Wormtown 'Phibs! 6-23-2013

The heat was hot... 95°, though it felt like only 94°. Still, that was plenty hot for an afternoon of herping. We were in Worcester, MA for a good friend's daughter's first birthday party, so after the shindig, we'd made plans to explore some of the great city's natural wonders. I'd picked out Cook Pond from a list of possibilities. Because it's a pond. And there were trails.

Well, parking for Cook's Pond was at Cascading Waters, another place that I'd considered. Upon pulling into the parking area, we knew we'd be herping this place first! A stream cutting through the landscape, littered with rocks. It looked like Salamander Heaven! (It looked like the first place Kyle took us to in Pennsylvania!)

As we approached the water, an excited Pickerel Frog dove in and stayed put for this shot!


We set about to flip some rocks. The very first flip got us a small Dusky Salamander, which was still a lifer for us this time last month! But they're still new to us making this a very exciting first flip!


Next, almost immediately, we flipped a nice, big Dusky, at least 2 inches bigger than the last guy!


Then Andrea yelled "2-Line and a Dusky"!


I started to get horny for the possibility of Spring Salamanders. If they are in this county, they'll be here! We didn't turn one up, but this place needs way more time spent in it! I did flip a third Sally species, though... a wee Redback!


Howza 'bout a couple more Two-Lined?



Another behemoth Redback!


We'd both flipped a few more Duskies and 2-Lined, but they both move pretty fast and pics weren't very good.

I found this guy, which filled me with wonder!

Looks like a Two-Line, but it still has gills and, it's fairly bulky- even for an adult! And no yellow belly!


My thought is a ready-to-go larvae, though he's certainly a brute! My friend Mike says not to count out the possibility of  neoteny (which has been described in this genus). That is when adults retain some of the traits of   juveniles. Hmmmm....

All of these possibilities made me dizzy and my head hot, so I dunked it in the nice, cold stream water!


We decided to head upwards and see more of the cascading that was cascading on the cascades.


I saw this beautiful East Coast Herper (not a lame one)!


Right up near the top of the trail, we saw this nice American Toad!


We decided to head back down (I was getting a bit light-headed again and had no desire to repeat yesterday's wobbliness...) and go check out Cook Pond across the street. That was, after all, why we had come this way.

Well, it was a lovely pond and we did see this Painted Turtle pop his head up a few times...

but the promised trails ended shortly at a Private Beach. The map never said you can't go that way on the trail, but the signs and the better-than-thou people there made me think that we shouldn't. So we turned back.

Cook Pond is indeed lovely but when we come back this way, we're going to be all over Cascading Waters, or as we now know it... Salamander Heaven!

Herping in the Great White North! 6-22-2013

We had a little family gathering to attend in Hollis, NH at 4 PM, so we figured that a poke around the Granite State before that might be a good idea! We got to Hillsborough County at roughly 11 AM with just the vaguest of plans. We headed to Flint's Pond first, just because it is a pond.

Upon arrival, we discovered that there were no paths around said pond, so we walked the access road a bit to see what we could see. Not much. Plus, it was pretty hot. Andrea made a concentrated effort to "look for some Wood Frogs" while I went further down the road.

There was an area with piles and piles of discarded leaves and sticks. Yup- I heard a "whoosh"! I saw a young garter dart into a pile. I dug through a bit, he came out and I had a calm Garter Snake in hand!

Andrea saw me from 100 yards back and started to run up. I assured her there was no hurry. This guy was a mellow fellow.


While Andrea was enjoying him, I flipped through some more piles and a small, bright Garter darted deeper into the leaves. I couldn't turn him up! Also, just off the road, a larger Garter slid into some underbrush. I couldn't find him, either! Oh well... at least we knew Garters were out and about in New Hampshire!

With little more to inspect at Flints, we drove on, looking for a place to herp. We saw signs for Silver Lake State Park. We followed. Now, this could have been like College Pond... filthy with humanity and not much to look at. But, though fairly populated, it wasn't too bad. Plus, the guy at the gate said we could flip anything we wanted! So we did!

There was a lovely circle of flat stones right there as you first walked in. We flipped. We found Toads. American Toads. Plump ones.




This last guy looks like a Fowler's. With hybridization possible, my toads just keep confusing me of late!



So we headed to the woods! It wasn't long before we stumbled upon (not literally) tiny toads!



While walking a tad off trail, I yelled to Andrea "STOP"! She might have stepped on this!


Now, that's one heck of a beautiful Garter!


Right about this time, I started feeling poorly... and I had a bright burning spot in front of my face, like I'd been staring at the sun. I had to sit and recuperate. This has happened before, so I knew I had to just sit, drink and close my eyes for a while. While I was out, Andrea found this nifty New Hampshire Redback!


I needed to eat and have a Strawberry Coolata, so we went out for a bit, only to return to hit the trails across the street from the lake. This habitat was amazing... pines, scrub, open sandy fields. Perfect for you know what, who are actually on record in this part of the state. So, we set about looking, overjoyed at the amount of AC around (picnic tables, boards, discarded hibachis)! Sadly, in 2 hours, we found nada, save a few predated Snapper nests...


