Trudging Thru Mid-August. 8-15th and 16th, 2025

Friday the 15th was a nice day. Andrea worked but got out early. Let's go out and take a nature walk. OK, Mike, where? Why not try a nearby spot that we haven't really ever given a chance? OK. Damn, this road is dangerously busy! Yeah, but I just saw the pond... I'll pull over here. Man, this is scary walking the shoulder of the street while cars whizz past! Oh! There's a dock... eww... it's filled with humans.

Yeah, it goes on. We did walk around the entire pond. It was much nicer when we were off the busy road but both docks were filled with humans basking. We did finally see a massive Bullfrog in a pool off of the trail.

Except for the frog, it was a waste of time but a lesson learned. Stay away from Turtle Pond in Stonybrook.

The next day, we got up early but still managed to show up late at our favorite pond in Norfolk County. We had to stay close because there wasn't a ton of gas in the car. That's OK... we love this place! It was (supposedly) less humid and still warm and sunny on this Saturday. 

I flipped plenty of logs on the way to the dam and saw a ton of Crazy Worms. This, I remembered, was the first place we'd seen them. The chances of salamanders being here anymore is becoming slim. We saw nothing, in fact, until we finally saw a small Painted Turtle basking about 3/4 of the way through the dam area. This guy finally made the trip worthwhile.

It was another mile along when we finally found a Ringneck under some bark.

The Hobo Camp had a lot more for us to enjoy. The first stone I flipped in the fireplace was funny because a Pickerel was staring back at me.

Andrea went to flip a stone but it was being guarded by another Pickerel. Hers was a much bigger and plumper one. The place was hoppin'!

Ringneck Hill offered us no snakes. I got a crappy shot of another Pickerel hopping by that I didn't keep. Further on, we found the bread bakery tree.

Well, not bread maybe... a mushroom in the Polypore family. (Thanks, Jef!)

We got to the camp area and were surprised to find it mostly empty. That made it good for 5-O'clock Charlene (or some other large female Water Snake) who was basking in a secret area.

I went to wade in the water and got this amusing shot... just her noggin showing.

That was it for critters. Andrea even needed a nap on this hike.

And so the summer of not seeing a ton continues but as I say every post, being out in nature beats the shit out of not being out in nature!

Some Actual Hope for the Future. Aug. 8th and 9th, 2025

I rarely have any optimism about anything. I'm probably full of it on this too, but hey.

Friday the 8th (my brother's birthday!) was a pretty nice day so when Andrea finished up work at 2:30, I convinced her to take a nature walk somewhere... anywhere. We made an odd decision to go to the place that holds our local dens. We always go at the beginning and the end of the year but never any other time. While it didn't turn up anything crazy, it did give us an instant of hope.

We hit a path with two footbridges. In the water on our right as we went over, we saw a Green Frog and a Bullfrog. They looked like this, respectively:

We continued on and at the next footbridge, there were two teenaged girls sitting next to the water, so I naturally asked if they'd seen any frogs. They said they had not but were looking for them. I gave them pretty good directions on where to see the two we'd just seen and we went on our way.

We turned back after about 20 more minutes of exploring. The girls were no longer at that second (now first, on the way back) footbridge. I hoped they'd gone to the next one to look at the frogs but you know... kids these days. We got to the (now) second footbridge and they weren't there. But our pal Joe from a few weeks ago was! I have matched spots... this is the same Bullfrog in the same place.

We headed back towards the car and before we got back to the main path, the two girls were coming towards us. I asked if they'd seen the frogs and they said they couldn't find them. We took them back (luckily, not too far) and showed them all three. They were very happy, chirping how they loved frogs. I figured we had done a good deed. It's good to see youngsters enjoying nature.

The next day, we got up fairly early and headed to Essex County for a first-of-year walk around a lovely reservoir there. It was going to be warm and sunny. Upon hitting the trail, we noticed a lot of burned woodlands along the path. I was reminded of a wildfire in the area last year that lasted a few days and I'm sorry to say that this place was in the path. Flipping burnt logs, however, revealed super nice looking soil, so who knows. It might be OK after all.

It took a while but we finally saw some critters, a few Painted Turtles enjoying the sun.

This guy did a big hoist and was standing tall.

This particular place is usually very good for Water and Garter Snakes but we were striking out. I was down by the edge of the water looking for Musk Turtles when this small Water Snake swam right in front of me.

I spent a lot of time flipping for Garters, hoping for some shoestrings, but coming up empty. I did see a beautiful two-footer slither out of sight and managed a "proof" shot but little else.

We looked around a lot more but found ourselves back to where we'd seen our first Painters on the day. We watched them swimming and foraging and doing turtle business for quite a while.

I snapped a shot of Bird #63 on the year, a Solitary Sandpiper.

A Honey Bee packing up it's saddlebags.

Around this time, an older guy and a young girl (likely grandpa and granddaughter) whom we'd seen earlier, wisely wearing mosquito hoods (the gnats were awful) came up and we started talking. They are very familiar with the place and the girl is very fond of reptiles. They'd seen a Garter not too far away. We walked back to the parking lot together and talked about animals. I almost got a Garter on the way (the girl called snakes "friends") but failed. But at any rate, I had a lovely chat with the girl who wants to eventually learn falconry and learn everything about reptiles in the area.

It dawned on me that in the last two days, I have had better conversations with kids than I do with most of my peers. My own granddaughter (who I wish still lived in Essex County so she could explore nature with this girl) is a bug fanatic! Surely I am a fifteen year old girl at heart.

Now, don't think all pervy and stuff, Andrea is my only love. It just did my old heart good to see youngsters loving on what so many people think of as unlovable animals. It makes me think that guys like this Painter might have a decent future.

