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.