Heading back toward the car, I decided to take one more peek at some of the debris. There was a pile of old, corroded swim-area buoys, still strung up and with pricker vines growing around them. I flipped a few and saw a tail slipping away. I got a hold of the tail, but couldn't safely extract the rest of the snake. I needed Andrea's help to hold (strung up) buoys while I'd remove another to reveal more of this cantankerous Garter! Eventually, we safely moved enough (and untangled him from the buoy ropes) so we could photograph him! And he was feisty!!!


Uninterested in my nose, he decided to take his fierceness out on himself!


Heading into a shed, it's no wonder he was a bit snappy. The snake-whisperer Andrea calmed him down.


So, we cleaned up and went to our family gathering, ate pizza and ice cream and had a lovely time. Herping their property turned up nothing, except for a sexy female herper!


So, at about 7:30, we headed out. Zooming along the road at about 40 MPH, I saw what was probably snake road kill just out side the white line on the shoulder. Or was it? It dawned on me that it was a Northern water Snake and, if he was alive, he was in real danger! I slammed on the brakes and pulled a serious U-turn, despite some other cars around. I got back to where he was and (carefully) got across the road and saw him...

Very much still alive!


So, after snapping these pics, I picked him up and put him back into the bushes behind him. He musked the shit out of me for thanks. Mmmmm... Nerodia musk. Not bad for within a mile of the fgamily gathering! When we got to a nearby gas station to gas up, I washed my hands in the windshield washer tub! Man, Nerodia musk stinks!

So, that was our New Hampshire herp adventure! Nothing fancy, but it's always fun to herp other states! (Except when that dehydration/ heat exhaustion thing set in). It should also be noted that there were shitloads  of ants, making me think of this as the grANiTe State.

The Palace of Sirtalis 6-20-2013

For the last day of Spring, we wanted to take advantage of the second longest day of the year with an after work herp adventure. Adventure? Well, at least a couple of hours poking around looking for herps. It's a rare weekday treat and this Thursday seemed as good as ever! We chose Brook Farm... nearby, easy and home of herps.

We got there at about 6:30 PM. Things got off to a good start when, from the road, we saw and photographed this Mama Turkey and her wee chick!

I think we both made an audible squee!

Inside the woods proper, our first herp was this small Bullfrog, who was very patient with me as I took about a dozen shots... finally getting this good one!


At one section where there are concrete sheets, we eagerly went to flip. We're sure we'll eventually flip and see large black racer coils or Milky coils. Not this time, but we did find our first ever snake under them! This shoestring Garter was coiled up!

Frisky at first, he settled down into a happy little handful.


After last weeks flooding, we weren't sure what we'd encounter this night. It was muddy, but not too bad. In one of the few large, standing puddles, some small Green Frogs had moved in!

I was unable to get a decent shot of one guy, so I picked him up for Andrea to document.


Being short on time and daylight, our goal was to get to the bridge crossing into Millennium Park and turn back. Along the way, I saw a coiled Garter and when I went for a picture, he sped off. DRAT!

We got to Millennium and decided that, since it was still sunny, we'd look into... these...


It didn't take long before these big, heavy rocks yielded another wee shoestring Garter!



Cut lil fella! As was the next guy!


Andrea was flipping on the other side, closer to the water. She found this much bigger guy!


And then this smaller guy!


This was starting to feel like Pennsylvania flipping! Then something bad happened...

I flipped a big rock and it was full of coils. I grabbed what I could, which turned out to be two bigger Garters, which I handed to Andrea. A third one slid under the rock I was holding up, into the jagged gravel underneath. I shifted, and I assume the rock did as well. When I extracted the Garter (small/ medium), I noticed some blood on my finger. In horror, I noticed that I had injured his tail, about 4" from the end. His tail hung there and I wondered if I had hurt his spine. I poked his tail and he swayed it a bit, which was a relief.

I wasn't sure what to do. I felt horrible. It was a pretty big wound, probably broke a couple of ribs. I just hope he wasn't in horrible pain. I handed him to Andrea, who inspected him. He acted fine, tongue working in and out... she released him and he slithered off, quickly and with fair agility, to go under a rock. I pray that he will be all right. I have never felt so horrible...

His two roommates were posing nicely, though one was flat and pissed.



The next two guys, found under separate rocks, were fun. One was a real nibbler!

He thought he could devour me, starting at the knuckle. (Yes, that is the injured guy's blood on my finger.)


It should be noted that every Garter had musked the bejeezus out of us.

The last successful flip was pretty exciting... our first  Water Snake in Suffolk County!

We knew they were around, but had never encountered one in this county! He was definitely ready for his close-up!

CHOMP!

He left spit all over the lens.

So, it was starting to get darker and we headed back in a bittersweet mood. We were happy to have photographed 10 snakes on a Thursday night! But we were (and still are) a bit shaken by the accidental injury of the Garter (who we did not photograph). It just sucks when something like that happens to an animal we try so hard to protect.

I saw this Bullfrog in the waning sunlight...


And there were Bunnies frolicking in the dusk...


And with that, my story is done.