Go, speed Racer, go! Saturday April 14th.

OK... Our nearby spot in Norfolk County... it can be frustrating, for sure. All this talk of Black Racers and we've seen nuthin' but a skin. We actually said to each other as we got out of the car, "you know, we might be disappointed by this place once again"! Still, the weather was beautiful and he hit the trails at about 10:15 AM.

The drought was evident here... some water, but much of the wetland area was in need of rain.

A Goldfinch greeted us with a beautiful song when we hit the boardwalk.


I've noticed one thing this year that shows my snake-finding maturity... I saw this Garter Snake resting in some sticks and pointed him out to Andrea and said "photograph"... so we'd have a shot when I dove for him and missed.


Well, I made a very dramatic dive and... he never moved. I think we (barely) woke him!


In fact, a heavy musking into the grass aside, he was about as mellow as snakes get!




We put him back to his pile of sticks and he just relaxed again. We went a bit further down the trail before doubling back to check him out. He'd moved a bit but was still sleeping. What a life!

So, we hit what we call "Racer Alley", which is where we've gotten reports of racers and have found a skin. We found this deer skull that someone had displayed prominently for us.


Then, Andrea went to flip a grocery cart and startled a medium sized streak of black! What do you know... Racers do exist here! Like lightning, this 3 foot or so snake blazed out into the reedy (dryish) wetland area.

I stepped out towards the flight path of Speedy and was reprimanded by another Racer that was easily 4+ feet. He lay there, head raised high and shaking his tail vigorously in the dry grass. Again, I yelled "Photograph"!


As I would move closer, he would duck back a bit, then turn around and face me, always keeping the same distance from my hands. I snapped a pic from where I stood.


He was just a bit too smart for me and I barely got a stick on him. Eventually, be cruised into some brush and left me empty handed... Looked like I wouldn't be wearing this guy in my head.

But it's sure nice to know that the legends are true! There are indeed Black Racers here!

Exhilarated, we went on. To make things even more humiliating, a shoelace sized Garter handed me my ass as soon as we hit the woods.

In stark contrast to the day before, this is the only Redback we saw!


Then, to add injury to insult, I got tangled up in a pricker bush! Check this one out! It pierced my arm! How Primitive of me!


One the way back out of the woods, we were poking around near where the tiny Garter bested me. Andrea leaned in to flip a log and a flash of yellow streaked into some leaves. I grabbed and missed (story of the day for me) but then saw a shoelace of a Ribbon Snake sitting there! What a beauty!


Andrea flossed with him...

while I tried to catch salmonella the funny way...


Now, I'd like all of you to take notice... Andrea is displaying proper matching nail-polish/ snake etiquette here.


He was a good little piece of Ribbon Snake candy!


On the way out, we saw another Racer slip into the rocky side of the hill. No hopes of finding her. We also checked on Sleepy the Garter, but he had woken up and moved on.

OK, so Pix or it didn't happen. You'll have to take our word on some of those snakes. But hey- this day raised this usually frustrating place much higher on our favorite places list!

Ch-ch-ch Hh-hh-hoar and Allendale

Friday the 13th, April 2012

After that early March warm-up, things got back to shitty for a while and it was cold! Too cold for herps, so they went back to their cool weather ways. We had to content ourselves with a reptile show, where Andrea got cuddly with a bucket of Savannah Monitors!


In the interim, there has also been very little rain. Added to the lack of snow this winter, Massachusetts has been in a drought condition. How would this affect the animals?

Well, after weeks of hoping to get back out, we found ourselves on a 4 days weekend that was supposed to have decent weather! First up (since it was supposed to be only in the mid to upper 50s) would be Hoar Sanctuary... aka Salamander Heaven! (Salamanders don't seem to mind it a bit cooler!)

It didn't take long for Andrea to find this large Redback!


I like this shot because you can see how blue the sky was... reflected on her skin!


Her??? Yes- her! You can see her eggs in her belly... a springtime thing.


Andrea next found this brute!


Then I joined in and together we found dozens!



Leadbacks, too!



What the hell is this? And why the hell am I letting it crawl on my arm???

Oh, it's a Soil Centipede!

The weather was much milder than forecast, so while we still had some life in us, we headed over to Allendale (after some burrito reinforcement!)


