New Chelonian Hot Spot. 7-29-2018

Nature lover that she is, Andrea was checking E-bird out to see what has been documented in our area. She noticed that Sandhill Cranes had been spotted in Plymouth County and she did a little research on the place they were seen. It turns out that it has bogs, ponds and woods. It could be good for all kinds of stuff so we decided to give it a shot.

As always, we got out later than planned so it was pretty darn hot by the time we got there. It took some work to actually find the place too, but once we parked, we were ready to go. The big main path had other paths shooting off of it and we had no clue which way to go so we took a wooded path. Why not. Not too far in, we saw our first herp, this (I'm calling) American Toad.

Partoids, cranial ridges and mottled belly all tell me American but there's multiple warts in the blotches. Fowler's hybrid? Possibly but I'm sticking with American.

This path was raised and off to the sides, you could see that it is usually watery, though it was now dry. Tiny toads were makin' the scene.


On one path off of this path, we went down to flip some debris. and came up empty. While down there, however, Andrea saw this brand new, 1/2 inch Peeper hopping by.

Sweet! Second in two days!

While I was trying to wrangle that photo, this brand-new shoestring Garter neonate popped out of nowhere to watch what we were doing.

Sweet! Second in two days!

Obviously, we were happy with the trail we'd taken. Andrea decided to look for Wood Frogs so I went back up to the path and took a left. Some Towhees dragged me out into a field (I still need them for this year) but I never got a photo of them. Heading back to the trail, I saw this picture perfect Garter resting deep in some star-moss.

Andrea had gone in a different direction (I was pretty unclear on which way I was headed) so I had to go find her and bring her back to show her this beauty. Amazingly, I found the spot!

We took the wooded trail all the way to the end where it opened up into a field next to a bog. Rather than head back to try to figure out what we were doing, we just went on to walk in between two bogs. It was hot and sunny, yes, but it wasn't nearly as humid as it has been so it wasn't too bad. We hoped these bogs would lead to the pond but we had no idea if they would. Eventually, we saw a small muddy pond and a couple of Painters eyed us suspiciously.



We hadn't seen any other people on the wooded trail and we'd been following bike tracks so far while we were out in the open. Finally, we saw a father and son (or something) coming by. I asked them what awaited us up ahead. "Turtles. Painted Turtles, and Snapping Turtles." Obviously, that's what we wanted to hear and he told us we were getting close to the pond. Upward and onward!

We headed up the way they had returned from, walking the path between two bogs. One bog's corner had countless Painted Turtle heads up. They were quick to pull back in but we caught a few on camera.


I asked Andrea if she had seen one particular log blinking. She had. It was a Snapper but we just couldn't get a shot. We headed out toward the pond.

The pond is huge. We could see Egrets and Herons way out on the other side but no Sandhill Cranes that we knew of. Turtles, however... Painted Turtles were everywhere! It was heaven.




Andrea miraculously saw this Green Frog hiding.




Another hiding frog, this time a Pickerel.


This place is very very special. We had been seeing plenty of Snapper noggins poking up but couldn't get pictures. Finally, Andrea got this one and I said "Keep it... we may never get any better!"


Ah, Painters, though. The ones on the birch are two of the same from above, joined by a third.




Finally, on the bog side, we saw a large Snapper in the mud.


Yay!

Now back to our regularly schedule Painted Turtles.




As you can see, we were getting some pretty darn good photo ops.

Up on the path, Andrea saw this...

Oh dear, all aboard the squee-train.


All along the pond's edge, I was trying to keep an eye on both the water (for turtles) and the bushes (for snakes). Obviously, I'm not too hot at doing both because I walked right past a 5-foot Racer that Andrea spied.

I did manage a decent head shot before it sped off.

Racers are even faster on 85° days.

A pair of Viceroys enjoying the nectar of some white flowers in a cone shape. Hydrangeas? Or not.


From about 30 feet out, I knew by the look of this big green noggin that I'd completed the Lithobates Big Three and added our 9th species for the trip... a Bullfrog.


Another Snapper in the big pond.


Two ducky Painters and another Bully.



We'd started to head back. Frankly, we were getting burnt to a crisp. We really didn't know how open this part was going to be and we were getting a lot of full-on sun. Back by the spot where we'd seen the blinking log, there was a Snapper whose face kept popping up, snapping at duckweed/ algae on the surface. Getting a photo proved difficult, but this gives you the idea of how funny it looked.


