Spring Reptiles

 I've delved deeper and deeper into my oldest obsession over the last few years. I was interested in reptiles well before fish, and spending time observing timber rattlesnakes really opened it back up for me. I've become completely engrossed in the pursuit of snakes. I want to see as many as I can and I want to capture the best images I possibly can of each species I find. 

Black racers are one of the first species I see most years and also one of the most charismatic. They're underrated because of their abundance, but to me they'll always be a favorite. I love alert, intelligent reptiles, and black racers are definitely both. They also routinely shock me with unusual behavior. Last year, I spooked a racer out of a pile of leaves and it promptly shot down slope and launched itself off the cliff face. The drop was easily 40 feet and I have to imagine the snake had some sort of game plan and had done this exact thing before. This spring I got to do some very close-up photography of emerging black racers. I also got to photograph a mating pair. Mating snakes often seem to throw caution to the wind. These two came tumbling down the hill right to me. 

Of course, I've been spending plenty of time with timber rattlesnakes. In fact, I really can't seem to shake them. I feel at times that I want to take a break but they just pull me back. Since they're endangered and I am completely enamored with them, I also have to deal with near constant strife. I worry constantly about poachers, development, trail building, and information leaks that threaten the sensitive populations. I'm currently deeply engrossed in a battle against mountain bikers at a den that very much seems to be slipping away. I've seen no more that two adults in one day on this particular mountain, and it was a very strong population just 10 years ago. Moves in the right direction are being made, and I'm glad I've been around to sound alarms, but I still fear for the future.

CT's other venomous snake, the copperhead, has also sucked up a lot of my time this spring. Unlike last year, it has been very fruitful. I've gotten to photograph dozens of beautiful copperheads this year already.

Perhaps most excitingly, just the other day I completed a long standing goal. I photographed the last CT snake species I'd yet to capture. The smooth green snake is one of New England's most striking wild animals. Bright green and sometimes even blue, smooth green snakes stand out from every other snake species in the area. They are also seriously imperiled and difficult to find. I finally hit it right last week and my friend Bruce and I got to enjoy not one but two of these amazing animals. 

I've very much enjoyed where searching for reptiles has taken me in recent years. Its very similar to fishing, actually. Snakes like certain weather, different places are more productive at different times of day, and I get a very similar rush from accomplishing my goals. It's certainly not going to pull me away from fishing, but it is a nice break from it sometimes.

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. 

A Hike Through Rattlesnake Country

This is an entirely fishless post, but I hope you will all enjoy it. 

Back in September, my friend and mentor Bruce and I took a strenuous hike through an important piece of Northeast timber rattlesnake habitat. 

I've been observing timer rattlesnakes in Connecticut since either 2012 or 2013; I can't remember which year I saw my first, but I can remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was with my Dad and my brother, out doing photography in the woods, and my dad saw it first. It was, as I now understand, a large gravid female yellow phase. She was half tucked under a rock, but we could see enough to get a more than strong enough impression of her magnificence. I can't put into words what it's like to see your first timber rattlesnake -especially if you are keenly intrigued by the natural world- it's shocking. Jaw dropping. Eye widening. 

I needed to see more. And upon next returning to that exact spot, I did. I had no idea at the time but that little outcropping happened to be an important summer brooding area, and my next visit, a year later, was at exactly the right time. I walked up to the spot to see not just one or two snakes, but seven adult timber rattlesnakes distributed around the place. My prior awe was taken to a new level and I was hooked. I kept going back to that spot over the years and usually saw a timber or two. Then, last year, on my first visit to that spot, I met Bruce. I think we were both a little suspicious of each other at first, certainly him more so of me. But we hit it off pretty quickly. We are cut from a very similar cloth, Bruce and I. We go about observing wildlife with the same intent, drive, and care. And I think we both care more about these snakes than we do ourselves. I measure my own worth in my ability to preserve and protect these animals. If I leave the world without having done everything possible to make sure timber rattlesnakes are still in the CT hills, I've gone wrong somewhere along the line. Bruce and I are both very protective of these snakes and their habitat, suspicious of any human activity around them, and weary of our own impacts. We are also driven to see them and learn as much as we can, and that was our intent on that calm, warm September day. Neither of us had hiked the habitat before. We sought to add to our body of knowledge and experience.

