How We Ended July. 7-30-2023

The heat finally broke! The hazy grey skies and sweltering heat had calmed down after the Friday night rain and it was in the low 70s when we headed to Plymouth County to try our luck. Of course, we knew we'd have to settle for heartbreak, but ya gotta try. At least it was beautiful and cooler.

Yay for us, we got up nice and early and made it to the State Forest by 9:30. Take that, Cape Traffic! We went in to our first spot and Andrea even decided to hike down the gas-line trail for the first time this year. We were rewarded with a couple of very small Fowler's Toads.

We made it to the "Pool Runs Red" vernal and from the top of the trail, saw that it was very full and that a Painted Turtle was up enjoying a bask.

Frogs "yeeped" and skimmed into the water at our approach. I swear, some of them got multiple skips, like a kid with a flat stone on a lake. I finally got the camera on a Green Frog on land, hiding in the shadows of the plants.

From there, we went over to the bogs. We heard lots of Green Frogs but only got the camera on some Bulls.

These purple petaled, vomiting yellow stamen flowers were all around the bog. I failed to ID them.

We went to sit next to the pond to watch fish and listen to birds, which we do every time. (This whole trip is always on repeat.) This tiny Toad was with us.

From there, we went to our best Hognose trail. Would we see one? No, but we did get our First of Year Redbelly under some bark.

Obligatory belly shot.

Coming down the hill from that encounter, a family of Black Ducks swam away in the pond.

We gave it our best effort but saw no more snakes. Here's another Fowler's and a basking Painter from that trail, though.

Our last stop, as always, is the Visitor's Center. Water refills and turtles are usually what we seek there. No Red-bells (or Racers, for that matter) but there were a couple of Painted Turtles up, for a while anyway. It was very crowded with humans there.

That's it. That's what we managed. But Andrea did 6 1/2 miles, with plenty of rests in between, so I'd say we're sort of back into our fighting form. Or not. It doesn't matter. Seeing anything is a gift.

Beating the Heat. 7-23-2023

 Last year was dry and hot. Too hot to do much and so dry that things were in danger of dying out due to drought. This year is also very hot, but we have tons of rain. Record breaking rain. While many folks complain, I say "let it rain, baby"! No dried out vernal pools this year. No thirsty snakes. We'd hoped to take advantage of the moistness of it all and head into Essex County to look for salamanders and snakes.

Of course, true to form, we got a late start, but when we got there, we remembered that much of the trail was shaded and it wasn't horribly hot in the shade. There were, however, 'skeeters. But, much to our joy, there were frogs, too. Our first find was a small Pickerel.

This year's toads were seen as well... here's a miniscule American Toad.

How about a Green Frog on the edge of a pool?

I rolled a log over and startled this small Wolf Spider up on to my shoe.

We got to a spot overlooking the water and saw plenty of turtle noggins poking out. This Painter was swimming when I snapped.

Back to the trail, a Green in a mud puddle. No shame, just keeping cool.

I'd been hoping for a large adult Pickerel. This upper-medium-sized one was good enough.

Another spot overlooking the water was very productive for Painted Turtles.

A Red Admiral landed in front of me and begged for a photo. How could I say no?!

A cool Painter.

The spots that had been best for snakes in the past were right out in the scalding sun this time. Finally, in the dappled shade next to a pond, a slim Garter was spotted.

Down the hilly path (Andrea did great with just her brace on) and on to the next pond. This one is usually filled with duckweed. We noticed that, incredibly, one side of the pond was dry. Being next to a reservoir, it's possible that it had been dammed up or something. When we did get to the watery part, it was Painted Turtle Mecca.

We got over to the path that overlooks the reservoir, usually a great spot for Water Snakes. The walk was mostly in the shade so we'd be comfortable as we sought Nerodia. We finally saw one near the end but she was a sneaky snake and I only got crap photos. (I didn't keep any of them, but hold on...) We got to the turn around point and... get this... we turned around! Barely starting back, we saw a large Water Snake that looked exactly like this one.

Is that the same gal that I'd just struggled to get a shot of? No, THIS one is she! (I recognised the dirt on her face!)

And then, right next to her was one of the biggest Water Snakes I'd ever seen. This one was as big around as my wrist. And my wrist is big. Look at that head!

^ That was a tough-assed picture to get, by the way.

The, right next to her was another large Nerodia!

We had entered the Water Snake Sweepstakes and won! Four large-to-massive gals all in a row. You could back up and see all four at once. Tremendously cool.

From there on, it was just a nice walk back through nature. I saw a small Wood Frog at one point that handed me my ass, as well as another Garter that did the same. We finally sat down near the water and just enjoyed watching Painted Turtles enjoying the summer with us

Noggins.

And that is how the day ended. We got ice cream afterwards. I got Peach and Andrea, naturally, got Totally Turtle.

A Visit to the Magic Tree. 7-15-2023

We had plans to visit the summer Brimfield antique show that weekend. Attending that show always puts us in range to visit the Magic Tree, home of the easiest Rat Snakes to see in the state. We rarely fail to see at least one (though, we have failed...) It was going to be hot, hot... hotter than hell that Saturday so we left nice n' early and got to the park in Hampden County a bit before 9 AM. Of course, Andrea's foot was going to keep us moving slow, but that gave us more time to look closely.

Sadly, the Tree is falling apart. You can see right into it. I don't think it will last much longer. We didn't see any of our target snakes, either. Hopefully, they'll find a new place to nest because that tree will be kaput in a year or two. We went searching for schnickles elsewhere and found a small Garter in a tarp.

Getting down to a good flipping spot proved tough but not impossible for Andrea. That's good, because we found a Milk down there. In the blue and ready to shed, he did not appreciate us bothering him for a photo. Sorry, dude.


While we were fussing with ther Milk, a Green Darner expressed an interest in Andrea's water bottle.

Not long after that, we saw a female Widow Skimmer. Very lovely she is.

I peeked under a log thinking of salamanders and a little Garter face peered out at me. I carefully lifted the whole log and got him out for a picture. Think he calmed down? No... I'm holding his tail for a faux "in situ" shot.

Down by the swampy area, the water was covered with duck weed. Some of the resident Painted Turtles were piled comically high with it!

We checked the Tree a couple more times but it remained empty. It was super hot and humid already so we weren't surprised. We  were however surprised by this tiny 3/4" long Peeper.

Keeping it short, we headed back to the parking area. While Andrea powdered her nose, I went back to the tarp area to flip a few things, even though we just had an hour and a half earlier. A big metal sign had a good sized Garter under it now, along with whatever meal was in her belly.

Further inspection under the tarp revealed a big Ringneck coiled up on a discarded metal frame.

Rather than walk on Andrea's ankle, we drove out, but stopped just after the water area that runs along the side of the entry road. We were rewarded with a trio of clean Painters.

These guys had a more secluded spot about 40 feet from the road.

We drove up a boat launch road to see what it looked like, but turned right back around. It was, oddly enough, just a boat launch. There was a big mud puddle near the entrance that we stopped to look at. This small Green Frog had the whole thing to himself.

We'd heard them playing their banjos around the swampy area so it was nice to get our eyes on this fellow.

And that was that. We went off to Brimfield from there, got overheated (I spent $12 on lemonade) and found a few things to bring home. A good day was had by both of us but even my feet were sore. Andrea was a champ and deserved a good lay-down when we got home.