Picta This! A Day in April. 4-12-2026

Despite being out (gig) and up late the night before, we wanted to get to a spot in Middlesex County at a reasonable hour and try to find our first Water Snake on the year. It was supposed to be as nice as the previous day though when we got there, we discovered that a breeze was going to be keeping it cool. That's OK... we were there, we would hike. Blanding's are possible here, too.

I finally got the camera on a Red-winged Blackbird (#35). It was right there next to the path, ignoring us as we approached.

We walked up the deck, keeping our eyes peeled for basking Painted Turtles and saw a wee one warming up.

We watched a pair of Muskrats frolicking. Love is in the air. The chase was relentless and they made adorable squeaking sounds.

This distant Muskrat (or Beaver?) wasn't interested in frolicking, just napping. So like me.

Moving on, we saw a hatchling Painted Turtle swimming out in the open. Not a bright move in a place inundated with massive invasive carp. He must have overwintered in the nest and just come up. We watched in fear for a while and he eventually moved to the safety of the reeds.

An Eastern Comma. Evidently, this is the first time I've put one on this blog.

Andrea found a Painter with a deeply tannined plastron on the path. I'd post a pic but it turns up later and I got a better photo.

We went as far as we could before hitting private property. At the furthest point, I got a nice Painted Turtle shot.

Heading back, there was another turtle on the path. We ran up and thought it looked fairly familiar.

This is ol' tannin plastron!

Two things worth noting. It was pretty clear that we weren't going to see any snakes, Water or otherwise. It was just too cool. But... we heard loads of Northern Leopards calling and that is excellent news. This place used to be filthy with them but have been completely absent for the last 3 or 4 years. If they are making a comeback, I couldn't be happier.

We proceeded up another path that went along the river and noted how flooded that area was. That was also the secret Painted Turtle place where they could bask, unencumbered by passing humans (unless you know how to look). The first pic is a twelve-pack, our best on the year so far. (Remember, we just saw our FoYs two days ago!)

Another Painter crossing the path.

I finally got my eyes on a frog. Not a Leopard, but a fine looking Green.

A Muskrat was munching on reeds with it's little hands holding tight.

Two more Painters crossing! This was at the far-point of this path so we watched them go into the drink, then turned back.

Back on the main path back to the car, Andrea spied this proud looking fella basking on the reeds. His face made us laugh, prompting Andrea to say, "If you don't want us to laugh at you, you shouldn't be a turtle!"

Back on the deck, the small Painter count had doubled.

This adult was sitting right on a support beam, hidden in plain sight.

The last Painter of the day.

We ended things up with Bird #37, a Great Blue Heron.

It's funny, only two species of "herp" but we still call this a good day. The Leopard noise certainly helped but just being out seeing things, hearing things and getting some vitamin D into our systems (I even got a little pink on my nose and forehead) felt really good. Just Painters and a Green Frog but damn, that's enough to make us feel very good.