Our October Diary. Oct. 11,12,19,20,25 and 26.

Obviously, I've been really lazy about posting our late year sights but to be honest, we haven't been seeing tons. Don't believe me? Here's what we've seen in the last three weeks.

October 11th, 2024.

We took a look at our local den spot, wondering if the snakes had returned to their winter headquarters yet. It was a sunny and warm Friday afternoon but we saw no snakes in the usual spots. Salamanders, however, were present. A Redback was (and often is) our first sight.

A Spotted Salamander is always a welcome surprise.

Redbacks... including a long, tall sally.

It was late in the day but we headed over to that school area where we'd seen some massive Water Snakes in the previous month. No snakes or frogs but I saw a distant Wood Duck, which I knew I needed on the year and got a surprise Green-winged Teal family in the bargain. They are #60 and #61 respectively. 

October 12th, 2024.

It was going to be another warm and sunny day so we decided to take one more shot for "exotic" snakes in Plymouth County. Of course, we struck out, but had a nice 4 miles of hiking. As I said, we often start with a Redback or two. And we did.

A tiny 3/4" flash went by in front of me and I was lucky enough to spot this mini-Peeper before it disappeared.

Driving to the next spot, I saw a Painted Turtle basking, so I slammed on the brakes, threw on the hazards and ran back for this shot. Dangerous? Perhaps. Worth it? Oh, yes.

At the station, we went to look for Red-bellied Turtles basking as that is a hot spot. None were up but while we were poking around the area, this massive beast was hauling up.

There is some froth in the corners of her mouth which says to me that she has a respiratory infection of some sort. Which the fluctuating temperatures of late, I'm not surprised. Hopefully, the sunny Vitamin D will help with the cure.

We went on to the peninsula and sat for a while, just watching the water. It is a peaceful spot as long as no other humans are present. I could see some distant Canada Geese and Red-bellies way out there.

While sitting there, I saw something bobbing in the water,a speck in the distance. My telephoto lens came in handy and caught this Redbell noggin. That must be one monster of a turtle.

That was our final visit to this place for 2024.

October 19th, 2024.

We had to keep it short this Saturday as my band had a show in the evening. So, we went back to the local dens for a speedy look-see. It was warm and sunny, in the 60s. Hey, guess what we started with! Redbacks. Huge, squirmy flips of five, then three!

But still no snakes at their dens.

We went in, explored 5 den sites with no snakey luck. We checked the Valley on the way back to the car and had a legit Holy Shit moment! That Nerodia gal right outside of a known den entrance was at least three feet long! Monster!

Further back in the Valley, this wee dusty Water Snake was slithering towards the sun.

Patience paid off.

October 20th, 2024.

Having played the night before, we were pretty toasted and running late by Sunday morning. Andrea's tendon was bothering her so we nixed the idea of Ponk. I did, however, convince her to take a walk on a flat gasline trail in the Blue Hills. It was in the 60s with intermittent sun.

We had a lovely hike, about 3 miles, but it was so dry that much of what we had hoped to see was not present. I did see a couple of Painters basking at one point where there was water but they plopped into the drink while I was attempting to squiggle into position for a shot. I stood no chance.

Our only sight was a pretty Garter catching some rays. There is likely a Winter spot nearby as we often see garters in this area in the Spring.

October 25th, 2024.

Andrea's lunch-break... back to the dens. It was about 60° but it was warm in the sun. Guess what we saw first? A four pack of Redbacks, all huddled together.

All of the dens we hit were snake-free until Andrea decided she had time to go out to the Rock Wall Den. We were rewarded with one Garter, enjoying itself in the sun. It's a nice long one, about 2 feet.

October 26th, 2024.

60° and sunny, but breezy. We went to our favorite spot these days, the big pond in Plymouth County. We got there at noon and headed in, hitting the woods first. Last call for Box Turtles and Gray Tree Frogs on the year. We saw neither. Guess what we started with...

There was more water here than on our last visit on September 22nd. The bogs had a little bit of water which raised our hopes of an October Spotted Turtle. We eventually did score, though he was a tough shot and then he slid into the drink, leaving me with this:

We weren't seeing too much. When we got to the Osprey path, we finally got a butt-in-the-air Painter shot.

We were nearing a traditional resting spot and Andrea reminded me that there's now a fallen tree that Painted Turtles like to bask on after the waterfall where we sit. So, we approached quietly and were rewarded with these guys.

That second guy stayed there the whole time we sat, for about 15 minutes.

While resting, I saw movement in the water below us, just a dappling of movement. The ol' telephoto went to work again and revealed this large Fishing Spider.

Andrea, as always, likes to explore nesting areas. By now, anybody coming out of eggs would be staying put.

We saw a few Chinese Mantids. This one was giving me the side eye.

I heard a few splish-splashes in a pond we call Spotted Pond. I suspect they both might have been Spotted Turtles but the guy who stayed up was a brave Painter.

We decided to go our new (longer) route at this place. Last time we'd seen a bunch of Water Snakes going that way. Also, it was pretty windy and this took us further away from the large (always windy) pond. We were happy with our decision right away when we saw some frogs on the new path. Both appear to be Bulls.

Wooly Bullies were frequently seen on the path.

I'd pretty much given up on any snakes as it really wasn't very warm at all. Still, Andrea saw this dirty girl in the shade. This Water Snake had likely fallen asleep in the sun, but then the sun shifted.

We made it to the picnic table and sat for a while. Distant Painted Turtles were few and far between, but I managed two.

And that was it... we saw no more critters on the way out. We had walked over six miles and on the last one we were starting to sag a bit. We called this our last hike at this spot for 2024. Maybe even our last non-local dens hike of the year. We'll play it by ear. But the year is rapidly coming to a hard close. We're not doing sea turtle work this year as we're not in the greatest shape and we feel that our services are probably no longer needed.

It really saddens me that those last two Painters might be our final turtles of 2024. We'll see.