Falling Into Autumn. 9-27th and 28th, 2025

The first weekend of Fall was forecast as being a dandy one so we made plans to visit "Musk Turtle Spot" in Plymouth County, a place we'd not been able to add on to our Bristol/ Plymouth Tour two weeks earlier. We got an early start and got there at around 10 AM just as the sun was starting to get hot. We decided to check out the flipping areas around the dilapidated mill first thing. We started out strong with a new Water Snake kid.

Oddly enough, this was our only successful flip (among a hundred more). It was wet from the previous day's rain so I can understand snakes being absent but no Toads or Salamanders, either. Oh well... the thrill of the hunt was ever-present.

Leaving the mill area, on a dirt road heading to the main dirt road, a small Pickerel hopped into our way.

About 30 feet on from there, a skinny Garter was in the road in full hunt mode, his head bobbing back and forth, looking for lunch. I didn't tell him about the frog. He'd find something on his own.

The main dirt road has bogs on one side and marshland on the other. This made for some good Bullfrog sightings (and one Painter who evaded my camera).

^^^ This guy is beefy!

We went to the beachy area next to our parking spot now that there were no dudes sitting in their trucks waiting for a hookup. We walked the edges of the beach and I poked through the wrack looking for Musk Turtles. I found one!

There was a small pool on the beach nestled under a tree and fed by waves from the pond. This stunner of a Bullfrog was guarding the edge.

I kept thinking I was scaring small frogs from the edges but we finally figured out that it was Crayfish darting about. I got a picture of one (finally) and it is a non-native Rusty Crayfish.

We got into the car and made our way to the front, along the main (paved) road where people are usually fishing. There was but one guy there and he was nice and we all talked about a bright red Nerodia that we'd seen (and I got a shitty picture of). The small River Herring were out in full force in the lake, skirting the edges en masse.

Their presence was really stirring up the Silver Perch who kept lunging up to the surface to grab them.

Musk Turtles were also visible foraging in the muck beneath the dam.

Know why we call this Musk Turtle Spot? We watched both fish and turtles for quite a while.

A beautiful bug landed on me and Andrea informed me that it was a dreaded Spotted Lantern Fly. No, I did not kill it, it buzzed off in a brilliant flash of color. I did report it, though.

Guess who had come back by now... Mr. Red! Now, I have seen thousands of Northern Water Snakes over the decades, but never one who retained her reds like this one. Pushing 3 feet and looking like a candy cane!

She was probably very interested in these, too.

We took a walk along the shore of the other lake across the street looking for, of course, baby Musks. Well, we saw on hiding its head in the algae so I leaned in a dropped a penny next to it for scale.

Andrea stayed and filmed the little guy and I went further on and found this mostly metamorphed clay-looking Bullfrog. Still a bit of a tail stump.

We went up to another dirt road just to look around. The cranberry bog had plenty of Bullfrogs in it... here are but a fraction of them.

This little Bull guy was in the lake. Smaller than the clay-colored guy, it was more developed.

From there, we decided to head over to the other broken down mill in Plymouth County, only a few miles away. We got there and right away saw this Woodland Vole (mostly) under a rock snoozing or eating. As soon as it noticed us, it was off in a flash.

We were poking around, looking for turtles as usual when Andrea noticed a snake. Or two.

It was two Water Snakes having a tug-of-war with a fish in between them. Amazing. The black on was on top of a spillway fence and the red one was below in the water. The red was bigger and if I had to put money on it, I'd have put it on her. But they both had a good hold.

Amazing. We watched for quite a while. A family came by and the little girl enjoyed seeing the fight while a little boy was just kind of noisy and happy that an adult was paying attention to them. The little girl was very proud to point out a resting Water Snake she had seen.

The little boy tried to get me to go with him after that and I said "I'm going to stay with my wife and you should stay with your family". Finally, an adult appeared to take some damn responsibility. We watched the tug o' war a bit longer with a family (of adults) that were enthralled. We watched for about 15 minutes and it remained a stalemate. We went off to see if any other snakes were around.

Just one, resting in a warm wall, probably digesting.

It's hard to not be super happy with the day's sights, even though it's a mere five species. Back in the car heading towards the closest town, we made one more nature pitstop... a human-destroyed former favorite spot that still has its small patches of possibilities.

We got there and headed straight to the Picnic Table Graveyard. The wood held no surprises for us but some broken up asphalt was a treasure of shoestring Garters.

That was enough for me! Mission accomplished! I did check the bog next to the parking lot on the way out and found a small Green Frog relaxing in the shade.

Andrea ended our day with another small Green in a puddle next to the bog.

Now that was a good day in my book. Not a huge species count but some amazing sights... Red Nerodia, tug of war, triple shoestring flip... it all adds up to an excellent day in the field. I wonder if the tug of war is still going on...

The next morning, I had planned on hitting a spot in the Blue Hills that we usually only hit in the early Spring. It gets super buggy in the Summer but I figured we'd give it a try anyway because it's quick and flat and I (incorrectly) thought we had afternoon plans, so I wanted to keep it quick.

Upon starting towards the path, it dawned on me that, despite some recent rain, the marshland would be dry and turtles might not be present. That was correct. It was dry as a bone. Plus, having never visited this spot at this time of year, we didn't know just how grown-in it would be. We walked an almost two mile path on a foot wide path through a jungle.

Finally, 2 miles in on a cross path, a Wood Frog made itself known and I got a blurry shot.

