Ending August... 8-30-2024, 8-31-2024.

It was going to be nice and, inspired by our friend Mike who had just had luck, we decided to go to Plymouth County to look for Hognoses on this sunny Friday. We'd been trying new trails at that State Forest, once with great luck, but I decided to stay on our familiar paths, while stretching out and exploring one in a new direction. We got a pretty late start but still got there before 11:30, Cape traffic included. We hit the bogs first.

We were greeted by a bunch of Bullfrogs. The bogs were looking much better since our last visit.

At one point, I saw a toad in the grass but he totally handed me my ass. Andrea had her eye on a Ribbon Snake in the brush and was poised to grab it until we noticed it had a tiny frog snack in its mouth. She halted and the frog made it away anyway. Two (or three) near misses!

I finally made peace with myself on the Fowler's Toad front...

Next stop, we saw a distant Painted Turtle. I snapped an iffy shot just in case we saw no others.

Peeling back bark on logs sometimes works. Sometimes not. This time, it got us a private Fowler's.

The next time, it got us a Ringneck.¡Salud!

Fowler's were pretty easy to spot. Despite being their main food source, we saw no Hogs. We did explore about a mile of new trails but still came up empty. Plenty o' toads, though.

From there, we went over to the station to get some water. While there, of course we had to look for Redbellies, who often bask there. Yep- a massive cooter was up, just owning the place.

I was walking away to look on the edges of the pond when Andrea called me back. She'd seen orange in a hole. Upon closer inspection, it was a Painted hatchling who had fallen back in. We then started to dig.

One more was in there.

We put them down into the grass next to the water. They'll know what to do.

Happy with having seen babies, we sat for a while on the peninsula. This pair of distant Painted Turtles were keeping the perch balanced.

That was it for the day but since it was a Friday and we weren't in work and we got to see some animals, it's all very good.

The next day, we decided to take the Copperhead trail in Norfolk County. We obviously hoped to see a Copper but we also wanted to see a Racer and some shoestring Garters. It was a very overcast day and it seemed like it should be good for snakes but. alas, we saw none. But...

It was pretty warm and salamanders were not expected, but our first sight was a newly metamorphed Spotted Salamander.

Even more surprising was our first Marbled Salamander of the year. This biggie is fat. It seems far too early to be eggs so I guess it's just eating very well.

Another unexpected sight... not just seeing an Eft but one snuggling with a Toga Mantle Slug.

Another bright, new Spottie.

More newt strange bedfellows... this more-or-less adult Red-spotted Newt, who looks to be in search of a pond, was sharing the bark with a North American Millipede. We saw dozens of millipedes.

Another new and vivid Spotted Salamander!

Why not just one more Eft, too!

And we ended with... you guessed it:

We didn't see any snakes but our Cuadate game was strong. All of those Spotteds were this year's models and that Marbled was a beastly huge adult. Ambystoma joy.

That was it. We headed home but had to stop off at Andrea's garden plot to weed a little. We did, then I started photographing the bees who were enjoying the sunflowers. In addition to bumblebees, we had some Bi-colored Striped Sweat Bees and Three-knotted Longhorn Bees. The Bumble had some nice saddle-bags going.

Thus ended August, 2024.

Giving It The Ol' College Try. Aug. 23 and 24, 2024.

Andrea had Friday off. It was supposed to be warm and nice. We decided to check out our all-but-forgotten Wood Turtle spot in Middlesex County. It wasn't super humid so it seemed like a good day for it.

We got there late morning and it certainly was warm. We explored woods and the path and didn't have any sightings right away. Our first critter was this Redback; odd, really, because this is such a sandy place.

We got down by the river and heard a bunch of splish-splashes. Looks like most of them were Green Frogs. This guy finally came back up.

We got to a dried up vernal which is a spot we'd seen a Wood in before. The foliage was think but I pushed through it. I scared up a Wood!! Frog. He easily evaded my camera, as did a Peeper in the same area. We worked pretty hard but I had no photos of the frogs and we saw no turtles. I found a comfy mound overlooking the river and sat to rest. I took off my hat and noticed that I had a Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar walking across the brim. Glad I didn't touch it!

We started to head back, always keeping our eyes peeled. Andrea spotted this American Toad hopping in the woods.

Spoiler alert: we didn't see any Wood Turtles on the day. But crawling across the path was our First of Year Red-bellied Snake, a nice charcoal one!

Obligatory belly shot:

As if that wasn't enough of a bone thrown by Mother Nature, Andrea gasped while looking into the river. Not a Wood, but a massive Snapper was swimming along the bottom of the clear water. He stopped for a breath and a photo.

My last photo here... a single Cardinal flower in bloom, growing out of a tangle of broken roots. The image just struck me as moving.

Well, we'd worked hard and there was an ice cream place nearby. As we enjoyed our treat, we decided what we wanted to do next. We figured that we should check another part of the river, one we hadn't seen before. We headed a few miles out and hit the head of a rail trail.

There was a waterfall where we parked. It was attached to a large pond. We started on the trail, keeping the pond in sight. We saw some Painted Turtles using a discarded tire as a basking spot.

Andrea made use of a swing she found along the path. I tried it for a swing or two and got motion sick instantly.

We got down to the pond at a few spots and added some more Painter views to our tally.

Heading back to the car, we saw Bird #59 in the air, a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.

That was it for the day, but I call it a success. We saw plenty of animals, even if I didn't get photos of all of them. Ice cream was good (I got Dino Crunch... blue vanilla with fudge swirl and crunchy choco-bits). We hit a bit of traffic trying to get home. It was a Friday, after all.

The next day, I wanted to check out a favorite spot in Bristol County. It's the only place we'd seen Milks so far this year and I'm always up for Lamps! We got there and headed to the Fragrance Garden right away. I quickly went to the shaded rock wall to flip for a dozing Garter or Milk. Instead, I got nailed on the side of my middle finger with a sting. At first, for a millisecond, I thought it was a pricker but then a drilling pain started! I saw something with a low-hanging abdomen flying off. Might be the villain.

So, I screamed and commented how much it hurt for a while, because it did! Most painful sting I can ever remember getting. In my agony, I did manage to photograph a Pickerel Frog, though.

The ouch subsided into an annoying throb after a while and I was fine. This Painter was basking about 10 feet from a guy fishing from a kayak.

I'd flipped a Redback under some bark but he disappeared into a crack in the wood. Thwarted again! I soon got my chance with this bruiser later on in the woods.

A charming American Toad.

A fairly reliable Garter mound was empty. We were wondering if any shoestrings were present yet. Nearby, however, this diva had found their light.

At the waterfall, distant Painters were up, as they often are.

It was surprising to see this Pickerel at the foot of the falls.

We went to our secret spot to cross the water and saw some Green Frogs enjoying the quiet afternoon.

Heading back out, we decided to (carefully) check the Fragrance Garden again. No more stings plus a shoestring Garter! Well done!

We got some lunch after that and with enlarged left hand, I suggested we go over into Plymouth County and check the old Mill ruins. It's a good spot for Water Snakes and turtles. At one of the dams, there was a young Painted Turtle foraging right below the bridge.

Under another bridge, where it was drier, I flipped a Two-lined Salamander. Only the second ever seen here.

We poked around plenty for Water Snakes but saw none. We went back to watch the wee Painter forage. We don't usually get a chance to watch turtles being turtles (except for basking, I guess) so we watched this guy for 10 or 15 minutes, just poking around and munching on plant matter and algae.

Time well spent.

August is coming to a close way too quickly. But we've been pretty good about getting out and even with that sting (that hampered my guitar playing the next day quite a lot), it was a good weekend.