New Chelonian Hot Spot. 7-29-2018

Nature lover that she is, Andrea was checking E-bird out to see what has been documented in our area. She noticed that Sandhill Cranes had been spotted in Plymouth County and she did a little research on the place they were seen. It turns out that it has bogs, ponds and woods. It could be good for all kinds of stuff so we decided to give it a shot.

As always, we got out later than planned so it was pretty darn hot by the time we got there. It took some work to actually find the place too, but once we parked, we were ready to go. The big main path had other paths shooting off of it and we had no clue which way to go so we took a wooded path. Why not. Not too far in, we saw our first herp, this (I'm calling) American Toad.

Partoids, cranial ridges and mottled belly all tell me American but there's multiple warts in the blotches. Fowler's hybrid? Possibly but I'm sticking with American.

This path was raised and off to the sides, you could see that it is usually watery, though it was now dry. Tiny toads were makin' the scene.


On one path off of this path, we went down to flip some debris. and came up empty. While down there, however, Andrea saw this brand new, 1/2 inch Peeper hopping by.

Sweet! Second in two days!

While I was trying to wrangle that photo, this brand-new shoestring Garter neonate popped out of nowhere to watch what we were doing.

Sweet! Second in two days!

Obviously, we were happy with the trail we'd taken. Andrea decided to look for Wood Frogs so I went back up to the path and took a left. Some Towhees dragged me out into a field (I still need them for this year) but I never got a photo of them. Heading back to the trail, I saw this picture perfect Garter resting deep in some star-moss.

Andrea had gone in a different direction (I was pretty unclear on which way I was headed) so I had to go find her and bring her back to show her this beauty. Amazingly, I found the spot!

We took the wooded trail all the way to the end where it opened up into a field next to a bog. Rather than head back to try to figure out what we were doing, we just went on to walk in between two bogs. It was hot and sunny, yes, but it wasn't nearly as humid as it has been so it wasn't too bad. We hoped these bogs would lead to the pond but we had no idea if they would. Eventually, we saw a small muddy pond and a couple of Painters eyed us suspiciously.



We hadn't seen any other people on the wooded trail and we'd been following bike tracks so far while we were out in the open. Finally, we saw a father and son (or something) coming by. I asked them what awaited us up ahead. "Turtles. Painted Turtles, and Snapping Turtles." Obviously, that's what we wanted to hear and he told us we were getting close to the pond. Upward and onward!

We headed up the way they had returned from, walking the path between two bogs. One bog's corner had countless Painted Turtle heads up. They were quick to pull back in but we caught a few on camera.


I asked Andrea if she had seen one particular log blinking. She had. It was a Snapper but we just couldn't get a shot. We headed out toward the pond.

The pond is huge. We could see Egrets and Herons way out on the other side but no Sandhill Cranes that we knew of. Turtles, however... Painted Turtles were everywhere! It was heaven.




Andrea miraculously saw this Green Frog hiding.




Another hiding frog, this time a Pickerel.


This place is very very special. We had been seeing plenty of Snapper noggins poking up but couldn't get pictures. Finally, Andrea got this one and I said "Keep it... we may never get any better!"


Ah, Painters, though. The ones on the birch are two of the same from above, joined by a third.




Finally, on the bog side, we saw a large Snapper in the mud.


Yay!

Now back to our regularly schedule Painted Turtles.




As you can see, we were getting some pretty darn good photo ops.

Up on the path, Andrea saw this...

Oh dear, all aboard the squee-train.


All along the pond's edge, I was trying to keep an eye on both the water (for turtles) and the bushes (for snakes). Obviously, I'm not too hot at doing both because I walked right past a 5-foot Racer that Andrea spied.

I did manage a decent head shot before it sped off.

Racers are even faster on 85° days.

A pair of Viceroys enjoying the nectar of some white flowers in a cone shape. Hydrangeas? Or not.


From about 30 feet out, I knew by the look of this big green noggin that I'd completed the Lithobates Big Three and added our 9th species for the trip... a Bullfrog.


Another Snapper in the big pond.


Two ducky Painters and another Bully.



We'd started to head back. Frankly, we were getting burnt to a crisp. We really didn't know how open this part was going to be and we were getting a lot of full-on sun. Back by the spot where we'd seen the blinking log, there was a Snapper whose face kept popping up, snapping at duckweed/ algae on the surface. Getting a photo proved difficult, but this gives you the idea of how funny it looked.


We headed back toward the parking area on the main trail, which we hadn't seen earlier due to our having taken the wooded trail. This way proved fruitful. A Bullfrog and a nearly-completely metamorphed Bull.


^ He still has a tail!

Our last encounter was our second Racer, a snake that I was lucky to get a decent safety shot of because he sure didn't last long. Another 4-5 footer.


So that wasn't a bad first time at all. Nine species and more turtles than we could possibly count. The wooded trail looks good for Hognoses, Box Turtles and many other species. We barely got enough time for the birds. (I added a Baltimore Oriole but never got my Towhee shot and we never saw the Cranes.) With the demise of Massasoit, we think this place will be working its way into our rotation.