Beaches and Woods. Nov. 18th and 19th, 2017

We knew we had to get some practice walking long distances in wet sand so we had planned on walking "our" turtle beach on Cape Cod on Saturday morning. As the week's weather became cooler and windier, we thought we might actually be picking a useful time to walk, too. We checked in with the sanctuary and they said they wanted us there so we made plans to hit it at high tide. We made it there right on time. Sadly (?), the waves were quiet and the temperature was mild.

We were there to get in shape anyway. But if any turtles washed up, we would be there.

This is something we'll be seeing a lot of in the next month or two.


We saw plenty of seals and sea birds. I managed to add five bird species to the year. This Harbor Seal was up on half-way rock being fabulous.


Seals were everywhere, popping up, watching us.



Ruddy Turnstones (#83) and Sanderlings...


As is always the case, we saw lots of dead things that had washed up... seals, gulls... but the living gulls always take care of the clean up. This looks like maybe a porpoise skeleton? Seal? I dunno.


We had almost made it the 4.1 miles out to the point when we saw this Peregrine Falcon (#84).


Had I mentioned that there were a lot of seals?


Some Brants flying back there, too.

We finally made it to the very tip.

Then turned around.

We saw no turtles, but that didn't surprise us considering the still water. We did run into a few people and spread the word about what to do if they should find a cold-stunned turtle. We also ran into this group of Red-breasted Mergansers (#85).


So, we accomplished our goal... to get our WAY out-of-shape bodies a bit more ready to do this walk. No turtles but lots of beautiful wildlife and nature. I mean, nature's artwork is everywhere...


We dropped by the sanctuary on the way home to drop off towels and see if we were needed in any capacity. It turns out that 13 turtles did come in that day, all in Dennis. 12 were alive and had gone to the aquarium already (in the capable hands and truck of our friend Box Turtle Tim). Our friend there took pity on our turtle-free day and showed us how the Terrapin hatchlings (that hatched on Nov. 1st, the last time we were there) we doing.

That made our souls feel good.

So yeah, we were toast and barely made it in the door before collapsing into slumber. But it was good to get one walk under our belts. I expect we'll be doing the same every weekend for a while.

Sunday morning was quiet and our plans included a few errands and nothing else. Until our dear friend ‎Teá dropped us a line and asked if we wanted to take a short local hike to look for Ambystoma. She had two friends from Pennsylvania with her and they wanted to look for a lifer Blue-spotted Salamander. So, we made plans to meet up with them.

When we got there, I was delighted to see that one of the people was Jon, a friend we'd met (through ‎Teá) earlier this year. Their friend Steve was our 5th intrepid hiker. It was very cool and windy... lows 40s, but it had rained the night before so salamanders were a good possibility. Steve struck first with a log flip that had this beautiful Leadback (and another something that retreated underground).


Andrea defied all odds when she flipped this plump Peeper.

I had written off any more frogs for 2017 but nature always has a surprise up its sleeve.

A shy Redback with an impressive tail.


The sun was out, though it wasn't really warming anything up. Still, I thought the Cottonwood dens, enclosed as they are, might prove fruitful since the wind was cut by hills. It turns out, we were right. One knucklehead Garter was out warming in the sun, unable to admit (like us) that the season was over.


We continued up the path, carefully flipping damp logs. Our destination was the Rock Wall Dens, not because we thought we'd see more snakes but because that was where we'd seen a Blue-spotted two weeks earlier. The easy logs revealed nothing but when a few of us turned over a long, heavy branch, our goal was achieved.

I have made many comparisons and this is not the same individual we found two weeks prior. That is very good news as it lends weight to our theory that this area is being used by Blues who were displaced by the cemetery expansion.

We did check the Rock Wall Den area since we were there. We saw nothing. Until Jon discovered a good sized Garter in the leaves!

Eventually, after we all got photos, the snake slid over the hill and explored the shady side. I stood and watched it poke around for a good five minutes, just being a snake. This is a treat that one rarely gets this late into the year. He finally made his was back up to the sunlight and froze in place, luxuriating in the warmth. That's when I got my best photo.


So, I'm glad we decided to join them. It is always a pleasure to spend time with Teá and Jon, and now Steve. We all had a few ticks (I had one fall from my hood on to the inside of my glasses!) but Jon and Steve got a lifer and we all had some November fun.