We weren't there specifically for rattlesnakes, actually. Our goals were more broad. This same habitat was shared by a number of other species we were interested in seeing. However, the first snake found more than an hour in to the trip, was something neither of us expected. I walked int a clearing to see Bruce looking down into a blueberry bush, saying "that is not what I expected to see up here". I walked over and looked into the same bush. There coiled off the ground in the branches was a beautiful ribbon snake. Ribbon snakes are a very wetland oriented species. Up here; at least a mile from the nearest large vernal pool on a high dry mountaintop ledge; this species was a very surprising sight. 

It's things like this that keep me obsessed. I may never know what exactly had drawn that snake to that spot. But it was there, coiled in the branches, suspended off the ground, doing what I'd seen ribbon snakes do before. Just over a ledge instead of over the edge of a wetland. 

We continued our search, hoping from ledge to ledge, looking around rocks and logs, in blueberry bushes, next to stumps... it was tiresome and not as fruitful as we might have hoped, but eventually I heard Bruce call out, headed over to where he was and he'd found a beautiful adult timber. It was nestled next to a cover rock with a load of fallen limbs making photography very difficult, but no encounter with a healthy timber rattlesnake ends without me smiling. 

Seeing that snake really got our hopes up, we thought we'd soon find some others. This was new land to us though, and even on our home territories we'd both had a very difficult time this year. The harsh, dry, often very hot conditions had made snakes shyer than they may otherwise have been. It's hard to see a rattlesnake that's hiding under a 500lb rock, and that is very often what they were doing. So the situation was against us. We again went a while without seeing a thing when I just happened to glance down at a hanging slab of granite below me and saw a small rattlesnake perched in the leaf litter next to it. Not only was it one of the cleanest, most stunningly patterned and colored timbers I've ever seen but it was completely relaxed and perched fabulously. It was the perfect photography snake. The pictures I took of this young timber are among my favorite photos I've ever taken. 

That was the last rattlesnake we saw on that mountain that day. It wasn't one of those incredible but very possible days where we could see fifteen or more adult rattlesnakes on just one hill, we've both had days like that. But it was exceptionally thrilling to see the snakes we did see, especially being that it was a population we'd not been to before. 

With snow now on the ground, by mind drifts to days past and days future, but even with the snakes all now in their wintering dens I can't help it. I've been spotting ledges through the woods from the road, planning trips for next year, and even walking habitat to get the lay of the land. I'm obsessed with snakes. I have been since before I can remember. I'm just so thrilled now to have the chance to go see wild snakes on the regular. 

*Timber rattlesnakes are a protected species in every Northeast state, and are endangered in CT. Killing or harming one is illegal. Possessing one is illegal. Even trespassing on some den locations is illegal. If you are so lucky as to observe a timber rattlesnake in the wild, maintain a distance of about 10 feet, try to disturb the snake as little as possible, and do not share the location of the sighting with anyone except CT DEEP. Poaching and black market pet trade are one of if not the largest threats to CT's rattlesnakes today. The fewer people know where these animals are the better. 

 Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, and Geof for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. 

Fall Herping Conclusion

***AN ENTIRELY FISHLESS POST***

Hyla versicolor

Things are rather cold now. Well before the time I'm writing this the chances of going out and finding much in the way of amphibians and reptiles had already predictably diminished. For the first time in years I'm feeling pretty depressed about that. When I was little, the distinct lack of bugs and snakes and frogs made the winter months a drag. Now I have fishing, which is perfectly wonderful though sometimes physically uncomfortable here in New England in the winter months. But I'd found my way back to herping, gradually at first but then quite suddenly this year, and I'm feeling deprived to the extent that my planning of possible winter trips is taking snake finding opportunities into consideration rather than just fish. But it wasn't a bad fall for me here in CT looking for herps, especially considering I'm basically starting from scratch with this pastime. Though I've always been a habitual roller of rock and logs and catcher of snakes and turtles, my technical knowledge when it comes to finding snakes is still limited.

Pantherophis alleghaniensis

This fall got me into the swing of things. I saw more timber rattlesnakes than in the previous six years total, found my first Eastern hognose snake, and caught and photographed plenty of other species of snake, salamander, and frog that I have plenty of times previously.

