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.