And So Ends August. 8-30 and 8-31-2025

Labor Day weekend and the weather was supposed to be nice... mid-70s and sunny! Having seen a shoestring Garter the previous week, I chose a spot in Bristol County that could be good for both shoestrings and walking pebbles. Of course, that proved a lot harder than expected and, as usual, I failed. But hang on... we did see some stuff.

First up, the picnic table graveyard gave us a small in-the-blue Garter.

The animal of the day was definitely the Fowler's Toad. Here is our first one.

Painted Turtles were grabbing late Summer rays.

A sandy Fowler's.

This was amusing and I wish I'd been filming. I was walking along the edge of a sandpit when all of a sudden, a circle of pine needles flipped it's lid and a chunky Fowler's hopped into the brush. This is the culprit that surprised me.

It was time to put a moratorium of Fowler's but a beach rock revealed about a dozen, including this trio.

We both had (wet) handfuls of toads in order to replace the rock.

A secret Painter. A new spot.

I finally got the camera on a couple of Pickerels.

Our secret Painter spot looked full on most basking platforms. No Red-bellies.

On the way back, we were noting how damn many little Fowler's were hopping around. I noted no Black-eyed specimens. Andrea alerted me to a large Garter than had just slithered into the bushes. I found her and noted that she too had been noticing the toads. I didn't want to handle her because of that but getting a photo was tough. I finally got this shot which is good enough.

We decided to slide over into Plymouth County to the old Mill to see if any Water Snakes or Musk Turtles were around. I did notice a happy coil across the stream, hidden on the other side.

And then I flipped (finally) a shoestring Water Snake.

I just adore brand new Nerodia. He went into the stream and got caught in the current when I released him but I'm sure he caught the grass quickly and hopefully got right back under the same rock.

Not the perfect treasure hunt but a decent day for 6 miles of hiking.

The next day, Sunday, we concentrated on shoestrings and walking pebbles again and went to a spot in Middlesex County where both have been seen in the past. Again, it was in the low 70s and sunny. We got there at about 9:30 and hit the trail. 

We saw nothing until we got the the middle pond area and noticed that they'd done some work on the path and beaver dam area. It worried me but then, what doesn't? We finally saw some frogs, a Bull then a Green.

Painted Turtles. Lots. Everywhere. No Blanding's on the day but so many Painters. Let's start, shall we?

I got a good shot of my #60 bird that I'd gotten a shitty shot of on July 4th (in flight). Here is my revised Belted Kingfisher.

Back to Painted Turtles.

This last chorus line stopped many-a-hiker to take a photo.

These small Golden Shiners were plentiful.

Painter Yoga.

Surprisingly, I flipped a Redback on the way back.

A last stack of Painted Turtles.

Well, that's that. I realize that if you don't like common stuff, especially Painted Turtles, this post must be as dull as dishwater. But I'll tell you, the only thing on Sunday, August 31st that kept me from wanting to open a vein and bleed out and be done with it was watching Painted Turtles bask, swim and climb, enjoying the sight with Andrea. Things are so fucked up right now but watching turtles being turtles puts a lot into perspective, at least for a while.

Party on.