 2016, we were careful to plan this year's excursion later (safer from snow) in the year. No band or family commitments fell on the weekend of March 9th thru 12th, so we that's what we booked our adventure for. Of course, who knew we were going to get shelled with snow on March 8th? This is outside my window with less than 24 hours until take-off.

It's just never gonna come easy, is it.

Well, after lots of whining and anxiety, we got to our flight on time and got to Florida with no problems. There was a rent-a-car snafu but it got settled easily enough and we were on the road by 12:30 PM. Our first stop was right around the corner, on a side street on the way to the highway. I figured we could get a Brown Anole or something around the bushes to get ourselves started. Much to our surprise, our first herp was a lifer; a Northern Curlytail.

Invasive, yes, but quite exciting all the same. Just how do they get their common name?

We got on the road and planned our next stop. It was going to be at a park near Fort Lauderdale where the son we never wanted, Matt, had told us to go. Our target was the Burrowing Owl. We got there, parked and looked around, deciding to walk across a field to explore along the water's edge. I saw a large lizard bolt into the brush through a fence. I snapped a distant shot and saw that it was an iguana. We went up to the fence to try for a better shot and there we saw lifer #2 and invasive #2... a Brown Basilisk.

Such a beautiful, if dumb-looking animal!

Keeping with the invasive theme, our first Brown Anole.


As we walked along the paved path, we saw many iguanas running for cover. In fact, looking ahead, we could see heads popping up, including a massive specimen.

So now we can present herp #4, invasive #4... the Green Iguana.

This brute was huge and he wasn't budging. These are the first wild iguanas we had seen since our trip to Puerto Rico in 2006 or so.

We walked up some other paths, trying to find the Burrowing Owls. A guy who was fishing there told us that the owl nests are roped off, so we headed for a distant roped area. There was a road-worker there on a smoke break who was watching something. I asked about the owls. He pointed one out...

Duh... right there in front of us, #22 on the year, Lifer #168. These guys are so damn cute.

We checked out a few other nesting areas before returning to the water's edge.


A Green in a tree'n.


A Brown on the groun'.


Reptiles aren't the only invasives in the area. We'd been watching flocks of parrots flitting around. I finally got the camera on one outside of it's wire-top "nest"... Lifer #169, the Quaker Parrot (aka Monk Parakeet).

I'm a little hesitant to add them to the bird count but they are firmly established, so they're here to stay.

Andrea's fascination for animal tracks led to this photo of iguana tracks.


Three more were lined up on our way back.


That front guy was so green!


It should come as no surprise that our first snake and fifth overall herp species was an invasive. I guess introduced is a better way of describing the Brahminy Blind Snake... they're not really a threat or competition to anything here.

They're tremendously weird little fuckers, though!


We'd stayed a bit longer than planned at the park (who knew it would be so much fun?) so we got caught in a little bit of Friday rush hour traffic going past Miami, but we got to our hotel in Florida City at a reasonable hour. We found a new friend for Andrea under a rock on the grounds, a mellow Brown Anole.


We gorged ourselves on a buffet, then headed down into ENP for a few hours of road cruising. It was much cooler than expected. After daytime temps in the mid 70s, it dropped pretty rapidly after dark. (The weather-person on the news the next day said it was "well below average".) Our hopes of seeing a snake that night were quickly being dashed. We got out to walk around at a few spots. This spider kept us entertained.


While driving the roads back to get to bed and ready for an early morning wake-up, we finally saw our first indigenous species... the lovely Pig Frog.

And another...


Back at our hotel, we looked around the grounds a bit before hitting the hay. We saw one last reptile, what I believe to be a Hemidactylus turcicus, a Mediterranean House Gecko.
 

So, seven species and six of them are not native. Welcome to Southern Florida. But these are all magnificent creatures, no matter how you slice it, and it's a privilege to see them. What would the next 3 days bring us?

Finishing Up February. 2-24-2018

Of course I felt bad about seeing animals on Wednesday without Andrea. So when Friday night called for rain, I took her out for expensive pizza and we hit a place in Bristol County to look for Wood Frogs (literally) and possible salamanders. When we got there, it was way colder than expected... hovering around 40°. We heard one or two peepers but it was too cold for any knuckleheads to be out. We had to content ourselves with loads of Fairy Shrimp.


We woke up the next morning a bit late. We both had gigs Saturday night (Trainwreck was a last-minute replacement for the opening act at the Jerks gig) but when we saw sun outside the window, we knew we had to take a walk in Norfolk County. We chose a long, straight, flat path where we might see some early turtles.

Well as it turns out, Andrea did see a small basking turtle plop into the water as we approached the trail. As we stood there looking around at the water, we noticed two small Garter Snakes in the sun. One slipped into a hole quickly but the other stayed around for a photo.

Andrea's First of Year.

It was going to be so easy today!!!

Except the sun almost immediately tucked itself behind clouds and pretty much remained there. We walked about 2 miles in and at our furthest point, we finally flipped Andrea's first Redback of the year.

