Looks Like That's About It. 10-18 and 25, 2026

My pal Ryan asked if we wanted to hook up and go look for Copperheads on a cool Sunday. The sun would be up but the temp would be in the low 50s. Still, we know our Coppers and figured they'd be out getting some sun outside of their dens. We're wicked smaht.

We got there at about noon and hit the trail. I hadn't seen Ryan for a long time and we enjoyed a chat. He was very kind and patient with the two old folks. We started flipping some logs on the way to the hill. Redbacks were the first things we saw. Ryan is the guy to whom someone in the Pines once said of me "Howlett likes Redbacks more than anyone." Tis true, I guess.

Here's one with our first Spotted of the day.

Thinking of the blog post, I put a moratorium on Redbacks. Not everyone loves them as much as me. So Spotteds it was. This first guy was a monolith!

I got so I was going to put a moratorium on Spotteds, too, but then we set up a nice shot and flipped a nice in situ shot.

No Marbled Salamanders were seen though they are usually pretty easy at this spot. We reached the ascent and headed up the hill. The three of us scoured the top and the den site area for a couple of hours but came up empty. I blame Andrea who said a few weeks ago "Coppers are easier than Hogs these days." Looks like 2027 will be free of both species. This pile of leaves is as close as I got to a copper.

Still, it was nice to spend a few hours with Ryan and I hope he felt the same despite our Squamatical disappointment.

Andrea and I figured everything would be back at the dens by now since the temps at night have been around 40°. That essentially means that the season is over except when we visit the local dens or net some Two Lines in December and January. We decided to check out the dens on Sunday the 25th since it was going to be sunny, but only in the mid-50s. In the Spring, that would be amazing but in the Autumn, not as good. We got there at about noon. It was nice in the sun.

We trekked around, giving a lot of effort at every densite that we know of... Robles', Sly's, the Valley, the Cottonwood and the Rock Wall but no snakes were up... the sun wasn't hitting right. We did manage to flip a bunch of Redbacks though. You know, it is said that I like them more than... well, you know.

^^^ Lookit the massive Earthworm!

We went to a bridge and watched ducks for quite a while. This female Mallard was massive and about 3/4 of a football field away. My camera done good.

We'd been there a couple of hours and on the way back decided to revisit the dens... the sun had been up for a while now. Most were empty but our last chance, Robles' Den, Two Garters were present. One was all out and one was just a little noggin poking out of the den's doorway.

The little guy is another one of those that makes you wonder about Ribbons. No labial stripes and is that a white scale in front of the eye visible on the sunny side and just shaded on the other side? But that's a yellow chin and I'm still calling Garter. But there have been Ribbons at this den. In fact, Robles was a Ribbon.

This niblet pulled in and we never got a side shot. A Spotted Lanternfly crawled across the bigger one's body and I was able to snatch it off without bothering the snake. I squished it, which I am loathe to do but I understand the necessity. 

It hurts that we really don't have much left to the year. We never got to far away from home this year so we didn't get to see a lot of things. But it hurts every year. Will these be the last snakes of 2026? It's quite possible. 

Last Attempt for Hogs. 10-10-2026

It was going to be in the 60s with some sun for Saturday. I gave Andrea the choice... go to a Middlesex County spot where we saw 30 snakes (mostly Garters) one October day many years ago, or take one last shot at Hognoses in Plymouth County. She chose the latter. That, of course, means that if we don't find our target, we probably wont see anything else. While I was hoping for the Middlesex run, we headed off to Plymouth with low expectations.

We hit a lot of traffic which was surprising since the weather wasn't really screaming Cape Cod to me but maybe everyone else was giving their own warm weather fantasies one last shot. We didn't get to the park until about noon and headed first to a cranberry bog. On the path on the way in, we flipped a Redback, not the most common animal in this particular park.

