June Mercifully Ended. 6-29th and 30th

It has been no secret that this year, June in particular, has been pretty shitty. Andrea and I still try, however, to catch some moments of peace and happiness to salve our souls. Saturday, June 28th was the first of nine days off in a row for me (work's Summer shut-down) so things were already looking up a bit. We decided to try an entirely new place in Bristol County, a possible spot for some of the state's rarer turtle species.

It was a very hot and humid day. I've been on doxycycline so I wasn't supposed to be in the sun so I covered up as best as I could. We got there, decided where we wanted to start, and headed in. Right away, we had a welcome surprise... the first Wood Frog we had seen in a while.


I'm not going to lie. We didn't see much on our journey here. But there were no humans and, as is always the case, anything could pop up at any time. Even on slow days, we always enjoy the hike, each other's company and the knowledge that anything could happen. We walked a couple of miles of the field's edge, just listening to birds and keeping an eye out for animals.


Oddly enough, the next animal was another Wood Frog, a bit more stealthy than the first one.


We took a rest and this Song Sparrow came up and serenaded us.


Almost done with this hike, we noticed a folded up innertube at the far end of a small garden. Unable to resist, I opened it up and had a very pissed off (and pregnant) DeKay's Snake in there.

Sorry, ma'am.

Right before getting to the car, I saw a Garter through the bushes, relaxicating on a log. I lucked out with this shot.

We startled another Garter while trying to photograph this one.

So, our recon mission didn't bear much fruit but we'll be back and look around at different times of the year. This place holds much potential. 90° days are never very fruitful.

From there, we went over to what we call "Musk Turtle Place" in hopes of our first Musk of 2019. No Musks for us, but we saw a spider peering out of a sandy hole and what I think is a Red-bellied Cooter's snout poking out in the distance.



One last stop in Bristol County, we pulled off to watch bunnies and Tree Swallows for a while.



While driving home, about a mile and a half from home, we were slowly making our way through traffic. Andrea thought she saw a lump in the grass on the slope next to the road. I then saw it too... we pulled in to a nearby parking lot straight away.

Not my idea of a perfect Painted Turtle nesting spot, but I'm not the one filled with eggs.

We looked around behind the fence there and saw a nice tannin-colored pond. She had come up through a hole under the fence. We wished her much luck in her motherhood.

The next day, Sunday the 30th, we had signed up to go to the Cape to help make terrapin nest cages. We contacted our friends Box Turtle Tim and Kim to let them know we'd be there and to our delight, they would be there as well. We made plans to meet Tim before the work began so we could look for Box Turtles together. Sadly, he was detained by turtle casualties on the highway. (We had a good "I hate humans" rant together later on.)

Andrea and I only managed to see one Box Turtle out and it was a young unmarked one.

Our first of the year. It was very hot, once again... not exactly optimal Boxie weather.

The next sighting seems rather routine but it was anything but. I saw this American Toad and photographed it.

I was excited by it because it was a new species for us at this spot. It turns out, it is a new species for everyone at this spot! All other toads recorded at the sanctuary have been Fowler's. This first Anaxyrus americanus is kind of a big deal to some folks and I'm very proud to have contributed it to the species count!

We got to the visitor's center and met up with Tim, who was retrieving a Painted Turtle who had come up, most likely to nest.


Of course, when we were talking about the Box we'd seen, we got an "I want that turtle" from the boss. (They have new transmitters that are going to be tried out.) So, Andrea, Tim and I went out to try to re-find the turtle. Think we did? We didn't. Amazing how a turtle can disappear completely in 90 minutes. And I'm sure he was still right there where we were looking. Outsmarted again.

We went in while Tim stayed out trying to pre-find a Box Turtle. (He would be leading a walk shortly and didn't want to disappoint his group.) We finally did what we went there for and helped construct some nest protectors.



While working, Tim came in with a candidate for the new tracking system. This is a turtle of honor... she has Old Warrior's former number. Is she Young Warrior?

May her cute spotted noggin be a fixture in these woods for many, many decades to come.

Andrea and I decided to go out and look around, despite the heat. The Bullfrog pond was literally hopping with bright green pickles.



Some real beauts there.

The Painted Turtle pond had nobody up basking. It was far too hot. But, looking closely, we saw this lazy pair of friends... a Painter and a Bullfrog hanging out on the lily-pads.


We walked along an outer trail, always in hopes of seeing a nesting terrapin. We saw bird #91 on the year, a Willet who had just caught a crab.


Then, about 30 yards away, we saw some movement off-trail ahead of us. Could it be?

Yep- our FOY Diamondback Terrapin, probably fresh from nesting. We stopped, not wanting to deter her from returning to the marsh. She entered some tall grass to make her way back. We couldn't go check for the nest as it was on private property.

She finally came out and sat in the path.


She stayed there for a bit, so we greedily took some portraits.

We left her alone and watched from a distance as she eventually moved on, back to her marsh. We returned to the center and reported the sighting.

So, the last day of June wasn't horrible. We saw some animals and our good friends Tim and Kim. I sit here writing this junk on the last of the nine days off, wondering where the time went and wondering if I'll survive until the next vacation. Eh, whatever. At least we've had good days like this one.