Family Day. 4-10-2016

It was still going to be cold but sun was expected so we made plans with our adopted daughter Teá and the son we never wanted Matt to look locally for Spotted Turtles. Being a species that is a bit more cold tolerant, the 44° temps shouldn't be a problem as long as the sun heats up. Well, at 11 AM when we all met up, the sun hadn't heated much of anything up.

We hit the trail and enjoyed the sights and sounds while we waited for the warmth. Just yakkin' and hanging out in nature is good enough when you're with people that you like. I knew we'd see some intrepid Garters out and eventually, we did.

Matt had a reflector that he shined on the shady side of this one's face so we were able to capture the doofiness properly.


Not much further in, Matt spotted this guy at the base of a tree overlooking the water.

None of us got good shots so he was procured for close-ups. Matt took a solid musking.


A spot with some flippables scored us a trio of Redbacks.


A really pretty Garter scooted over the path as we were walking by. I grabbed it for some faux nature shots...

It didn't cooperate at all.


The next Garter posed silently, just hoping we'd not see it.

I spy some cinnamon spots there.

We headed back as time was tight. I took to the marsh in hopes of seeing a Spotted friend.


While I was sloshing around out there, it was Matt who, from the "shore", found our quarry... a Spotted Turtle basking in the distance.

Of course he plopped in when I tried to get closer for a better shot. Oh well, mission accomplished anyway.

And that was that. We had a good time hanging with friends, we saw a few snakes and salamanders and a Spotted Turtle, a species that, as the year progresses, we'll see less and less of. I went home and fell asleep watching a Peplum movie. That is what weekends are for.