Vacation Time. July 3rd and 5th, 2019

In years past, during my work's annual summer shut-down, we have done as much as 11 days straight in the field. Due to circumstances (Monday- Andrea worked, Tuesday- we did yard work for her mum, Thursday- we visited the kids in Maine), we only got out twice during the week. It was 90°+ the entire week so we figure we didn't miss too much.

Since we hadn't yet seen a Musk Turtle in 2019, we decided to make our Tuesday hike one around a reservoir in Norfolk County. The thing is, is was so damn hot. We saw no turtles basking and snakes? Fergiddaboutit! Our first sighting was of this toad.

After our triumphant first ever American Toad recorded in Wellfleet, this guy brought me down to Earth. In as a Fowler's due to spots, ridges and crests, it had some spots on it's belly, shin warts and large partoid glands. Hybrid? Or I'm just stupid. Perhaps both.

The next one wasn't any easier and I didn't get it in hand to inspect it closer. In as a Fowler's but I'm not certain. Those post-orbital crests look American.


Tired of toads making me doubt my sanity, I switched to birds, at least long enough to get a shot of this gorgeous Tree Swallow.


But it was so hot, nothing was stupid enough to be out in the sun. Except us. Until we saw this fine butt in the distance...

Mercifully, the only other animal besides us to be stupid enough to be in the sun was our FOY Musk Turtle. Mission accomplished.


We didn't last too long and we didn't have to... much of the trail was flooded out and we really didn't need an excuse to turn back. We took a number of shady detours off the path on the way back to the car, to relax and kiss and stuff. One pit-stop was even better because this Snapper was floating through the water.


Not far from him, this Red-eared Slider was doing the turtle float, too.

We never regret going out and seeing a turtle or two, no matter how much swamp-ass we come home with.

After a hot visit to Maine on Thursday (where my car's brakes started to break and grind), we wanted to swim on Friday. It was 95° and we didn't care about seeing animals, we just wanted a dip into the pond. So, after slowly driving my car to the garage and dropping it off, then renting a car for the weekend, we made our way to our favorite pond in Norfolk County.

Knowing full well we wouldn't be seeing many animals, we still went the long way to the swimming area. Intrepid? Stupid? Both? But our stupidity paid off when walking the dam area... we saw this happy Spotted Turtle, our 7th chelonian species in as many days.


This area also had some very small Painters in the warm water's edge.


We missed one more of each species, but then managed to photograph our third sightings!


We spent plenty of time in that wide-open sunny area, getting baked by the sun and having an absolute blast. (I was still on doxy... not my brightest move but I regret nothing!)

Flipping for salamanders was pointless in this heat so we made our way to the bog area. It is always quite a few degrees cooler in the bog and we thought we might see some critters in there. Sure enough, I saw this young Water Snake balancing a few feet above the water on some brush.

Andrea waited while I got this shot and he slipped into the drink before she got there. I feel bad about that but the photo is a corker!

She found the next animal... a small Green Frog that I scared up while walking across a board.


In case there is anyone local who doesn't  know where we were (and I doubt that), here are some Sundews, which were all over in the bog.



On the way out of the bog, Andrea spied this regal Bullfrog posing perfectly.


*whew* We were gettin' there. That water was going to feel good. But we wanted to make one more stop before the swimming area... Hobo Camp. Sure enough, when we got up there, we flipped a snoozing Ringneck.


This had turned out to be a pretty darn good day, despite the heat. It got even better when I heard Andrea say, "Oh... my... god..." and point to the wrecked foundation of a fireplace.

Is this not the most spectacular "natural" setting of all time to see a Milk Snake?



While she was still oohing and ahhing the Milk (which she had every right to do... the most amazing sight of the year and all), I flipped a couple of other Ringnecks, one of which I had to catch for a picture.


OK, we were pretty chuffed by this time. We didn't spend much time at Ringneck Hill because we'd already seen Ringers and salamanders wouldn't happen, so after about 5 minutes, we headed straight to the swimming area. We paid our fee (a young kid we'd once showed snakes to a few years ago is now a lifeguard there) and swam for a while. It sure felt good.

After we were done, we packed up and headed back to the trail around the pond. Much to our surprise, when I flipped a shady log to see if any snakes were snoozing under it, we saw two Redbacks. Unheard of in this heat!


Amazing. Eight species on a brutally hot day.

We got to some tall grass and called it Pickerel grass. We often see Pickerel Frogs in that kind of shaggy, unmoved grass. Unbelievably enough, Andrea saw one hop into the leaves. OK, I'm not proud of this shot but it's the best I could get.

I'm pretty sure he had a face but as it stands, that's an outstanding butt.

That was nine species. And we still had a stream to pass. Naturally, I got busy when we got to the stream and scored our tenth species on the day... a Two-lined Salamander.


Technically, this was my last day of vacation, though we had a two-day weekend in front of us. But I'll take this day over a work-day any time. Lots of cute animals, a refreshing dip and some sweaty exercise. I'll take it.