We got through the woods and out on to the bog path and were horrified. The path had been decimated by some Hrududu... something came through and cut the path wide, shearing off trees and hills and slicing into trees as high as ten feet up. There were plants and dirt and leaves piled high along the now-widened path. The water in the bog was dirty and bereft of many lilypads and natural cover. And frogs weren't present either.

We finally got to a curve in the bog where some Green Frogs were hiding out. Some survivors.

A Bullfrog was also seen. Usually, there are dozens and dozens.

We did see more frogs but didn't get photos of every one. We saw a fraction of what we usually see.

This is an example of the savage cutting that the trees along the path took. The "stump" on the left is about 8" wide, the one on the right is 10 or 11" wide. Ripped off right at the bottom.

Andrea flipped a Redback but it retreated into a hole unphotographed. I countered with a flip of two... no, wait... three Redbacks. (Note the body in the lower right corner.) Again, this is not usually a hoppin' Redback spot. Perhaps they are showing up now that the machinery has driven almost everything else away.

Andrea had looked at a new path last time we were here and she wanted to look at it again. It turned out to be a good call because it was intact and unharmed by whatever went through and destroyed the bog. It also justified our entire trip because we were lucky enough to find a Gray Tree Frog under some bark and it's our First of Year. We'd heard plenty but seen none.

The path is also rich with Teaberries and I always find them to be a refreshing treat.

A sign of our aptitude for 2026. Andrea tripped going under a fallen tree and stayed down because the plush mattress of pine needles was pretty comfortable.

From there, we went to the path that, years ago now, was our best one for Hognoses. We saw nothing and as the shadows became longer, we just said fuck it and cut it short. 2026 will be another Hogless year, but not for lack of trying. My curse remains. (Remember when I said Hogs weren't as hard to find as a lot of snake species? Yeah, I cursed us.)

Before leaving, I wanted to see if any turtles were up at another spot in the park. We didn't initially see any because we're used to seeing massive Redbellies basking but upon closer inspection (and a zoom lens) we saw some intrepid Painters catching rays on a cool day. (It never got higher than 63°.)

We have come to realize, with alarm, that 2026 is pretty much over. The next day, Sunday, was miserable and we stayed in. It looks like future excursions will mostly be around local dens and ponds, just in hope of seeing anything. This year has been up and down and we're glad to have finally gotten a camera on a Gray Tree Frog. But no Hogs this year, no Timbers (as usual), no Worm Snake (no surprise there), no Four-toed Salamander (we usually have at least a couple), No Jeffersons, no Spadefoot, no Bog Turtle (duh), no Springs, no Mudpuppies, no Box Turtles, no Terrapins (no Cape trips, in fact) and really pathetic numbers on a lot of common stuff. While this post is no year-end wrap up, I doubt we'll score any more FoYs or great numbers of things.

But who knows?

Back To a Happy Hike. 10-4-2026

It was supposed to be pretty nice... cloudy and in the mid to high 60s. I wanted to see some damn turtles! We hadn't seen any in almost a month! I suggested a trip into Plymouth County to a place that is traditionally turtle-centric. We let the sun warm things up then headed out, getting there a bit after 11 AM. It was cool but in the sun, it was nice. Hopefully, the clouds would let us get this walk in!

The rain had filled the bogs nicely and we hoped to see some Spotted Turtles. No sooner had I said "I guess we wont see any Spotteds after all!" then I saw a pair trying to bask in the intermittent sun. One took off, but I got a lens on on the second one. Tough shot, though.

The next one wasn't much easier.

Finally, Andrea pointed out one that I hadn't seen and we got a good shot!

Up to the next bog, I was looking for a tube that usually sticks out of the water, figuring it might be submerged under the deeper-than-usual water. No, it was there and I finally saw it and scared in a Painted Turtle. Damn! BUT, this Bullfrog was resting near it so I snapped its portrait.

Due to the heavy rain earlier in the week, mushrooms were everywhere. At many points during the walk, we'd see clusters of them and call them Mushroom Farms. This is a perfect Yellow Fly Agaric 'shroom. 

