Andrea spied this Garter on her way to work on the morning of Friday, May 31st. It was the first snake sighting since the empty lot had been cleared of debris and brush.
Since our Pennsylvania trip netted us 23 species, but none of them turtles, we decided to try to get a head start on the weekend and visit our local cemetery that Friday night, getting there at about 6:30 PM. It is home to Sliders, Painters and some overly eager Snappers. Eager or not, this Snapper was the first turtle we saw.
This young Grackle was very striking.
The cemetery pond also holds many large Bullfrogs.
This Snapper was just kind of floating there. He was alive, but ... oh, yeah... I'll bet there was a lady Snapper under him.
This Painter was the only one we saw.
Bass harmonicas started sounding... some of the massive Bullfrogs of the pond were calling.
Some of these were giants.
Our last sight was an extraordinary one. Two Snappers were in the pond, having a face-off.
At first we weren't sure if it was mating or a hockey game but we now think it was two males having a tussle.
Interesting. Then one of them came over to see if we had any food. Typical.
The next morning, Saturday, June 1st, we wanted to get to a turtley place in hopes of seeing someone nesting. Tis the season, after all. We hit a place in Bristol County, knowing we didn't have a ton of time. (I had a gig that night.) As I'm writing this ten days later, I have absolutely no recollection at what time we arrived but our first sightings were Garter Snakes giving us the slip in the Garden. There was a bunch there but they were warm and uncooperative.
Ha-ha... caught you peeking!
Andrea's luck wasn't much better.
Well, we don't need to photograph every animal so we were satisfied with what we got and moved on.
One Painted Turtle was out in the distance.
Further in was another difficult-to-photograph Garter. It looked like it was just going to be one of those days.
We kind of got our target of "nesting turtle" when we saw this Painted Turtle making her way up from the pond, possibly toward a sunny spot.
While photographing her, Andrea spied another tough Garter, this time in the blue.
Yep- one of those days.
An all-but-dried-up puddle still had enough water for this pretty Green Frog.
Next up was a bittersweet sight. We saw our first ever (for this place) Gray Tree Frog! The downside? It was being eaten by a fully visible Garter Snake. I got the gory shot, which I wont share here, but this is the Garter after finishing.
That had me scouring the trees for Grays but I couldn't find any.
Andrea found this disappearing-stripe, cinnamon Garter.
We were almost done here and were checking just a few more spots on the way to the car. One Painter was on Musk Tree.
We were out on a little boardwalk when we saw this perfect Bullfrog posing for us.
The next Bully was a monolith of a frog who decided to submerge just as I snapped this pic. A terrible, but amusing shot.
He did come up for me. He is massive.
Andrea saw this big 'un laying near the path.
She also has very little stripe.
Back in the garden, I took a look where the Garters had been a few hours earlier. At least one had turned into a Milk, our first Massachusetts Milk of the year. Also blue.
Last up before moving on, a small American Toad.
We headed over to another nearby spot to look around and were disgusted to see that, in the name of "restoration", the layered, flat stone walls at the water's edge had been filled with concrete. We'd seen many many Water Snakes in those walls. Hopefully, none were trapped inside. I was disgusted and wanted to leave but Andrea said we should look along the water at another area. She was right, as she usually is. This large Water Snake was cuddled up, almost out of sight.
A little further along, in a space they had better not try to fill in, we saw the orgy of the year...
That's a Nerodia six-pack, kids.
I think there is but one female in this gang-bang.
That's a damn Water Snake Braid!
One more try for us to find a Musk Turtle on the day. Not sure if we'd see anyone nesting but hope springs eternal. We went another few miles down the road to the next spot and right away we saw a lovely young couple... the vanilla Water Snakes, fully in love and glowing.
One loosey goosey Nerodia.
Last find of the day was another Water Snake, seen briefly through some bushes. I pulled him out and he told a joke.
The next day, Sunday the 2nd, we had no field plans. I'd played the night before and we were toast in the morning and had plans with Andrea's mom in the afternoon. But, plans were made to hit the cemetery to visit Andrea's dad, so we took along the camera to peruse the pond there. Sure enough, a few turtles were up, including this Painter.
I believe this molting mama is a Red-ear, our first in this state. Yes, invasive.
A couple more Painters.
Keeping with the theme of the weekend, another massive Bullfrog. It looks like a good year for the big ones.
I saw a bunny.
And a Red-tail (#88)
And we ended the day with a small Garter.
The following day, Monday morning, June 3rd, Andrea spied 2 Garter Snakes on her way to the train station. Urban Garters are always a beautiful surprise.
And that is how our June is going upon returning from our trip.
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