Springing Into Summer. 6-20 & 21-2026

A book sale in Northampton. About 100 miles each way. Well, I'm stupid enough to try that but only if we make some nature stops while out there. We got a later-than-hoped-for start so visiting the Magic Tree on the way out to Hampden County wasn't in the cards but we did hit a stream once we got there to poke around a little before viewing books. We still needed a Dookie (Northern Dusky) on the year. This would be our last outing of the Spring of 2026.

The stream was happily gurling when we parked next to it and we started flipping some (easy) rocks. First up was a Two-lined larvae. Lookit those cute gill-frills!

A Wood Frog hopped into a nice, photogenic position.

Andrea was up top on dry land as I was trudging through the water so I took this other Two-lined larvae up to show her, unsure at the time if I had a Dook or a Two-line.

Persistence paid off and I finally netted our First of Year Dookie!

I can still hear the son I never wanted saying "I've never heard of anyone targeting Duskies before."

We took a peek around a pond before heading to the book sale. Sadly, there were no turtles up basking due to noisy kids on trails around the pond, but the good Water Snake spot paid off. I could see this body warming in the sun.

So, we went into town, looked at books, bought some books, got lunch and headed back to the reservation. We hit the vernal area where we often see tons of amphibians but it was overgrown and the water level must have been super low. We did hear a few Bullfrogs rumbling but never got close to the water. We did, however, uncover our First of Year Eft! As the only critter we saw down there, it made us quite happy.

We drove in to an area that we'd hit before and decided to hike up to some ruins that we'd been to before but thought it cool enough to see again. (Our previous write-up with a link to the history of the ruins is here.) The way up was lovely; dappled sunlight and a sweet breeze. One flipped log got us a dark Leadback and another Eft.

There was quite a lot of Mountain Laurel growing along the sides of the (broken pavement) path.

My granddaughter is big into things that live under rocks, isopods in particular, and she said she liked millipedes as well but had never seen a Giant. I took this photo for her and figured I'd put it here, too.

Looking back at that post from the last time we did this hike, I now notice that it was not only twelve years ago, but many pounds ago. Our chubby selves started to feel a bit tired and tried to remember just how far this hike was! Eventually, we got towards the top and, in time to give us a needed burst of excitement, we flipped an American Toad.

The ruins, as remembered, are very cool. It was a nice place to rest.

The walk back down was much shorter and quicker. Andrea startled a small Garter that was digesting in the path. Getting a decent picture just wasn't going to happen.

We'd hiked over 6 miles (that included the walk around the book sale and our Northampton pizza-quest) and were suitable toasted by the time we reached the car. The drive home was a long one and we felt great relief when we got home. I actually went out to watch some friends' bands that night. Wow! Andrea was smart and was in her jammies by 5 PM.

The next morning, getting out of bed for an early hike just wasn't in the cards. It was the first day of Summer and we did make it out eventually and found ourselves at a spot in Norfolk County that we call Green Snake Place. Such a strange spot, a trash filled, rocky few acres of woods and grassy fields that gives us our best chances at Greens.

Walking in, we hit a cross-path and I said to Andrea "this is the spot we've seen them on the crawl twice" and walked on. Andrea, however, said "here's one".

I'll be goddamned. And she's massive (about 18"?) and clearly gravid.

Instant gratification is such a sweet thing.

It should be noted that three days after this sighting, my pal Ryan and his friend found three such Greens here. Hopefully, that means there will be a lot of babies!

A Carolina Rose.

We split up and did the high-road/ low-road thing and met up at our usual spot. I peeked down over the side from the top and saw a Garter sliding in between rocks.

Then Andrea saw this bright grey-stripe Garter heading in the same direction.

Heading out, we moved closer to the Harbor to look for crabs and perhaps a Deke or another Garter. The place is filled with Asian Shore Crabs, an introduced species. Yes, invasive, but it's not like they came in with torches and guns and took over. Some asswipe boat dude probably dumped out a few buckets of offal many moons ago and that included these crabs. They are, however, pushing our native Green Crabs out and that's not good. But they are pretty cool, especially when they climb my shoe.

