Garter Art. 6-13 and 6-15, 2025

We've been trying to squish in at least some small hikes whenever possible. Saturday the 15th was going to be off due to rain, protests and an evening show, so we went for a 3:00 PM romp in Norfolk County on Friday the 13th. No Jason but we did see the Mike Meyers graffiti painted a couple of years ago (first seen in this post). We only saw one reptile or amphibian despite the agreeable weather and that was a Painted Lady thinking about (or just finishing up) nesting.

We did manage to add Common Yellowthroat (#56) to our year count with this shot of a female. We were watching a group of them jump around for some time and I finally got a shot.

The next morning came very early because the band played Saturday night and I didn't get to bed until about 1:30 AM, but we did get up and made it to a favorite spot in Bristol County before noon. It was a pleasant day, about 70° and cloudy. Sounded pretty good. Andrea hit paydirt with our (can you believe it) first American Toad of 2025. Can't believe it took until June 15th, but it did.

Totally worth the wait! What a stunner!!!

She then flipped a small Garter. The girl was on fire.

I saw a dark Garter sunning in a hidden spot and managed a difficult shot.

Andrea saw another one, unfortunately next to a piece of trash. I realize that it bothers me more than it does the snake, but it still irks me. Iron Eyes Cody had an impact on me.

Off to a good start. This was all in the garden.

We went about 3/4 of a mile before I saw this Spring Peeper jump into a hole between two logs.

Down by the big vernal, we could hear Green Frogs calling and on the way to the (mostly gone) path, a nice Garter lady was poking around.

There was one visible Green in the water.

Walking up to the car graveyard, I said jokingly "looks like a snake in the path". Well, it was. It's mouth was a bit open and it made us wonder if it was alive. I went up to it and it moved away. Perhaps it has just eaten and hadn't fixed it's jaws yet? I don't know. I have debated about posting this one as I don't like to save photos of possibly injured animals but since I picked it up to inspect it and it nipped me, I'm not too worried about it.

This spot always has a lot of turtle egg predation. This year looks worse than usual. Here is a photo that not only shows the decimation but also makes me a hypocrite for that last paragraph, I guess.

Andrea spied this brilliant olive Garter in the brush.

We got to the Garter bush, a known sirtalis hang-out. There was one snake there that demanded a closer peek.

She has a pea sized lump on her neck. When your head is as relatively small as hers, a pea sized lump is huge. Still, she was filled with vim and vigor. And musk.

A six cygnet family of Mute Swans.

Well, what do you know? An actual turtle! A distant Painter owning his large perch.

Heading back, there was yet another Garter in the path. It never noticed us and we got to enjoy watching it crawl along at it's own pace, just being a Garter Snake.

Up by the bunk-beds, another (gasp!) Painted Turtle was seen!

We went back through the Garden on the way to the car. The dark hidden Garter was still there. Andrea alerted me to another one crawling next to the masonry. Speedy as I am, I got a shot before it disappeared.

Award-worthy!

We ended our time here with a snuggly Garter, our tenth on the day, enjoying some sun atop a stone wall.

We'd had plans of hitting another spot for Musk Turtles but in the end, we were pretty tired from 5 1/2 miles of hiking on very little sleep. We were hungry, so we pigged out and barely made it home awake. Just a 5 species day but still a memorable one.