We headed back toward the parking area on the main trail, which we hadn't seen earlier due to our having taken the wooded trail. This way proved fruitful. A Bullfrog and a nearly-completely metamorphed Bull.


^ He still has a tail!

Our last encounter was our second Racer, a snake that I was lucky to get a decent safety shot of because he sure didn't last long. Another 4-5 footer.


So that wasn't a bad first time at all. Nine species and more turtles than we could possibly count. The wooded trail looks good for Hognoses, Box Turtles and many other species. We barely got enough time for the birds. (I added a Baltimore Oriole but never got my Towhee shot and we never saw the Cranes.) With the demise of Massasoit, we think this place will be working its way into our rotation.

It's Gonna Be an Anuran Summer. 7-28-2018

Getting to this weekend seemed like it took forever. Work was tough and unrewarding and all I really wanted to do was get outside and see nature. Saturday was supposed to be overcast and cooler (weekday heatwave had us all sweaty). We picked a place deep into Middlesex County to hopefully see a Ribbon Snake. It seems absolutely insane that we have not seen one in 2018. We should have a dozen or more photographed by now.

The weatherperson lied. It was 85° and sunny with 3078% humidity. We realized that we probably wouldn't get any snakes, much less Ribbons, so we turned our thoughts to frogs and turtles, both of which are plentiful at this place. Sure enough, as soon as we were on the path, small, new-to-land Pickerel Frogs were bounding out of the grass. They were tough to photograph but we finally got one.

Mixed among the plethora of Pickerels was a new Green or two.

With all of the rain this year, the place was super overgrown; we couldn't even find our usual pond overlooks. Still, it was beautiful... as is Andrea, seen here with Black-eyed Susans and Queen Anne's Lace.

We went to see if the vernal that was so robust and full of life back in April was still in use. It was all but dry. I hoped to see some metamorph Spotted Salamanders or Woods Frogs but my first flip was a Yellow-jacket nest. I didn't flip much more after that. The remaining puddle had a few Bullfrogs in it.

So, in the first 5 minutes, we had our Big Three Frogs. Not too bad.

Across the train tracks, the opposite vernal was still huge and viable. Many frogs were active in it.

I saw a large preggo Garter crawl under a discarded railroad tie and had Andrea photograph as I lifted the end...

I tried to reach her to move her before replacing the tie but she had pulled a Houdini. Gone.

Back in April, we had seen a number of Blanding's Turtles hanging out in and near the now dry vernal. It appears that at least one tried to make it across the tracks to get to the water on the other side. Tragedy.

Back up on the trail, we saw the weekend's only salamander, a wee Redback.

You just don't see many this time of year and we felt very fortunate.

It was pretty scorching in the sun and our usual Chelonia-filled basking spots were empty. This small Painter threw us a bone.

A tiny Peeper jumped and caught my eye, landing in a photo-perfect pose.

Through the bushes, we saw some turtles but couldn't get decent shots. See?

While I already have a Green Heron counted this year (from Florida), we don't get to see many up here so this long necked goober was a real treat.

This wee Painted Turtle owned this log. He didn't slide into the drink at all. Master of all he surveys.

I decided that a soaker was worth it to get a shot of this tanniny Green Frog. I didn't see his eye until I uploaded, making the wet feet even more worthwhile.

Andrea spied a tiny toad, most likely an American. Our 8th species, 5th anuran.

I managed to see this massive, bright green Green. Not quite the eagle-eye of Andrea but I'm pleased.

One more American Toad for the road.

Pickerels were bounding all over the place on the way out, making this quite the trip.

After a quick lunch, we headed over to Malden to visit Andrea's mum for a bit. We also stopped by to visit her Dad's grave and peruse the pond near his site. We didn't see any turtles there this time but Bullfrogs were representin'.

We had found a Garter in some tarp back by a dumpster there last year so we went to try our luck again. Nope, that's not a Garter.

We were a bit more successful while flipping some broken rocks.

Then, to end the day in mind-blowing fashion, we found a brand-new Garter baby. It seems about a month earlier than usual for neonate Garters but there you have it... another weird year. This little scrub was feisty and adorable. We wish him/ her a lot of luck for a long life.

So, that day was a long time coming and it felt damn good. Even though it was about 10 degrees hotter than we expected, we're happy with our finds. 8 species on a sweltering July day is nothing to sneeze at, even if all of the pollen in the air is.