Ambystoma opacum

Instead of just rolling the occasional log or lifting the odd board, I went out specifically to find new locations with discarded boards or tin, collapsed structures, and other trash and some natural sight where careful lifting could reveal any number of species. It payed off to some degree. I found snakes, though none of the species I was really seeking.

Storeria dekayi

More often that not I only found the typical assortment of local salamanders, the most abundant two species being red backed and northern two lined.

Eurycea bislineata

Plethodon cinereus

Milk snakes remained elusive. Smooth green snakes remained elusive. And I never saw a copperhead this year. But I saw at least one timber rattlesnake every time I went looking for them, and I do not get tired of being around these animals. They are so incredible. Just to sit next to one for a few moments absolutely makes my day every time.

Crotalus horridus

This winter, perhaps more than any other I can remember, I'll be antsy for the days to get longer and warmer and the ground to thaw.
I love winter fishing.
But not enough to pretend I wouldn't rather tomorrow be the first day of March.

Until next time.

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, john, Elizabeth, Chris, Brandon, and Christopher, for supporting this blog on Patreon.

Fall CT Timber Rattlesnakes

The cooling of the nights through the month of September call many species into action. Winter isn't far, it's time to eat, migrate, and seek shelter. Birds use the pre-frontal northerlies or simply the cover of darkness to fly southward. Marbled salamanders filter into dried vernal pools lay their eggs under rotting logs and leaf litter. Brook trout move upriver to better spawning substrate. Baitfish leave the cooling estuaries and convene on the beaches, met by striped bass, bluefish, false albacore, and bonito that are all responding to the same changes. And timber rattlesnakes start to filter back to their den sites.

 I've visited a location that harbors timbers through late spring and summer on and off for a number years now. But making friends with another herper I incidentally met there this year encouraged me to broaden my scope and learn that area and others better. Frankly in recent years my only concerted efforts to see snakes had been brief visits to this one ledge a couple times a year. More often than not, if I found any other snakes it was while fishing or if I spotted a nice piece of plywood begging to be lifted on the way to or from fishing. My herping was pretty limited to that and going out on rainy spring nights to observe the movements of frogs and salamanders on their annual migration to breeding sites. But the kid that couldn't pass a rotted log without rolling it has awakened in me again. I've had a desire to see, catch, and photograph snakes more in the last couple months than I have in years. I'd never lost the love, I just got distracted. But now I'm back and I'm more excited than ever. And this fall has already provided my with phenomenal opportunities to see and photograph timber rattlesnakes. I've seen more timber rattlesnakes in the last couple weeks than I had seen in the last six years combined, and really I haven't even hit the conditions just right yet. And I will. But what I've got now is pretty good.

When I spotted my first neonate, I was blown away. It was perfect in every way, seemingly innocent and benign, and truly imperiled by the very world it had been born into, and yet simultaneously bearing a potent venom that would make them very dangerous... if they weren't remarkably docile and reclusive animals. Bites are nearly always a result of handling. I won't handle a venomous snake unless the uncommon circumstance where one needs to be moved for its own safety or the safety of others arises. But I am comfortable getting within range of some timbers. This neonate wanted me to think he was a rock or a leaf or a bit of bark. He wasn't going to move and blow his cover.

Adult female timbers live birth typically about 10 already quite large babies. Some are big enough to eat mice even before their first shed. Birthing takes a lot out of the females. They need to take a log break before they birth again, if they even survive the ordeal at all. Two of the females I saw being followed by neonates back to the den were in pretty rough shape.

One other was one of the biggest and best looking I've seen yet. I got to watch this individual interact with the neonates following her. She interacted with me as well. She trying to feel me out as well, to see if I was a threat to her or her young. She first moved over to the closest neonates out in the open, partially covering the closer of the two. She stayed there for awhile before quietly moving underneath the closest rock.

With cooler weather here, my time to observe these animals year this is limited but also the best little window there is.

I'll leave you with a simple message. We are lucky to still have some of these snakes in CT. Very, very lucky. Respect them. Protect them. Poachers, development, and persecution threaten CT's native snakes. Ending all three is an uphill battle, but I , for one, will never stop fighting it.

Until next time.

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, john, Elizabeth, and Christopher, for supporting this blog.