The Last Day of May. The 31st, 2026.

After a Saturday that had the worst May storm in history ("it rainin' sideways!") as well as a meteor causing a sonic boom, it was with great pleasure that we were greeted by Sunday with sunshine and temps in the mid-60s. The decision was made to go to the big pond in Plymouth County in hopes of seeing Snappers and, hopefully, some snakes. We got there at about 10:30 and the weather was lovely. A guy in the parking lot (with a massive camera) said the Sandhill Cranes were easy to see that day so we headed on to the trail going in the opposite direction of our usual route, towards the Crane area.

The bogs were plenty full of water thanks to the previous day's storm. That made it good for turtles and we did see a few catching some rays. A Painter.

It is getting to be that time of year so we weren't surprised to see this Painted gal up on the path, looking for a good nest-site.

We could see a Killdeer in the path in front of us, squawking and running around. I wondered if we were getting near a nest. She flew off and I went to look at the spot where she was and a Racer sped off. DAMN!!! I hadn't photographed a Massachusetts Racer in many moons. Oh well.

We tried our best to find the Sandhills mentioned by photo-boy but never saw them. Before too long, I just gave up and concentrated on the cold-blooded side of things. Painters abounded.

This Snapper (score!) was sleeping near the edge. Yes, I too was concerned that it might be deceased but I worked my way down to the edge of the water and disturbed her enough to make her wake up and move around a little.

Andrea spied this massive Bullfrog.

We ran into a herper woman that we've met before and we were talking. She mentioned seeing a couple of Racers earlier and I expressed my MA Racer photo drought. She had seen them in spots where we had years ago, like what we used to call Racer Rock, but I changed to Water Snake rock a couple of years ago. She said she'd seen Racers and Waters basking together before. With renewed vigor, Andrea and I continued on.

Here is a Painted Turtle with a (probable) Fishing Spider on it's back.

Painters would be the animal of the day; they often are here.

Snappy snout says "don't leave me out"!

This little Painted fella is small and in charge.

These Irises (versicolor) were all along the water's edge. My purple plant pursuit persists.

We were getting to the far end of the trail and the usual basking spots were filled with Painted glory!

We got to Water Snake Rock and I saw a sleek black snake speed off out of the brush towards a bush. Racer. Don't tell me this is going to be another year where I only get a glimpse of a Mass Racer, but no pictures. I walked towards the bush/ tree and I saw it speed off again. I looked in the tree and saw nothing. But I went around to the other side and I could see loops of coils on the ground through the leaves. Parting them, I saw one pissed off Racer and a massive one who was in the blue. Sexy couple? I dunno.

It was so good to see them and get actual photos. The little guy was pissy and standing his ground, making photography easy.

These were the first Massachusetts Racers I've photographed since September, 2022. Damn.

Well, that was fun and I guess we can go back to calling it Racer Rock. From a few steps away from RR, I could see distant turtles and there was no doubt in my mind that one was a Redbelly. Oh hell yes, it was.

That's the one on the right hand side in front of this chorus line shot. A few more Redbells on the right of the logs but mostly, a string of Painters.

We rested at a picnic table but the view was still very good from there. Painters!

GOSLINGS!! (Getting biggah and biggah)

We carried on as that sit-down was only at the half-way point. We didn't take the long route that we've been taking lately due to time constraints but the shorter route paid off with another Snapping Turtle.

It was right around this time that we saw a Water Snake cross the path about 30 feet in front of us. I looked in the brush where it had crossed, saw it and made a grab for a photo op but missed so it went undocumented. This Painter will have to take its place.

We checked along another pond, hoping for a Spotted Turtle. Had we gone the regular route, we'd have had a dozen in the morning but still hadn't seen any yet. This Bullfrog was having a relaxing afternoon.

In one corner of the pond, a pair of Mute Swans were hanging out and they let me get super close, like within 10 feet.

Then a quick hiss and I knew it was time to head on.

Another on-land Painter in the path.

We got to the Osprey nest sit-down and rested again. This small Painter didn't mind our presence.

Dark clouds were moving in quickly and we were feeling some drops. I got this shot of basking turtles before they dropped in. I'm glad I got it because the guy on the left is a Spotted, the only one of the day.

We walked along in a light rain listening to groups of Green Frogs calling, enjoying the rain as it got a bit harder. This Bullfrog seemed pleased as well.

The Spotted bog had nobody up by the time we got there as it had started raining harder and it became much cooler. We made it to the woods just as it began to let up. We saw nothing while in the wooded area. 

Emerging from the woods, we decided to backtrack a bit and take a peek at some rock-piles before going to the car. There were a couple of massive smooth-scaled skins there. Racer.