Things picked right up where they'd left off... more Redbacks!




Andrea worked hard and finally got a great shot of a Mourning Cloak butterfly!


Duck Pond didn't have any ducks present, but this wee (about 3" tip to tip) Painted Turtle was up catching some rays!



This Bullfrog was hanging out in some super-scuzzy algae-clogged water. It didn't seem to bother him, but it bothers me. Let's hope some rain will clear up some of the sludgy water that I've been seeing!


So... dozens of Redbacks, a Bullfrog and a Turtle... beats the shit out of working! We planned on herping 4 days in a row this weekend... could we do it? (Seeing as I'm writing this Sunday night after getting back from the 3rd straight day, I'll say yeah- it's looking pretty good!)

March 21st and 22nd... let's herp!

It seems odd writing about herp trips on a cold 45 degree Sunday in late March, but it was a very nice week! We knew it wouldn't last forever, so we tried to squeeze in some after-work-quickie-hikes™.

On Wednesday, I picked Andrea up at the train station and we headed to Forest Hills Cemetery, which has a pond that is usually turtle-riffic! It was!

The first guys we saw were some basking Painted Turtles. Not bad for almost 6PM!




We've seen Red Eared Sliders here before (Kids, don't release your unwanted pets into the wild!) and I'm pretty sure these two were that species.


I wish we had the light in our favor and so we could have gotten a better snap...

There were a few just-under-the-water™ disturbances that we found out were being made by active Snapping Turtles. We just couldn't get a shot...


That is until eagle-eye-Andrea™ spotted this guy right under the surface near the shore! We got some good shots... the second, with flash, shows his coloration a bit.



Andrea spotted a small cave made by an overturned tree on the opposite shore. Photographing it, she noticed a little noggin in the water under it... was this the Bullfrog we heard calling?


There were many avians present as well..

The world's sexiest bird, the Grackle!


Here's an upskirts shot for the pervs out there...

A Red-Winged Blackbird, who took off just as Andrea snapped this... making a very cool shot!

Their call is among my favorites!

A Robin!


A Junco!


And a loving Mallard couple!


So, with herp success under our belts, we headed home. But... but... it was dusk! Dusk is always the best time to search our friends Kate and Snag's yard for Dekays! Soooo... one detour!

Their daffodils greeted us first!


Some Redbacks were also about!



Then, persistence paid off and Andrea caught our first snake of 2012... a wee Dekay's Snake!




Not bad for March 21st!!!

The following day was supposed to be in the mid to high 70's!! I'd hoped Andrea could get out of work early, but no dice. I decided to brave the wilds of Allendale Woods alone. It turns out that it was worth it!

I got there at about 4:15PM, tired from work but knowing that the fine weather wouldn't last forever.

Again, some Redbacks made me feel welcome! Man, I love these guys! Here's one spooning a slug! (Hey- I don't judge!)


Are those turtles over yonder on a log???

Nope- another loving Mallard couple!

But, unseen by my naked eye, another log held a chelonian treasure.... gotta love the zoom lens!

This Painted was only about 3 or 4 inches long!


Plus, I saw a fish! I became obsessed with trying to get a good picture of it. I didn't. This is the best I could muster...


Leaving the pond, I headed back on to the trail and almost immediately I heard a "whoosh" of leaves. I looked and saw some fleeting movement. Could it be a snake? I flipped the log near where this whooshing took place... yep! A Garter coil was there! It looked bluish in the shadows, but no... he was a fine looking stripey bastard!


He was cantankerous as hell, twisting around twigs and being way too interested in the camera lens for me to get good pictures!




Elated, I went on to the swampier pond which, with no foliage blocking it, I realized is really close!

This Bullfrog was hanging out. Man, the slime is out of control here. Pollution sucks. Poor anurans...


They have recently built a tennis court for the Old Folks Home nearby and I could see some black tarp so I went to peek under it a bit, hoping for another snake. Nope. It was home to a lovely American Toad, who was burrowed in nicely!


On the way out, a Redback summoned me and asked me to take his Christmas card picture. I complied.


Then, lastly, I saw this stunning, speckly Leadback!


Nice hour and a half, though I wish Andrea had been with me.

And now, on the weekend, we're having more seasonable weather. Which is to say it sucks out. Oh well... it was a great week!