We Been in the Right Place but it Musta Been the Wrong Time. 7-15 and 7-21, 2018

I've never combined two posts from almost a week apart before but the truth is, we didn't have a lot of action on our last two hikes. No worries... we were together in nature and enjoying ourselves. We just didn't take a lot of pictures. Here's what went down...

Sunday, July 15th. The day after our sprawling all-day Western Massachusetts tour. We slept in. It was supposed to be kind of crappy out so we figured we wouldn't miss much. But upon waking, we saw it was pretty nice out so we went to our nearby Norfolk County pond, a hike that is only about 4 1/2 miles and we can do it quickly. More quickly than usual this time as we weren't stopping to take pictures. We never saw an animal to shoot until we saw this small Green Frog at about the half-way point, in the bog.


3/4 of the way around, we were at Ringneck Hill. I was looking for Two-lines in a stream and was surprised by this new Wood Frog. He is all head.


Andrea struck gold on Ringneck Hill. She wondered why I hadn't come over to see it. I hadn't heard her call over the groan that I expelled when I stood up.

I found a Ringer shortly after that but it escaped my camera.

Our main goal this trip was to take a dip. Andrea brought her bathing suit and I was ready to just dunk myself. We paid our fees to join the small group at the dock. I stuck my head into the bush to look for 5-O'clock Charlie, the resident Water Snake. Right next to my face, about 3 feet off of the ground, this Garter Snake was resting after a meal.


Charlie (or rather Charlene) was there too. These snakes get a lot of respect here. The locals know and love them.

It is always our great pleasure to dispense some info to anyone who wants to listen. We are known as the "snake people" here.

We swam for a while then I got out to keep an eye on our gear. I'm sure it was safe by why tempt fate? A kid was there looking for Charlie and he noticed two other Garters had come up to bask in Charlie's area.



We stayed and watched the snakes just being snakes for a while. The tree Garter slowly got down and crawled beneath the rocks. We walked back to the car, refreshed for the last mile. I never even took my camera out of its bag.

The following Saturday, I'd made big plans and had big expectations. It was going to be in the 70s and sunny. Oh lawd, wont you send me some Hognoses, Greens and Ribbons. After a nice 50's Diner breakfast, we made our way to the only place we can think of where we've seen all three species... in Plymouth County. We got there at about 8:30 AM and went to our first stop.

Well, we didn't score much. This very small Fowler's was our only find for the first hour or so. (The vernal we'd discovered earlier in the year has dried up.)


Our next stop was a bog and we knew we'd get some frogs. Sure enough, we did. Stereotypical lilypad frogs... two Bulls and a Green.




Since this is an active cranberry bog, they bring bees in every year for pollination. That makes one major path kind of sketchy. That path has been the scene of a Hognose and, on a different trip, a stinging swarm of bees (that had been stirred up by a fucking ATV). We decided this time to take a newly discovered path that will not only let us skip the bee trail but takes us by the water.


We went on to explore the second bog and saw a few more Bullfrogs, then took the "safe" trail back and decided to wade into the cool water for a while. This fire-pit Fowler's watched us undress our feet. Perv.


We stood still and attracted small fish who eventually started giving us pedicures.



On the way back to the car, we saw a wee Wood Frog, another of this year's models. Its good to know a new generation is upon us.


We went to our third stop and Andrea pointed out a bird. I photographed it not knowing what it was. It turns out that it's a migrating visitor, a Swainson's Thrush. Lifer #174 and #82 on the year.


The mudflats had plenty of Painters basking. We photographed what we could.



^ Nice smirk!


Admittedly, things got a little weird right about here. Andrea, who suffers from allergies, hadn't had any Claritin so she took a sudafed. Right around now, she lost it, losing energy and sanity. We had a long walk back to the car, too. We finally made it, stopping only to photograph some more basking Painters and explore a possible missed snake in a bush.


We went out the other side of the park, hoping to find a gas station (and a cup of coffee or two for Andrea) and explore some off-forest bogs. I hit the first bog before we saw a gas station. Andrea stayed in the car while I went out to see if anything was up. One more Painted Turtle.

On the way back to the car, I saw a small black streak of a snake zoom away from me. Garter, probably, possible Ribbon, but it was long gone. I ID'd it as a warm snake. Back at the car, Andrea said there was a gas station about 5 miles away. (Thanks, phone.) So we went on.

Andrea got some energy drinks, one called Mojave Rattler that smelled like Grape Bubble Yum. She chugged it and, along with the sudafed, was acting pretty drunk. But that's cool... she sounded happier. We hit a few stops out and about on the way back to the forest but found nothing.

Back at the forest's biggest pond, we saw a couple more Painted Turtles up and I managed a couple of good pictures.



I also added a couple of birds... a blurry Cardinal shot and this Ruby-throated Hummingbird (#83) that a Pheobe tipped off to me.


And that was that. We didn't make it out on Sunday. It was rainy and hot and Andrea wasn't feeling up to par. So, not the greatest weekend of all time but any day you get to see animals, it's a good day. So no whining from me.