Anything But Bland. Ending April, the 29th and 30th.

Andrea has a few Fridays off now! How wonderful! But, of course, the first one she had off wasn't particularly a nice weather day. Still, when I went out to run errands, I took her with me so we could hike a little. Low 50s, but sunny. There could be stuff up.

We went to a nearby (to our errand route) spot in Norfolk County. To be honest, there wasn't much happening. We did get a nice Red/ Lead Redback flip, though.

We did a few miles of hiking, content with the fresh air and nature sights, but didn't see much more. Finally, almost back to the car, we saw a slim Garter poking through the leaves.

How 'bout a close up?

So, the next day, Saturday, was supposed to be overcast but not horrible. We decided to head out into Middlesex County to have a stab at Blanding's Turtles. It was cool and breezy when we got there but our target is fairly cold tolerant and we also wanted to see some frogs.

Right away, a Phoebe (#66) was very interested in me while I was "looking for Wood Frogs" behind the closed rest-rooms. It wasn't until later, I thought that there's probably a nest nearby.

The flooding caused by Beavers was still very present. We figure that much of the wildlife has a bigger range when this happens. We could see plenty of distant Painted Turtles, but procuring photos was not easy.

With water right up close on both sides of the path, frogs were quick to jump out of sight but we finally got a shot of a green Frog.

And then a small Bull.

Working our way up the path, we trod through a few puddles, but we soon saw that the Beavers' work still had much of the path under water. Though we've done stupid things at this place in the past, we decided to turn back to stay relatively dry. Our last sight was this duo.

Essentially, we  went back to a different trail to do our hike backwards. So, the vernal that usually ends our hike was the next thing we saw. There was a very content Painter basking on a log there. He paid us no nevermind as we slowly walked past, photographing him.

We were delighted to finally see a snake on this path. This dusty Garter hit the spot.

We got to a fairly secluded pond after finding our way off-trail through the woods. We know Blanding's like this pond, so I stepped quietly... I saw some shells. These are Painters.

These too.

I edged in for another vantage point and saw a stack... it looked like two large turtles, likely Blanding's and a half dozen smaller Painters. Sadly, they saw me at the exact same time. I blew it. This is my photo of the stack...

Oh well, at least he's a handsome devil.

We continued along the path (backwards) and saw a few more Painters. It was fairly sunny and we were surprised to not see any snakes. But Painters keep us happy. Wait! What the hell is he basking on?! (I suspect it's water lily root, but it sure looks diabolical!)

Here's a long chorus line of Painters. The tree is in the middle... I couldn't fit them all into one photo.

In the woods, a Garter slid into a beautiful spot for a photo, with the sun shining down on his head.

We got over to the vernals, where on our previous trip, Wood Frogs had been making a racket. Everybody seems to have moved on by now, though. I wanted to go down the main path as far as I could before the Beaver Flood stopped me. It was then that I saw some distant turtles basking... and one was a big 'un. We took some safety shots and crept closer...

Yep- this big one was indeed a Blanding's, our First of Year. There were two Painters up basking near it.

We slowly crept down to a bench that is about 40 feet from where they were sunning and got to enjoy some quiet time with turtles. That, my dear, is what it's all about for us. From the bench, I could also see this stack of Painters if I leaned over far enough.

After relaxing for a while and before leaving, I went down-pond for a different view of this trio.

Hah! I'd thought they were all on the same stick!

Of course, thanks to the flood, we had to go out by way of the train tracks. Luckily, no trains came by while we were up there. We ended the day, and thus the month of April, with this burgundy-backed Redback.

Not as many snakes of frogs as we'd hoped, but any day you see a lot of turtles, including the fairly rare Blanding's, it's a pretty good day!

The 17th Weekend of 2022. April 22 and 23.

 The usual... I was off and Andrea worked on Friday the 22nd. It was very nice out. We hit the dens at lunchtime.

Now, remember that I've said that this isn't a turtle place? Well, once again, there was a Painter basking in the vernal. I owe this to the fact that it hasn't completely dried up in the last 2 years.

Like last week, Andrea surprised me with another Painter hatchling crossing the path. Naturally, this made us carefully watch our step.

As expected, the denizens of the dens have pretty much dispersed by this time. This one periscoping Garter seemed content to stay nearby, though. Maybe he was looking for a new place to crawl to.

Our other lunchtime sightings were some lovely Redbacks.

It was still very nice at 5 PM when Andrea was freed from work, so we went over to another nearby spot in Norfolk County. It was actually cooler than we'd expected so there weren't many critters about. I did flip a shoestring garter who gave us some 'tude!

The next morning, we decided to head into Plymouth County for a walk around a favorite spot where we hoped to check off a few First of Years. We didn't get there until late as we were hoping it was going to warm up. It never really did. Still, we started off with a few Redbacks, who were plentiful!

Heading toward the vernal, we got a nice surprise... I flipped this and yelled out FO2Y!

It was actually FO2.5Y... we hadn't seen a Massachusetts Redbellied Snake since July, 2019! This felt pretty good!

I could see something funny in the vernal from the top of the hill... as I got closer, it got funnier.  A Painter was up, basking on an old tire.

By the time we got down there, another one had joined him.

We could hear toads and Bullfrogs calling but the only sighting we got of an anuran was this wee, quiet Bully.

Our next stop was, as always, the bogs. Frogs were plentiful. Bull, Green, Bull, Bull for those keeping score.

^^^ The feet!

Spotted Salamanders had done their business earlier in the month.

When heading down the path to the bog, a couple was ascending and we asked if there were any critters down there. They said yes- a massive Snapper was in the second bog. We wondered if we'd see it. We did. They were absolutely right. This guy is a brute!

We ended our bog walk with another nice Bully Bull.

Being that time of year, we hurried over to the portion of the place where we'd seen piles of Racers goin' at it last year. It was too cool and windy this time and we saw none. Our only sight there was this chorus line of Painters.

Ironically, just as we were leaving that spot, Andrea got a text from a dear friend who was asking where the Pile o' Racer spot was! We relayed that it was Racerless and told her where we were heading. She was already there! So, we got to have a nice hang with her and look at turtles together. Our First of Year Plymouth Redbellies were up and sunning!

Those two had to make room for one more!

And another!

A young Bald Eagle flew over us.

Further on, we saw a basking site with both Redbellies and Painters.

Our last cold-blooded critters were a pair of Redbacks.

We were all enjoying our time together and it was tough to actually get into our cars and go home but after a little birding, we finally did. It's always good to catch up with friends and enjoy nature together.

I leave you with our 2022 bird #65, a tough to photograph Pine Warbler.