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.

Two Weekdays in June. 6-3 and 6-5, 2026

Andrea was working from home on Wednesday the 3rd and it was beautiful out. It was a good lunchtime to spend walking around the local cemetery pond so we headed over on her break.

The pond was very deep thanks to a lot of recent rain and most of the turtle-basking perches were underwater. Oddly enough, the main stump that is usually pretty crowded had only a pair of Red-ears on it.

Walking around the pond, we saw saw this Snapper snoozing in the shade. Of course, I was alarmed, thinking it must be dead but as I stepped closer, it lifted it's head and gave me the stink-eye.

Not far from there, I pulled a piece of trash out of the edge of the pond. A familiar face started to make his way towards us. It was our old pal Whitey!

Despite the unfortunate name we gave him (his face is white! What can I say?) he seemed happy to see us. Or at least happy to beg for food.

It was almost 10 years to the day from Andrea's first encounter with this turtle!

He followed us around the pond when he saw (heard?) me removing trash from the water's edge. More started were the dozens of Bullfrog tadpoles that were enjoying the warm water on the edges. Legs!

Excuse me... GOSLINGS!!!! They're getting so big, they'll be hard to tell from adults soon!

Another familiar (begging) face is this Red-ear with a fancy shell. You know, the Red-ears are released pets, thus they're deemed "invasive". Some people say "kill it!" but these guys, some of whom have been in this small pond for a decade, don't seem to be a bother to the local fauna and hey, they're cute as hell. I love 'em.

This Red-ear is flipping off all of the haters by perching in a fabulous manner atop some Painters. This is the best "fuck you" I could possibly think of.

This Yellow-bellied Slider that we'd first seen at this pond in November 2020 might have also been seeking an easy treat. He has joined the handout line in the past.

One more non-Whitey Snapper, bidding us farewell.

That was a fruitful and fun lunchbreak!

That Friday was another warm and sunny say and Andrea got off from work at 2:30 and, since she was working from home, we took a drive over to the abandoned school to see if any Water Snakes were out. It was pretty hot and the pond was quite low and we didn't see any again. It was pretty trashy again and I'll have to plan another clean-up.

We did however, see a couple of Painted Turtle ladies nesting on the island, one digging and one probably having just finished up.

We walked around, exploring other avenues in the small area. A Water Snake whizzed across the path in front of us but we had no chance for a shot. Nice to see one still exists, though. We walked around the school and when we got to the front, by the parking lot, a large Woodchuck was startled by our presence and took off flying. Literally, it seems... it is completely airborne in this shot!

If you'll allow me to end this short post with... GOSLINGS!!!! then I will. It looks like a few different clutches might be present here.