Nice Fu Manchus, brother.

On the way back, some hikers said they'd seen a turtle and by their description, it sounded like it was where we'd seen the plop. Nobody was home when we went back by. Better luck next time.

It was around 60° so despite the lack of sun (holy shit, I'm having amazing deja vu right now), we chose to take a peek around the dens in Suffolk County. Our chances of Ambystoma were better there, too. Andrea struck first with a burgundy backed Redback.


The dens had no Garter garland strew about but we did manage to get Andrea's FOY Blue-spotted, definitely the same specimen I had seen last Wednesday.

She got a much better photo than I did.

That was it but we got in over 5 miles of hiking and saw some critters. I only "owe" Andrea a Water Snake now and I'm no longer in the dog house. It felt damn good to do an actual nature walk.
Our gig was fun that night, if not particularly musical.

I'll Follow the Sun. (February Doldrums)

Boy, does February ever drag on. For being the shortest month, it sure feels like the longest. So when the temps get all the way up in the 40s, we get giddy and get outside.

On Saturday, February 10th, we took a walk around a local pond to look at birds. It was a balmy 44°. We didn't get any new species on the year but saw plenty of avian activity. We decided to go over to the local stream to look for some Two-lined Salamanders. I must say, it felt good to get wet and dirty in the pursuit of salamanders.


We wound up with a cupful of larval Two-lines. Not a bad 10 minutes of dipping.


After a couple of pleasant days during the week, we decided to get crazy and drive to Worcester County to look for Dusky Salamanders on Saturday, February 17th. I decided not to go alone on Friday because I didn't want to see things without Andrea. Well, the weekend was far colder than the weekdays (familiar story) and it was pretty darn chilly at the stream.


But water was running, so we flipped many a stone looking for Two-lines and Dooks.


In the end, we found none. Though both species can be found in icy water, we didn't get lucky. A photo of a frozen waterfall would have to suffice.


Being New England, the chill wasn't going to last long. In fact, by mid-week, it was supposed to be warm. Tuesday the 20th hit up around 70° and Wednesday was going to be even nicer. I made my apologies to Andrea and declared my intention of talking a walk by the local dens after work on Wednesday to see if anyone was enjoying some winter sun.

February 21st, 2018... I got to my spot at about 4 PM, after work. Wearing no coat, I went to check out the known hibernaculum sights. Much to my delight (though not really to my surprise), a lovely Nerodia gal was about 3 feet from the entrance to the underground, coiled up into a warm pile of snake.

First snake of the year... Northern Water Snake.

The next couple of den areas were snake-free. The shadows were getting longer so I suspect that any Garters that might have been out had returned to their underground resting spots. Speaking of spots, a log flip revealed this beautiful Blue-spotted Salamander.


The Rock Wall Den (®) had one Garter catching the last rays of sun on this warm day. (It was about 74°... just gorgeous.)

He looks very pleased with himself, doesn't he?

I headed back, picking ticks off of my pants as I went. I had about a dozen on me, all told. I flipped some logs and rocks, hoping for a Redback or Spotted Salamander, but came up empty. I took the path up the hill to Robles' Den (®) site and "looked for Wood Frogs (®)". After zipping up, I noticed something on top of the mound... a small (12" or so) Garter was up there. He had obviously followed the shifting sun to grab all of the rays he could before retreating. The lighting was tough but I finally got a voucher shot.

I swear as I walked off, I heard him singing "Tomorrow may snow so, I'll follow the sun..."

By now my time had come, and so my love I must go. But I stopped by Old Faithful (®) and finally flipped a wee Redback Salamander, the first of 2018.


Not a bad hour's work. Four species. I know other people in the state had seen some turtles this day, too. I hope all of these knuckleheads made it back underground by nightfall, as it got pretty cold. (The Water Snake had started heading home when I walked by on the way back.) And in fact, the small Garter was right... it did snow yesterday. Winter hasn't abandoned us yet but this small respite was much needed.

Live Nude Turtles! 2-3-2017

Though we never actually needed to drive any turtles from the Cape to the rehab hospital in Quincy this year, we were still invited to take a tour of the facility with other drivers. For the last two seasons, we would drive up, drop off turtles, use the bathroom and leave. Though we got to take a look around in 2015, we eagerly accepted the offer to take a guided tour now that the season has slowed down. (There are only 38 turtles left on the premises.)

Though we knew much of what was done there, we got it in detail and, as always, learned a lot. Our tour guide was a very smart and capable turtle care specialist. We had seen these temperature controlled bins in use before. They're used for swimming and taking a quick first look at incoming patients.


This is where the staff takes the most needy patients first, for examination and medicine, should it be deemed necessary.


The main room holds large tanks, occupied by Loggerheads and Kemp's Ridleys.

(I got scolded by our tour guide for peeking in at a hungry Loggerhead... I was supposed to wait. But he was flippering at me!)