We weren't yet really knocking it out of the park but we were enjoying ourselves. I said something like "I've only taken six pictures or so but by the time we leave, I bet we'll have twenty or so. Umm... yes, we would. We had made it the Osprey Path and had a little sit-down. A Painted Turtle allowed us to camp there for a bit.

There weren't many perches open due to the deep water so we didn't get a lot of chances to photograph turtles. These two Painters threw us a bone.

Since we were moving slowly and taking ample rest-stops, we decided to go the long way, hoping to see some baby Water Snakes or something. This proved to be an excellent idea because not too far in along the "long way", we spied a Ribbon Snake... only our second of 2026! They used to be common but in the last decade we have seen a steep decline. 

This one is a fighter. It had a stub tail and a healing scar about an inch above the vent that must have come from a doozy of an attack. Looks like it's on its way to getting better.

There were some Painted Turtles along this path too, though the lighting was tough when the sun was behind clouds.

We'd decided that we'd likely seen our last toad of the year already. They seem to tuck in earlier than a lot of other critters. But Toadflax was blossoming so that would have to do!

Walking along the path, I could see a group of women doing something just off-path up ahead and wondered what could possibly be going on. I was so intent on them that Andrea called to me... "look at what you just walked past!"... a slim Garter was crossing!

Oops! I had to pay better attention!

But we got up to the women and asked what they were picking from the tree and they said Autumn Olives and we got a quick lesson and taste test on these tart berries. An invasive plant from Asia, the berries can be used for all kinds of things. I ate plenty of them straight from the branch.

They get little silver spots on them as they get ripe. Good to know because the trees were mixed in with local berry trees that are not edible. I was chuffed to learn something new, especially about something edible! And delicious! (Andrea found them to be too tart.)

We got to another sit-down spot and too a well deserved rest. I could see some turtles from where we sat. Some Painters...

And a Red-belly sharing a spot with a Double-crested Cormorant.

Racer Rock was empty. I'd been hoping for some babies but nobody was out. It had been getting cloudier and cooler so we weren't surprised. Walking along, we saw one more Painter basking.

He started to slide into the drink as we got closer but never went all the way in, leaving us with a great opportunity to photograph it's ass in the air.

We started hearing the Cranes calling from the other side of the large pond. The way the sound travelled, it sounded like they were right next to us. I even looked at the pond-edge seeing if one was hiding there. No, they were far away. A group took to the air.

We noticed them landing on a strip of land not really far from the path and I got excited thinking I might have an opportunity to photograph them close for the first time ever. We still had about a mile to go to that spot, though. Hopefully, they'd stay. On the way, I saw this American Copper.

At first glance, I thought it was a Spotted Lanternfly and was ready to crush it. I'm glad I didn't!!

Much to our delight, the Sandhill Cranes were still on that nearby stretch of land when we got there. Nine of them. Such a magical treat for us. We watched them for a half hour or so, just enjoying their beauty and see-thru nostrils.

We've been hitting this spot since 2018. It came onto our radar because of the Cranes. I'd gotten distant or flying shots twice over that time but never had we had an opportunity like this. We know how fortunate we were.

It had become pretty cool by this time though and we said that we were unlikely to see any more cold-blooded creatures. Well, never say never. On another rest, I looked down-pond and thought I saw a turtle silhouette. Nope... it was six Painted Turtles still going for it!

At another spot I said, "remember when we had a Water Snake right here?" and looked into the brush and saw a small Pickerel Frog in there. Tough shot, but I got it!

Last call. Stone wall. My back, y'all! Between the two of us, we managed to safely photograph these two American Toads who were under a warm rock. And we said it wouldn't happen!

So WOW! What a day. Eight species of reptile and amphibian and some time spent with dinosaurs in the form of Cranes! We couldn't be happier. New food, too! Plus, raindrops started to fall the minute we were back in the car. Well played. There wont be many days like this again in 2026 and we're thankful for this one for sure. Six-plus miles of nature's beauty.