Hoofin' It with Andrea. June 18th.

It was going to be overcast but warmish. Snakes popped into our heads. We decided to go to a place that has been ruined by human campers but still has a few spots where we could see some snakes and maybe a Musk Turtle. Plus, it isn't too hilly as long as we avoided a few paths.

Upward and onward, we got there late morning and headed to a snakey spot. I saw a Pickerel Frog on the way but he avoided my camera so we're still ZERO on the year. Upon getting to the snake spot, a speedy Garter made itself known.

There looks to be some damage in front of its eye. Not sure with the sand stuck to the face, but probably.

I flipped a log and saw nothing under it, but a Milk was laced up in the bottom of the log. I tried to carry the whole thing out to show Andrea and it slid out and got very angry with us.

Sorry, old chap. I see you're in the blue!

From there, we took a wrong path and wandered far from our goal in 200% humidity and the occasional sprinkle. Finally, we found our way to the pond we were after.  I flipped a pair of Fowler's under a rock.

I walked along the rocks on the edge of the pond near the spillway. This is where I'd hoped to find a Musk. I instead found an absolutely stunning, big ol' neatly folded Water Snake.

On the other side of the spillway, however, I saw a lump in the plants floating on the edge. And a little head pulled in right next to the lump. I reached in and got our First of Year Musk.

He really lived up to his name... he smelled like a freshly paved road.

I left it up to Andrea to see if she wanted to continue on or head back. She said "let's go on" so we kept walking around the pond. She had seen a huge distant shell and we knew it must be a Redbelly. On the way to a better vantage point, we saw a very small Painted Turtle catching some rays.

When I got within range of the big turtle, I finally got an OK shot... our FOY Plymouth Redbelly (here in Bristol County!) and an assortment of Painted Turtles. This Red-bell is a beast!

This mammal was sitting on the surface of the water. I thought it looked like a Beaver but we've never seen any Beaver activity in this area. Plus, the tail and body are above water so I'm calling Muskrat.

This side of the pond had plenty of Painted Turtles up despite the overcast day.

I got badly musked by a pretty Water Snake that I tried to pull out of the rocks. It was so pretty that I wanted Andrea to see it. Yikes- I got what I deserved. Washing up in the pond just wasn't enough. But we'd reached our turn-back spot anyway. Andrea had done a remarkable job. Then, she spotted this mini Redbelly basking. It's great to see that they are reproducing here.

We took it slow on the way back. I didn't get anymore animals photographed but this Moth mullein (Verbascum blattaria) was pretty cool.

There she is, struggling through a sand-trap. She did a little over four miles and tattered the bottom of the boot. But she says it was worth it and we saw some great animals, including two FOYs!

She is made of tougher stuff than most of us.

Ambulatory Andrea. SHE WALKS! 6-11-2023

With the crutches gone, Andrea was walking with just the boot. She wanted to go on a hike, so we picked a relatively flat place where we could see stuff without a ton of work. We chose a place that I'd pushed her in the chair a few weeks prior. Now, we could get to a few better spots, even knowing we'd be cutting it short. It was sunny and nice and things seemed pretty OK.

Our first secret place paid off with a Water Snake basking on the edge, right next to the water. Upon closer inspection, this guy has a bum eye so the Vitamin D will do him a lot of good.

Much to our dismay, a lot of the place was set up for a disc-golf tournament. Teams of kids and adults, 99% male, of course, were cutting in front of Andrea, seeing her limping along in the boot. The game was obviously more important. So we moved on. The peninsula, a great place for frogs and Water Snakes, had a tarp over the water to catch stray discs. I got super passive-aggressive to the guys working there and we moved on.

The next inlet was beyond the stupid tournament so I went in and looked. Nuthin'. Then, heading back up to the trail, a massive Nerodia skittered away. How I'd walked right past her, I'll never know.

She was a beast, despite a stub-tail, impressive enough for Andrea to come down the sloping path. It was worth it. She was ready for her close-up.

We made our way to a vernal to see what was happening there. It had gotten a bit smaller since our last visit but it was teeming with tadpoles. Toads? Woods? I really can't tell.

This Green Frog was also there. Could they be Green tadpoles? I don't think so. Maybe.

Sit-downs were going to be plentiful. We grabbed a shady bench and sat there for a bit, looking out over the pond. This Eastern Wood Pewee (#69, dude) was sharing the space with us, hunting flies. At one point, he flew right at Andrea and grabbed a fly right in front of her. It was a huge treat to watch this bird just doing its thing, unphased by our presence. This shot makes me laugh.

Turtles were tough this time out but we finally found a Painter being fabulous.

In the bird blind, this spider was keeping us company. It is a Leucauge venusta, an Orchard Spider.

We did what we could but didn't want to overdo it. Heading back, we rested on the Pewee bench for a while. He was still there hunting. Andrea is a badas

The pond had some (in)action this time around, too. Some distant Painted Turtles were up.