After not getting more than a tiny glimpse of one at this place in the last four years or so, I have to say that I'm pleased that they're more ubiquitous this year. I flipped dozens of rocks hoping that we could score our first DeKay's of the year. We've seen them (on the crawl) here but not for a few years. All I got for my efforts was a sore back.

Despite a slow ending and wet clothes, we were obviously pretty happy with our 5 1/2 mile hike. We stopped off to get some tomato and basil plants for Andrea's garden on the way home.

As Andrea was preparing to plant her new plants in the ground, I was weeding and poking around. Under a board in her garden, a pair of good-sized Dekes were resting! First DeKay's of the year!!

They were quite cold. 

We'd seen a few in the gardens before, one even in Andrea's plot, but this was way beyond expectation. A perfect end to a fun (if tiring) day.

Two MORE Days in May. The 25th and 26th, 2026.

After a cold wash-out of a Sunday, we were back at it on Monday, which was Memorial Day. It had been a rainy morning but that had stopped and, though the sky was struggling with clouds, it seemed like a good time to go to Green Snake Place in Norfolk County. The same conditions have paid off for us in the past. We got there and did our usual search but came up with no snakes. We saw a Green shed, but nothing that used to be inside of it. We walked around, going to another part of the place to look out over the jetty.

It was loaded with Great Egrets. I counted about 8 or 9. I took a few pictures because that wasn't a common sight for me. After looking at the pictures, I noticed yellow feet and beaks... a couple of them were Snowy Egrets (#60). Nice surprise!

We walked along the beach after further inspection of the Green spots and since the sun was trying to come out, a Garter decided to join us. This is one of those beautiful bright, white striped specimens.

On the beach, I flipped an ornery in-the-blue Garter who bit and musked but finally slowed down long enough for a couple of photos. Sorry 'bout that!

That was it but we're pleased. We got home and I finally got a Northern Cardinal (#61) photographed, a bird I'd heard and seen countless times this year but never got my camera on. This pair was enjoying our dumpster.

The next day was a bona fide beautiful day. I'm so happy Andrea has this sunny Tuesday off. Not much gas in the car's tank and no money in my pocket to get more so we took a drive to our favorite pond in Norfolk County to have a nice walk in nearby, familiar surroundings. We got there fairly early (for us) and hit the trails.

We peeked into a known vernal and were very happy to see it still had plenty of water in it. A gorgeous Green Frog jumped in at my approach but stayed buoyant so I could get a shot.

There were tons of Wood Frog tadpoles (maybe some other stuff, too) swimming and nipping at the surface.

On the dam, we saw our first of many Spotted Turtles.

Peeking into a bush on the dam, I saw a massive lump... there was a good sized Water Snake gal with a lump in her belly the size of my bicep. Bullfrog? Sunfish? Turtle? Huge meal at any rate.

Let's hear it for the Painters! Let's give the Painters a hand!

We had a nice mix of Spotteds and Painters. We saw far more than we were able to get shots of. 

Andrea spied this wee Painted one... not more than a couple of inches long. Last Year's Model?

The little fella had better be wary because this Water Snake slid into the drink not to far away from him!

A Painter lazing on a sunny afternoon.

Two last Spotted Turtles from the dam.

We walked on, deliriously happy with all of the turtle sightings, the blue sky, and green as far as the eye could see. We didn't add many critters for a while but the air was fresh, the sun was warm and, being a Tuesday, the place wasn't filled with humans. Eventually, we got to a wooded area and added a perfect Redback Salamander to the day.

We were on a path that has never shown us a turtle before but since the pond and bogs were pretty full, we were seeing water where we usually did not. That gave us another Spotted Turtle who was being severely bugged by 'Skeeters. Poor guy... he was covered. I'll bet he didn't stay up long.

We got to Ringneck Hill and rested before starting to flip. Since it had rained a lot on the previous two days, I hoped to see some salamanders. Well, I sure did. We flipped our First of Year Marbled Salamander, a threatened species in this state.

The only other salamander I saw was a Redback who handed me my ass. No snakes. So we moved on.

At the dock, we looked for "Five O'clock Charlene" and I'll be damned... she was there. And she was being harassed by a horny male. While in the blue. There oughtta be a law.

I shot a porno.

We looked around and rested for a while. I walked down some stone steps closer to the pond and looked back at the Nerodia pair and they started across the steps right in front of me. Andrea filmed it.

I felt very lucky to have been right there, able to watch these two.

We sat at some picnic tables before taking the last mile and a half to the car. While there, we saw a Pale Green Assassin Bug...

and a Pieris rapae, a Cabbage White caterpillar. (I think)

We were very happy with out 5ish miles at our favorite area pond. Best. Tuesday. EVER.