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. 

Babes in the Woods. 6-7-2026

After the previous day's success in a 3-gallon trip (at these prices, our nature walk destinations have to be judged thusly), we had to keep it closer to home. We chose a reservoir in Norfolk County in hopes of seeing some critters. Again, we got there fairly early (by 8:30) and headed in before it got too hot.

We didn't see anything in any of the ponds or along the trail so it seemed like a good day to just look at flowers. These guys looked cool and it turns out they are Japanese Honeysuckle which is an introduced species that can strangle the native plants. Pretty but not wanted. Much like myself.

Some distant turtles could be seen from the dam. Looks like two Red-ears and a Painter, though I'm not certain.

More flowers... the Prairie Wild Rose.

Some Purple Crownvetch.

Past the dam, we got on a thin path that runs next to the water. It is fairly shaded so we thought it odd that a Painted Turtle was nesting on it.

The path runs between the big reservoir and a pond. The pond side had some good perches for a trio of basking Painted Turtles.

We don't get many "Holy Shit!" moments these days, being trapped in Massachusetts and all, but this was one of them. I was about 10 feet in front of Andrea, saw this and softly said back to her, "just keep walking softly and keep cool." She did. She walked past with her eyes wide and her hand over her mouth. 

Stashed here by the mom while she went foraging, this little White-tailed nipper couldn't have been more than a few days old. Criminally cute.

We went on for a while and had to eventually turn back, knowing we'd pass by the fawn again. We did and it did get a little nervous as we passed back by it but it stayed put and all was well. The turtle rocks had become more painterly.

Back to the dam, ready to cross through the hot sun again, Andrea did what only she seems to be able to do... she spotted a hatchling Painted Turtle. Over-wintered and lost? I mean, surely it's far too early for this years new models. At any rate, she decided to get it towards a safe spot.

We went down towards the water, planning on getting it to a safe place among the reeds down there. Andrea found a good reason to nix this spot... a pretty large Water Snake.

We scooped some water into Andrea's turtle-carrying bag and headed back up to the dam path.

We saw our #64 bird of the year, a Spotted Sandpiper.

I ended 2025 with 66 birds. Looks like I SHOULD be able to beat that this year. But you never know.

We saw a slithering shadow on the path about 30 feet in front of us. It disappeared quickly so I feel fortunate to have gotten up there in time to get a (servicable) shot of a Racer.

 A trio of Painted Turtles posing for their album cover.

We got to a spot where I could release the little Painter. I slid on my butt down a grassy, dirty hill to get to the muddy, reedy edge of a pond and the wee one made a break for it.

With dirty ass, I ascended the hill and we went on.

One more Painter nesting...

And that was it until we were almost back to the car when this Eastern Chipmunk stopped and struck such a pose that I had to get a photo!

And that, at about 5 miles of nature-walking, was the end of the hike and the end of a pretty darn good weekend.

Double Digits in Massachusetts! 6-6-2026

Seeing 10 species of reptile and amphibian is always a goal but living in Massachusetts, it is not always easy. Usually, you'd have to hit a few different places to do it. Well, that thought wasn't on our mind (until it was) when we decided to head into Bristol County to a place that is now open for camping and thus a place with far more humans that I'd like to see. BUT... it's sometimes a good Eastern Milk Snake place and we still hadn't seen one yet.

We got up at 6ish, the usual workday time, and got out early. We stopped to water Andrea's garden before getting some crud for breakfast. While there, a Red-tailed Hawk (#62) was watching from a light tower.

We ate on the road and arrived at our destination by 7:30 AM. Not bad for a couple of lazy folks! Our first sighting there wasn't of the cold-blooded variety, it was a family of Mallards. DUCKLINGS!!!!

We got to a good flipping spot where I found nothing (except a few new pieces to flip... I noticed a spike in views on an old post naming this place on this blog. Hey, anybody out there?! Say hi, won't you?) but Andrea spied a Garter going through the grass. I saw a Pickerel hop past, too.

The beach had one nesting Painted Turtle. This was another reason we picked this spot, so yay! That worked out!

A female Widow Skimmer landed on my shoe. My show which is dark blue, by the way. That's how bad the pollen was.

A Bullfrog was spotted in the morning sun in a hidden water spot.

By the campsites, I was surrounded by a strong floral smell... it was a massive bush of Multiflora Rose.

Next up was a couple of Fowler's Toads that were under rocks.

Having not seen any basking Painters earlier (just the one nesting), it was nice to see a few more. They were all dealing with the heavy pollen in the pond in their own ways.

This is a Snapper size that you don't often see. About a 6" shell. I had to get two shots after I noticed the foot hanging down. That's a bit too cute, I think!!

We watched him get down from that rock and into the water and he did it with surprising grace. Seriously. We thought the worst would happen and we'd have to try to get down the rocks and save it, but he figured it out masterfully. It helped that he was small enough to use a skinny stick for support.

We have a secret turtle spot and that's where the Red-bellies often hang out. We struck Red gold. Painted Gold, too.

We even got a bonus Snapper who was on top of something just under the water.

Watch out, our species count was up to six! The missed Pickerel and later a possible Green Frog were looming large.

We were walking towards some folks fishing, a guy and his kids and a talkative old-timer. We were talking about animals when Andrea spotted an honest to goodness Water Snake! Lotsa red!

We were talking with the old duff (because we're old duffs) when one of the kids yelled out "Dad just caught a turtle!" I looked down and he was reeling up a Painted Turtle. Having extricated hooks from turtles before, I offered to help. It was hooked in the soft skin under the chin and it came out easily with no blood. We took it to release in a different spot. Note the heavy pollen again.

Another nearby Painter enjoying a soak in the sun.

An Eastern Towhee was making it really easy to add it to the bird count and it soon became #63.

A couple more toads, both Fowlers (though I didn't inspect the one hiding in the dirt).

We were walking by a spot (we were well on the way back by now) and I said, "remember, we've seen Garters in this area before!" No sooner had I said it than we saw two in quick succession.

Andrea found another Fowler's on the hop. A sandy stunner, at that.

Then, with some luck, we finally landed our First-of-Year Milk. A little guy, but it counts!

Our count was at eight! Damn! We didn't have a lot of space left but we still had a couple of spots to look at. A Pickerel Frog threw us a serious bone when it jumped into a bog right in front of us. Thank you, pal(ustrus)!!

The same bog had some more frogs! Greens??? No, all three were handsome Bulls.

We had one last chance and we knew what the species was that would either make or break us. Musks. We drove to the front of the place and looked in the water's edges. I had to go in to grab it, but we got our tenth species, a pissed off Musk!

We saw what we thought was a pair of distant Painters basking but upon uploading, I noticed it's a (smaller than we're used to seeing) Redbelly on the left.

I was down below a pretty formidable rocky area and Andrea wasn't feeling sure-footed so when I found another Musk, I hauled my carcass up to show her.

She came down (carefully, as did I) to return the turtle to the water. I tried to get a shot on the rock but it was far too fast for me.

We saw a small Water Snake (again with plenty of red) but it went under a massive rock. See ya! That made this underwater Musk our last photo of the day.

The turtle actually gave us another chance, reaching it's nose up out of the water but just before I clicked the camera, a bug hit it's nose and scared it and it pulled down deeper. Haha... worth it!

So yeah, that makes ten species plus two new birds. Ice cream happened. That was a good day.