Walking back, Andrea pointed out a Garter that I'd just walked past. While trying to get a pic, he curled up into a nice coil.

I contributed with a little guy that was slithering next to the path. Like the massive Water Snake, this guy was a stub-tail.

I couldn't resist checking in on the big gal on the way back. She was still there, folded neatly into a comfortable coil.

Back to the beginning, a group of hey-brahs were playing disc-golf but there was a Water Snake posing nicely so I got my shot.

One dude said that they were playing, insinuating that I was in their way. I said, "I just need to photograph this Bullfrog first, then I'm on my way." Not as passive-aggressive as before. I'm learning.

I peeked into the secret place where gooey-eye had been earlier. He was gone but nearby, this Water Snake was resting in the dappled sunlight.

I flipped many a stone heading back to the car in hopes of a Ringneck or a salamander. I came up empty. While Andrea visited the facilities in the visitors center, I ambled out back to a disc-golf tee that was unoccupied. There were rocks along the steps. Finally flipped my Ringer.

Oddly enough, it was another stub-tail. Not surprising considering the boy-men playing disc-golf couldn't care less about anything but their game and never even consider something might be living under the rock. I gently grabbed it and saved it for Andrea to see, then released him under the same rock.

So, She hoofed it for just under 3 miles in her boot. Hot damn, that's good. And by doing so, we saw some great animals. I don't know when our last 3 snake species hike was but it was definitely before the accident. 

We left and got ice cream. We earned it. Andrea did, anyway.

Limping into June! 6-4 and 6-9.

Predicting the weather this June has been quite difficult. Sunday the 4th was cold. Low 50s. We didn't want to be stuck in the house, so Andrea crutched to the car and we went to the local cemetery to do some birding. Of course, I had to check the pond, but we figured if we'd see any turtles, it would be a Red-ear. They seem to be the most cold tolerant. We were right.

We saw a pair of young women standing near the edge of the pond, aiming their cameras and smiling and that could only mean one thing... friendly Snapper! Again, we were right.

Whitey? Maybe!

We did see some birds. This Killdeer (#68) seemed out of place as we usually see them in open fields near woods but we saw two, so it looks like we'll have to watch our step when we return!

We decided to drive over to "the other pond" to see if any frogs were up. On the way there, at the far end of that first pond, I saw this sticking up from the "road".

We saw no frogs at the other pond, but Andrea did some good crutch walking, moving quickly and painlessly. We headed back to leave, peeking at the first pond one more time. There was a woman and her kid on one edge and from the car, we could see splashing and turtle shell activity, so we joined them.

There was a bunch of turtles there. Some were begging food (we had none) and some were gettin' busy. This Red-ear was one of the former.

Here are some of the Snappers that were vying for either the female or territory. Are any of them Whitey? As it turns out, there are three that have white on their faces. To be completely honest, unless he comes right out to us, we can't tell which is him.

This is the smallest one and we suspect she is a female.

For your Painted pleasure.

OK, now THIS one IS Whitey. No mistaking it. He came right out of the water hoping for a snack. What a wondrous, beautiful beast! He is absolutely massive. Must be all of those handouts.

Not a bad Sunday afternoon. We had six Snappers in sight at one point. The kid said he'd had seven the previous week! What a pond!

Andrea saw the doctor on Monday the 5th and her instructions were to wean herself off of the crutches and eventually change from the boot to a brace. The crutches were gone by Wednesday. She absolutely kicks ass.

Friday night was rainy. And barely 50°. Since we were too lazy to drive to Plymouth to cruise in the rain last year, we got our butts in gear to do that very thing. We went out to dinner first (date night!) then drove 45 miles to the State Forest. It was no longer raining, unfortunately, but the roads were wet. We figured we'd score bigtime! But we didn't. In fact, we saw nothing until we hit our turn-around spot and I got out to "look for Wood Frogs" and saw our First of Year Fowler's Toad on a path. Target #1 achieved.

I took him to show Andrea and he promptly jumped into the car. I found him under some trash on the floor of the back seat. Damned if I didn't laugh.

We saw a Park Ranger (who wondered what the hell we were doing, but gave us full permission once we told her) and she said frogs were out in force, but she was probably driving around during the rain.

Someone was coming up behind me, so I pulled over and as I did, I saw a set of eyes reflecting! Scared shitless that I was going to squish something, I got a tire on either side and hoped he didn't hop. Luckily he didn't and I got a shot of this beautiful Bullfrog.

I love how he looks coked-out with his night-time eyes.

We already considered the drive worth it when we saw the Fowler's and the Bull added to our happiness. Making things even better, we saw one more animal, our other anuran target, a Gray Tree Frog, the First of the Year.

90 mile round trip for 3 animals? Yessiree! Worth every inch!