Lazy Sunday. 8-3-2025

I left the decision up to Andrea... where do you want to go on Sunday? There were a few options but she decided to save me some gas money and keep it nearby and short. We decided to just hit the Green Snake place, then visit our Snappy friends at the local (to us) cemetery. Short and sweet. But, we realized, going to the Green Snake place for snakes is fine but if you don't see any, you don't see anything. Taking a chance, we headed out and got there at about 9 AM.

Right away, Andrea's choice paid off when she flipped a bubblegum pink Deke!

We looked around for quite a while and saw nothing else. Too late to flip a Green and too early for basking Garters. Before leaving, I managed to flip a pretty Garter on the beach who musked the shit out of me. The musk is very strong in the Garters here. I suspect it has something to do with the partially salt-water things diet.

Go back to your rock, Mr. Stinky!

We headed over to the cemetery from there and upon pulling up to the pond, we saw a large turtle basking next to the island. Must be a Red-ear... but it wasn't! This is the one Yellow-belly here.

We first noticed him here in 2020 and weren't surprised to see him as the species had been available at PetCo. He was medium sized then and has put on a few inches in the last five years!

Of course, Snappers always swim up to say hi (beg for handouts) at this location.

Even the Yellow-belly got down off of his perch to see if anyone had any treats.

This colorful Red-ear is another familiar turtle that likes to be where the action (possible handouts) is.

This Great Blue Heron was striking a classic pose for a nice shot.

A Painted Turtle basking and behaving.

Andrea had fed nothing to the turtles but she was a Snapper magnet. They must sense her love for them. I tried to recreate a picture from June 6th, 2016 that went about as viral as anything I've ever posted. (Note the GBH in the background...)

The original from 2016 ↓

It should be noted that all of these Snappers are absolutely massive, but the last one that came to visit, Two-Dot, is much smaller than the rest.

The guy who feeds them showed up with apples that he put on a stick and coaxed the turtles up. While I think it is detrimental to the turtles in general, I said nothing. It is pretty amazing how unafraid these turtle are but it's going to hurt when someone who likes to eat turtle finds out and gets a few easy meals. Hopefully, that will never happen.

Good call on Andrea's part. We were home before noon (!) and having a lazy and relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Painted Glory. 8-2-2025

It was supposed to be less humid and only in the mid-70s on Saturday. A good chance to walk around our favorite place in Plymouth County. Plans to get up and out early went by the wayside and we got stuck in a bit of Cape traffic but we managed to get there by 11 AM. Late but still shady on some important paths.

We skipped the woods and went straight to the paths. The Spotted Turtle bog was still dry, despite the recent rains. That made the first leg of our hike kind of pointless. It wasn't until over a mile in that we finally saw some Painted Turtles swimming in the sunny bogs (that mercifully had plenty of water).

Twins!

It became obvious that today would be a day of Painted Turtle Yoga.

Next to Painters, Bullfrogs were the most seen species on the walk.

Painters being fabulous.

Bullfrog being a green cowflop.

Basking sites were at a premium.

We were looking at trails through the duckweed, saying "I'll bet a Snapper did that" and at the end, this Snappy snout was poking up. That never works! But it did this time.

We got to Osprey path, got yelled at by the Osprey adults and sat down to rest at the waterfall. The fallen tree has been a real treasure for us these past two seasons. This duckweed covered Painter never moved while others splashed in at out presence.

He was soon joined by some pals. It was great fun to just watch animals doing what they do when they don't remember you're there watching.

A branch further out had plenty of picta action.

After a while, we finally moved on. Along the main path, Painters were everywhere. This molting fella was the most awkward pose of the day.

While this was one of the most incredible sights I've ever photographed. Yes, there is a stick propping this guy up on his plastron but it sure looks like he's balancing on one hand! Even with the stick, it's a pretty remarkable balancing act.

There were two Black Duck families swimming around in that same pond. One adult was dunking and flapping a lot and that was fun to watch. When she finally stopped and groomed on a perch, I was able to get a shot of her surrounded by Painters.

A wee Paintlet.

We saw some small green frogs near the edge that I thought might be Greens (we'd heard plenty of them) but they were small Bulls.

I saw a Painter just standing on the top of the water and dubbed it "Jesus Painter". Upon seeing what I'd snapped, I realized it was a Two-headed Jesus Painter! Wow!

We got to the picnic table after deciding to not take the long way. We figured that there'd be no snakes out by this time of the day. It had become quite hot and the sun was starting to wear us down. It happens here. But we sat at the shaded picnic table, enjoying the breeze and looking out at the water. A Great Blue Heron was hunting from a perch and if you looked closely, you could see basking Painters. For instance, there are 28 in this photo.

The 27 Painter chorus line is my best of the year so far. (One is on the log in front of the line.)

This photo of four isn't great but I wanted to preserve the glorious yoga of the little guy second from the right.

It was a long, hot walk along the big pond. We kept our eyes out for more Snappers, Spotteds and Red-bellies but other than the occasional quick-to-elude Painter, we saw nothing. There was a lot of Milkweed on the path's edge and we saw plenty of Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillars.

Another rest, another fabulous Painted Yoga pose.

The rocks on the way out felt pretty heavy this trip. It wasn't until the very last one that I finally had a critter... a limber American Toad.

And that's what we wound up with. I can't complain because I love Painted Turtles, Bullfrogs, Snapper snouts and Toads. The backs of my legs burned to a crisp which is different. No snakes again but July and August aren't easy for them. For us, anyway. Any day in nature is a good day all the same.