The people on the tour were told of particular turtles that they had found or brought in, what their status was. Andrea's turtle (#245 from our November 26th, 2017 post) is now at the Sea Turtle Recovery in New Jersey. "My" turtle, #244, was dead. Only "my" turtle had died, everybody else had their beautiful success stories. (I was pretty sure #244 was dead on the beach... I was shocked when they said it had lived long enough to be transferred to the hospital in the first place.) It was to prove a point that despite their hard work, they still lose some.

Or maybe she was pissed that I peeked at the Loggerhead. But loooook!


Soon, we all got to go look into the tubs while the staff of volunteers fed the turtles and cleaned the tanks.




Next, we went back into the inner sanctum, a spot we'd never seen, where X-rays and further examination is done. Here are some X-rays, the first of a Loggerhead and the second of a Kemp's with pneumonia. (They told us the Loggerheads often poop during X-rays... the more you know!)



Our last stop was a peek into a borrowed pool where more turtles were being kept, including the two Green Turtles in house. The Greens were not only beautiful but hilarious... they knew humans standing there meant food and they gave us all kinds of attention. #194 is a Green and #089 was the most eager Kemp's of the dozen or so in this pool.


Green scuffle!


The Greens never went far, they always came right back to where we stood, often colliding with other turtles.


Cute little Kemp's #089...


A Kemp's/ Green tag team... hey! That's #194 again!


The tour was over but we were allowed to look at the main tanks some more. Obviously, I took every possible moment to do just that. Admittedly, my photos are all pretty crappy but after having seen so many dead turtles during the stranding season, just seeing them  alive was a huge deal. By now, after lunch, most of them were resting near the bottom of their tanks.



The last thing I got to see was this little Kemp's waving to me from a far tank...

That was a very rewarding morning. Tears? You bet.

The next day, Sunday the 4th, we'd planned to do some birding, but the rain started and we cut our hike very short. I added two species and got this shot of a Red-tailed Hawk munching on some lunch, then broke my camera.


Oh well, you can't win 'em all!

Bolting into 2018 at the Speed of Molasses.

Since I was last here, it has been cold. Record cold, I think. 2018 has gotten off to a very slow start. We have been catching up on our movie watching, though!

On Sunday, January 21st, our dear friend Teá asked us if we wanted to hit a few spots for birding. Since it was going to be a nice day and we always enjoy spending time with her, we accepted the invite and met her and a friend (Laura) at a nearby pond to start our 2018 bird count. We got a few of the obvious ones (Canada Goose, Mallards, etc.) but started off in good form with a bird we didn't get last year at all,  this Ring-necked Duck.

This spot also had some favorites there like a pair of Hooded Mergansers, a Wood Duck and an adorable American Coot.

The sun was out and we were all happy just to be outside without gloves on. I got herp-happy and checked a stream for salamanders. I did, in fact, see a speedy Two-line, but wasn't able to get a photo. We decided to head over to the local dens to see if any knuckleheads were poking out.

To be honest, we really jumped the gun. No noggins there but we did get to observe a couple of Red-tailed Hawks, including this youngster.


But yeah, there was still ice everywhere. I suspect the local Garter crew had no idea it was a pretty nice day out.


Our next spot was right out on Boston Harbor to see some sea ducks. Another species we missed last year was a Long-tailed Duck. Cuties, they are.


A few more species we didn't get last year (which was, at 92, the lowest bird count in 4 years)... Bufflehead.


Dunlin.


And Goldeneye (female).


We really have to thank Teá for not only getting us out of the house but for pointing out some birds that I might not have otherwise bothered to photograph. I ended up with 16 species on the day, not a bad start at all.

Saturday, January 27th was the day we joined our fellow turtle-people for necropsies. Never a particularly pleasant experience, it is always a fascinating and educational one. Between Andrea and myself, we worked on two turtles, then assisted on others. Yes, we found plastic in some. Not cool, humanity.

We got to have a (not long enough) chat with our friend Box Turtle Tim. He'd mentioned the lack of Hit Me With Your Nature Stick in 2018. So, this post I dedicate to him. He also put it into my head that I really had to get crackin' to get a January reptile or amphibian. Having been around dead turtles all day, we vowed to find a stream salamander on the way home. But I didn't want to go to the same stream we always hit... where we got December's only herp.

We stopped at a couple of nature spots before getting off of Cape Cod but as good as these places looked for Hognoses (duly noted for future visits during the warmer months) we realized that no stream sals (or streams!) would be available to us. We headed home, stopping once more at a favorite spot to check out a waterway. Nope. Then, I noticed we were passing a spot in the Blue Hills that I knew had a trickling stream. We stopped in and it sure looked ready for us...

So, yes... on our fourth stop, just as the light was starting to fade, we finally found our inch-and-a-half long quarry... a Two-lined Salamander. The first amphibian of 2018.

He looks pretty pissed at me, too. I did see another darker one but he was faster than I.

So, the year has officially started with a herp count (1) and a bird count (16). While numbers aren't going to be important to us again, we hope to have a successful year learning and hopefully helping the animals and habitats around us.