Our last sight of the weekend was a gelatinous blob on the shore. Having seen The Blob (1958) many times, I knew not to poke it. Andrea did, with a stick. It is a dead jellyfish but it could probably still sting you if there are tentacles under it. Still, a cool and weird sight.

So, that was an exhausting but very fun three-day weekend! Fifteen species of reptile and amphibian, three of them FoYs! Add to that the birds, the bugs, the sea life and flowers and we're talking a memorable long weekend. And a good welcome to Summer.

Celebrating Juneteenth in the Field. 6-19-2026

Andrea had the holiday off and we wanted to spend the day in nature. We got up early, ate on the road and headed to Plymouth County to hopefully see a Hognose Snake. Or a Redbelly. Or a Green. Or anything, really. Well, we did ourselves proud by getting there pretty early and hit the bogs first.

Our first sight was a Virgin Moth on a leaf. Maybe not WOW to everybody, but it looked cool to us.

The bog area was very good to us. There were nesting Painted ladies and Bullfrogs. ♫ These are a few of my fay-vo-rite things! ♫

We couldn't believe that there were four turtles up nesting in such a small area!

The bees are back. We walked very cautiously past that area.

At our usual sit-down-and-rest spot that overlooks a pond, a little Painted friend was in the shallow end as we sat there. It's always nice to share some time with a turtle.

No Hogs at that stop but taking the high road back to the car, we saw this Racer warming it's body up.

In case you can't see it's doofy face peeking through the brush, here is a close-up.

Weird. For three years straight, I couldn't get my camera on a Racer and had very few sightings at all. Now we have four so far this year. Believe me, I'm super happy about that.

Next stop was an often heart-breaking path where we've seen plenty of Hogs over the years, but none for at least the last two. A Painter on the other side of the (very low) pond wished us luck.

While walking the trail, I commented on how weird it was to have seen more Racers than Ringnecks so far on the year. We got to a spot where I have had Ringers and Redbellies hiding under bark and I started peeking. I lifted some bark on a log and lost a Ringneck who easily evaded my grasp and my camera. Bummer.

A different piece of bark yielded a better result. I picked it up and there was a pile of Ringnecks! I scooped up what I could to take over to the path and show Andrea. She said "put them in my hat" like we sometimes do with little ones for a photo. The snakes did not want to cooperate.

I don't know if we started with four or five but by the time I had a bouquet of Ringers to return to the log, there were four.

Another piece of bark held a Giant Leopard Moth pupa as well as a small keeled-scale snake skin, probably a Redbelly.

An interesting piece of art, courtesy of nature.

We went to the next stop in hopes of seeing some turtles, especially Redbellies. This is the best spot we know for them. First, however, I had to stop and get a shot of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (#65) conveniently sitting on a wire.

So, were there any Redbellies? Oh hell yes!

While going for a better angle on the turtles, I got distracted by a noggin coming up the steps.

This is the first Milk we've ever seen in the park proper, though we've had some at places just outside.

She is thicc... pretty sure she is gravid.

Back to more Redbellies, which were piling up everywhere!  

A distant Wood Duck.

Heading out on the archipelago, some Painters were basking. But note the two noggins poking up, looking to climb up and upset the apple cart!

A small Painter wondering what all of the fuss was about.

Another couple of Redbellies. Hey, if we're not going to see Redbellied Snakes, we might as well enjoy all of the chelonian red-bells!

It was still very early afternoon thanks to our early departure but having hiked over six miles, we were getting a bit weary and it was time to depart. I managed to add another couple of birds to the year count on the way out... American Goldfinch (#66, tying last year's final count)...

... and breaking last year's count with a speedy Wild Turkey (#67).

Funny, we had a great day and still missed the targets we came for. I mean, a three snake species day in Massachusetts is pretty damn good! I'd rather see lots of things than see just one target and that has happened plenty of times. One bad note... we saw no toads. This place is usually hopping with toads but we saw zero. That would affect our Hog chances, too. It is a worrisome situation mostly because toads are awesome and we usually see tons of Fowler's and the occasional American. Let's hope it was just one bad day for them and our next trip will be toaderiffic.