A Rare Nice Saturday! 5-16-2026

WHAT??? Nice weather on a weekend? BOTH DAYS?? Well I'll be! Flabbergasting! With plans for a trip to Bristol County on Sunday, we kept it closer and headed to a spot in Norfolk County for that Saturday. We got there at about 10:30 AM and were ushered into overflow parking. Not a good sign for this often human-infested place. We talked to the guy directing cars in the field and got him to talk about frogs, so we were doing things OUR way.

We started things off on a very good note when we saw a chubby American Toad right next to the visitor's center.

What a handsome fella!

The was some glamour photography going on near the stream but I made my way back there anyway. No snakes or frogs, though the photographer and model had seen a "big black snake". Ah, Nerodia heaven. We saw none, but I got my own glamour shot of some Marsh Violets next to the stream.

About 10 feet from the model, I saw a good sized Water Snake slithering into the rocks. Missed it. That gaffe was more than made up for when I got to the edge of the pond and photographed our First of Year Pickerel Frog!

Not far from him (watch out!) was a pretty red Water Snake.

Out on the archipelago, there were more frogs! Another Pickerel and two Greens!

The Barn Swallows (#50) are nesting again in the little stone cabin.

We needed a Bullfrog to complete the Big Three Frogs here and this monolith turned up, only our second Bull on the year! He might have to count for more. A beast.

S is for Salamander. A curvy Redback.

A rain-drain culvert that often has Garter neonates crawling in it during the Autumn months came through with a last-year's-model who was in the blue.

We'd seen some Painted Turtles but they were too far away to get decent shots. I figured we'd see more. Up at a good Ringneck spot, we both flipped some Redbacks.

No Ringnecks but this stump covered with Termites was cool. And it gave me some frissons.

We did the high-road/ low-road thing and the only cute thing I was was on the low road!

Once we joined up again, we got a good shot of a Yellow Warbler (#51), my first in a couple of years.

We finally got to a better spot for turtles. Many of our usual turtle photo spots were either underwater (the ponds were pretty full) or close to humans so when we got to the far side, we finally saw some shootable distant turtles. The first shot was of a group of Painted Turtles with an absolute unit of a Red-belly, our First of the Year.

That guy is just massive!

A guy walking his dog stopped so I could get this handsome Water Snake's portrait. Thank you, sir.

Another pair of Painters.

Back towards the front, we started seeing Water Snakes aplenty, usually not far from oblivious humans. I'm glad we know how to look.

GOSLINGS!!!

We ended the hike with one last Bullfrog, doubling our previous best Bull-day on the year (which was... one).

So, we ended the day with nine species. I'd told the parking guy earlier that we were hoping for double digits but I can't complain at all. Plus, three birds were added. (My Gray Catbird shot isn't worth sharing.) We left sweaty, tired and filthy, just how we want to be after a good hike.

A+ day.

Mother's Day is for the Birds. 5-10-2026

Finally, a day that wasn't supposed to suck. We made it through Saturday's porchfest... playing for 2 hours in the cold and rain. Sunday was Mother's Day and it was supposed to be a little bit sunny and scraping 60°. We went to the same spot as last week because one year, we had two Mother's Day Milk Snakes there. Spoiler alert... we did not do that this year.

In fact, we walked for quite a while before I even took my lens cap off. Eventually, I could see a snake in the path about 20 feet up. We quickly (but softly) went up and saw a Water Snake in the path.

Unsure if it was alive or run over by some shitslice on a bike, I went right up to it to look and, startled, it squiggled like a Two-lined Salamander, unable to get purchase on the gravel, then like a shot, it slithered into the  brush. Yup. Very much alive!

We got up to the river, watching birds and keeping an eye out for more snakes. At the river, I went up onto the train tracks and saw some Painted Turtles on the other side.

We rested, watching the birds on the edge of the river. I photographed this guy which turns out to be a Least Sandpiper, a species I'd never photographed before, thus making it #45 on the year and Lifer #206. Not bad!

#46, a Lesser Yellowlegs.

A Savannah Sparrow (#47) was taking a bath in front of us.

Andrea heard a Killdeer and her Merlin seconded it but I couldn't see anything. Finally, I saw some movement on the other side of the water. I couldn't get a good shot but I got a shot of #48, the unmistakable Killdeer.

Heading back out, the answer to "what was that bird" for the last two weeks was discovered... a Northern Flicker, who looks totally different in flight, landed in a tree and gave us #49. A 5 bird day!