Worth the trouble right there!

Heading back, a big Green Frog jumped into the bushes and presented me with a real photo challenge. I think I did OK.

We trudged through the grassy path back towards the car. A small frog jumped like a wild checkers move into the grass. Pickerel? Leopard? It didn't matter which... I couldn't find it. Finally, back to the beginning of the trail, Andrea spied a Garter near a known den-spot. Have they already returned to their Winter digs?

The best way to end this post is with a handsome Garter head on a mossy pillow.

The end of the season is nigh but there may still be a few good days out there and I'm glad we had a decent weekend to start off Autumn.

Last Call for Hogs, Last Call for Summer. Sept. 20 and 21, 2025

The weather was supposed to be OK, sunny and mid to upper 60s so we decided to take one last shot at seeing Hognose Snakes in Plymouth County. Our timing was good... things were warming up and the sun was hitting the right spots when we got there. The bog, our first stop, was full of Bullfrogs. It has been a very good year for that species in this place in 2025. Can't say that about too many things.

Andrea spied an exception to the rule with a Green Frog.

Up on the pond, she noticed this little guy looking at me. I had no idea. I thought it was a Green but that "dorsal ridge" is just a shadow... young Bull here.

Absolute last call for Hogs... formerly our best area for them. Two stops, three long paths, over 3 miles of hiking. We struck out. Mercifully, we saw a couple of Fowler's Toads on one of the paths.

Also on that same path an Io Moth Caterpillar (Automeris io), which is a formidable-looking character. 

I did see an Io Moth flying around (I think... it had the big dots on the bottom wings) but failed to get a shot.

Does a bear shit in the woods? One did, anyway.

Over to the visitor's center in hopes of a few turtles. Three Painted Turtles were up. Not a great year for Redbells anywhere.

Whatever deity you might subscribe to (I go with Mother Nature) smiled upon us as we finally saw a snake. Four inches of edwardsii fury; a this-year's-model Ringneck.

That was that. Over five miles hiked. I doubt we'll be going back this year. Over the winter, we'll be researching some new spots because this one has been pretty shitty now for about five years. Going the season without a Hog means it's time to mix things up. Our friend Mike gave us a spot to look at in Rhode Island and we'll look at some other new spots next year. So many species we have failed on this year. Not our best. But it's all good.

The next day, I had some band business in the afternoon but we made time for a quick 3-mile walk in the morning at another place that has been crappy for us this year. At least it's in Norfolk County and I didn't have to use much gas. In our three miles, I managed to flip one thing, a this-year's model Deke.

Four inches of dekayi fury. He was pretty mellow, actually.

As the season winds down, even more than the usual depression is setting in. We're not doing Cape turtle rescue again this year. Damn, we are in horrible shape; fat and achey and lazy. We'll be checking the local dens soon and that will be all we see (and blog about) until March. Hopefully, it will be a good October. We have had some good luck during the tenth month in the past. But then, look how much our favorite spots have changed in the last couple of decades.

But hang in there, we will. If we survive.

Double Digits in Massachusetts. 9-14-2025

We couldn't get out on Saturday because the band had an afternoon thing so we were chomping at the bit to head out on Sunday. We had to keep it fairly close because I didn't have a lot of gas so we chose a spot in Norfolk County that actually touches Bristol County at one end. It is a place often congested with disgusting humans but it does offer plenty of good pond-side habitat and lots of critters.

We got there pretty early and it was still in the mid-60s but the sun was doing its best. We'd be starting out flipping. Andrea struck first with this buried pair of American Toads under a stone.

We headed over to our secret spot that nobody knows about. There was a family there. The kid was a frog fan and pointed out a small Pickerel that he'd just seen jump into the stream.

A pair of Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasps joined at the... well, damned if I know but it looks like love.

Time for some Plethodons... a Red and a Lead.

We checked a known Garter shoestring gully but saw no babies. This pretty teenager was there, though.

It could be said that Andrea was on fire... she flipped this ghostly white Four-toed Salamander, only our second specimen this year.

A couple of Pickerels, one in the tannin muck and one staying clean! Oscar and Felix!

Can you believe this is our first Spotted Salamander in Massachusetts this year? Our Big Nights were duds and we'd only seen one in Connecticut earlier this year. This tubby little guy was a sight for sore eyes.

A Goldtop Redback.

A Peeper hopped near me. I'd never have seen it otherwise.

This daddy-long-legs looked odd to me so I had to ask what it was online. Turns out it's a Speckled Harvestman.

This small dark Green Frog was pretty well hidden.

It dawned on us that we were getting a pretty good species count despite not seeing many reptiles. I finally was able to add a ninth... Painted Turtles.

Unbelievably, Water Snakes had been eluding us and we were really looking hard for them. Andrea made note of some triangular stick-shapes poking out of the water about 60 feet out. My zoom revealed (not really well, but revealed all the same) some Snapper snouts! Our always elusive tenth species of the trip! Double digits!

We were headed back to the front and passed the area where we'd seen the Garter hours earlier. Guess who was still hanging around?! Only snake on the day!

We decided to take a path further up along the pond, one we hadn't taken in years. It wasn't a bad idea because we saw this fine young American Toad.

We got to a nice, secluded bench way out there and relaxed for a while, enjoying some distant Painter stacks.

So that's that... nothing super weird or rare, though a 4-toed and Spotted on the same day is weird unless it's March! We never get double digit days in a single place in Massachusetts anymore. This felt pretty good.