We went over to Andrea's Mom's house and spent Mother's Day with her and on the way home, it was still around 60°, so we pulled over at a bus stop on a busy street in Roslindale and flipped a piece of broken cement and saw two snoozing Garters. Such an odd place, but it often pays off.

Of course we had to move them to put the cement back. The little one just sleepily sat there, then went back under while the larger one sprayed me with a massive blast of musk. You know, no problem. First musking of the year and as bad as it smelled, it was OK by me. Plus, I had it coming.

Not a bad day after all.

Clean Up. 5-5-2026

When we're walking around in nature, we see a lot of beauty but we also see a lot of ugly. That would be the trash. Since I'm retired and basically useless now, I have no reason to not get out there and do some clean-up every now and again. So I bought an extendable pool skimmer, grabbed a contractor's bag and a snake stick and headed out to the local cemetery pond here in Suffolk County to clean around the edges. Of course, I had to take my camera. Yes, I cheated on Andrea, but I figured I wouldn't see much that she hasn't already seen.

Of course, the stump was full at the cemetery. It was 75° and sunny! It was filled with the usual suspects, our familiar Red-ears, but I got my first look at the resident Yellow-belly as well! (Sorry, Andrea!! ❤)

Also on the island was a surprise, a Black-crowned Night Heron (#43). I had no idea they were ever up here. I learned that yes, they are indeed!

GOSLINGS!!!!! Little yellow fuzzy-butts!

This is the same little Painter that was on this log last week! Like me, a creature of habit.

There wasn't a ton of garbage but what was there was now in my bag. There was a grounds-crew making noise nearby and I suspect that was why I didn't see any Snappers. I notice they are nervous when machines are making noise.

From there, I went over to an abandoned school in West Roxbury. This place has a beautiful pond/ marshland area that is next to a busy street and lots of shit blows into it from the street. Plus, it's a big party place for kids, so there's always cans and bottles laying around. This spot was a lot more work. I managed to add Tree Swallows (#44) to my Bird Count while trash collecting.

Some Painted Turtles put up with my foraging activity.

Still no Water Snakes spotted at this normally Nerodia-centric spot. I sat on a spillway overlooking the second pond, which is next to a soccer field. There were plenty of Painted Turtles up basking with me.

I was surprised to see a big Snapper up basking as well. First one I've seen here.

A mixed group... first Red-ear I've seen here, too, though it hardly surprises me.

Notice how tanniny the shells are on the turtles in the pond on this side.

That was a nice rest but I got back to work and when all was said and done, I had most of that contractor's bag filled with trash. I was a sweaty, filthy mess (and ate a bag of potato chips on the way home before washing my hands) but I felt pretty good about the accomplishment.

 I will try to do this at least once a month, if possible.

Skating into May. May 1st and 2nd 2026

It's still doing it. Nice on weekdays, shitty on weekends. We had a nice Friday so, since I've banned us from going to the den place, we went to see how the turtles at the cemetery were doing. Sunny, yes, but quite windy again. The big stump in the middle was adorned pretty much like it was the last time we were here, I even recognize some of the Red-ears. Three Painters this time, though.

The opposite shore, where the Snapper was basking last time, was  turtle-centric. And Goosey. That's a familiar Red-ear far right and a Painter next to it. The three on the left are probably Red-ears but maybe one is our resident Yellow-belly.

Speaking of Goosey... GOSLINGS!!!! Little fluff-balls of cute!

Something lurks beneath still waters... you know, it's weird to have the Snappers here not come up and beg but I'm glad they're not doing it this year (yet). It bodes well for their survival.

#42, a Baltimore Oriole. I love seeing these guys.

A couple of Painters basking.

Wait... look in front of the little guy's log!

Another submerged Snapper. Maybe he just sneezed? Or maybe I'm a little slow on the camera.

The only turtle still up on that opposite shore when we got there was the Red-ear that we've been seeing for years. I caught him at the end of a yawn.

That was it for that lunchbreak. Very enjoyable.

The next day, we hit a localish spot just inside Norfolk County that has been great before. And it has been a heartbreak before. Well, this Saturday was cool, windy and overcast. Our chances of seeing things were slim. In fact, the only picture I got in just under four miles of hiking was one Redback.

That's it. We saw a Kestrel and some sandpiperey things but got no photos. Too fast in flight.

And that was that for the weekend. Sunday was even shittier outside.