The End of 2020

We ended the year quietly. We did go out for some hikes, mostly birding. We added no new birds but enjoyed ourselves anyway. I ended the year with 72 bird species. That's my lowest in quite a while, but considering we never left the state, I'm OK with that. We did add a number of lifers on the year, so that's good. Here's a Cardinal munching, just for shits n' giggles.

We visited the dens in the last week of the year but despite some weak sun, it was too cold for any snakes to have been poking out.

We got a call to transport some turtles on December 20th. We took 3 Kemps-Ridleys to the rehab aquarium.

The lower guy in the second picture we called Flappy because he kept flapping his flippers and covering himself up with the towel. VERY lively. December 20th is pretty late for Kemps to come in alive so these are very welcome survivors.

As of December 26th, this is what the numbers looked like. HUGE year.

As you can see, the live/ dead ratio is superb this year. The crew is doing an amazing job, especially considering the restrictions due to Covid.

We got asked to walk a night patrol on December 27th but it was called off that day due to decreasing winds and an overall slow turtle day. But they called back and asked if we could to the 29th for an 11:21 PM high tide and I said I'd do it. Andrea couldn't as she had work in the morning, so I did it alone.

No turtles and obviously no animals to see but it was a beautiful (if cold... it was 28° plus wind) night and the full moon was shining enough that I had a shadow and could see pretty well even when my headlamp was off. I scared up a few flocks of sleeping shorebirds, likely Sanderlings, but obviously, got no photos.

I saw a lot of this:

Here's what the Half-Way Rock area looked like at about 12:30 AM:

A 1:30 AM dune break.

So that is the end of my year. And what a weird one it was. For all of us.

Lost Photos: RECOVERED! August 22nd, 2020

 Remember back in August when my computer died and I lost a batch of photos that I hadn't yet uploaded to Flickr? Of course you don't, but I do. I was futzing around a few weeks ago and plugged in the old, defunct laptop and lo and behold... I was able to find and save those very pictures. I have uploaded them to my new computer, edited them and WHAMMO... here they are.

They are from August 22nd of this year, our 17th wedding anniversary. It was a trip to Plymouth County and it wasn't anything super-special, just some sightings of the usual suspects. But since we haven't seen any of the species photographed here in well over a month and likely won't for another 3 or 4, the pictures have become very special to us. All of the animals in these shots are deep in hibernation as I write this.

This post would fit in just before this one.

I honestly don't recall everything about the day, so the pictures will speak for themselves. Evidently, a wee Fowler's Toad was the first thing we saw.

We visited the vernal at the first stop and it was still big and full enough for this Green Frog to hide under the surface.

From there it looks like we headed over to the bog. A Bull heavy day was in store. Here's the first:

A small Painted Turtle was also in the bog.

Another Bull. God, these look so good to me here in late December.

A stunning Green Frog.

Another young Painter.

How about three Bullfrogs? The colors of summer look so damn good to me right now.

Verdant magnificence.

Speaking of which... a perfect Green!

We walked along the edge of the pond near the bog and saw this big, beautiful Painter basking on a pipe.

Two young Greens on the edge of the pond.

One last big Bully before leaving the bog area.

There's a long trail that we usually take to look for snakes and toads but we either skipped that trail or saw nothing to photograph there. The next photos are from our traditional last stop at the place. As we always hope, there were some basking Painted Turtles there.

Looking again at this, it might be from that trail I just mentioned.

These ones are surely from the last spot, though. The Red-belly was being a pain and not showing me her head no matter how I twisted my camera. Plus a bonus Painted Turtle.

And lastly, some distant basking Painters.

So, while that might not have seemed like a super-great day at the time, it sure warms up my heart to see them right now. Perhaps it's a gift that they were lost, only to be recovered when I really needed to see this kind of beauty.

December... Before the Storm. Dec. 4th and 13th, 2020.

 We're having a full-on blizzard as I write this. We're supposed to get a foot of snow in Boston and it's cold as hell. Whatever, it's December. But...

On Friday, December 4th, it was mild and sunny. We made a last minute decision to walk through the dens on Andrea's lunchbreak to see if anyone was out grabbing some Vitamin D. It was a long shot but if anyone would be out, it would be our pal Blister, who would still be recovering from the frostbite he incurred during an earlier cold-snap. And there he was, in the waning sunlight.

It looks like he's been doing everything right... the scarring is much better and he looks to be in pretty good flesh. I hope we see him again in the Spring. By the way, that's 33 consecutive months photographing a Massachusetts snake.

We checked the dens again on Friday the 11th. It was cool and breezy and the sun was too intermittent to encourage anyone to peek out. But the following Sunday, the 13th, it was steady enough to get us out on an unplanned walk before running errands. It had rained heavily the day before as well, so this plump Redback wasn't a total surprise.

Blister's den-site was unoccupied but Sly's old den had a lovely, bright Garter right on top, enjoying some afternoon sun. It was only in the mid-50s but the sun was beautiful.

You just don't see that kind of beauty too often in December.

Over at the Cottonwood Dens, we got the surprise of the year.

When we're in Florida or Arizona, we often wonder "what will our Holy Shit Moment be?" A Burm? A feisty Scut? Since we've been confined to Massachusetts all year, we haven't had any real opportunity for Holy Shit Moments©️ but we had one that Sunday.

The last thing one would expect to see on a cool December afternoon is a Milk Snake, but there was one. He was basking (weird enough right there) and looked magnificent.

He was very alert and took offense to our presence when we got closer for photos. We let him be and thanked him for a happy surprise.

We only saw two more animals that day... a double flip of a Redback and Leadback. A fine way to end this year's blogging, should it actually be the end.

As for sea turtle rescue, we have only been called once this year and it was on a work-day and we had to decline. It has been a huge year... over 900 cold-stunned turtles and over 700 of them alive! They're doing an amazing job this year and though we'd love to have been a part of it, we're realists and can see that they know what they're doing and really don't need us coming in from the main-land in these times of Covid. 

Ending November. The 26th through the 29th.

First up... our Thanksgiving was fine. We spent it together. We did make a side trip to Andrea's mum's house to scoop her catbox and take out her garbage. While there, we saw a beautiful Leadback under the trashcan.

Black Friday... November 27th... Since our previous birding trip went awry (we'd looked at snakes instead) we went to the water to look for some sea-birds this time. I added 5 species on to my 2020 list, getting it to the 75 I'd hoped to reach. Here they are.

#71 Red-throated Loon.

#72 Common Eider, a female and a immature male. The Andrea and me of Eiders.

#73 Common Goldeneye.

#74 Ruddy Turnstones.

And #75, Red-breasted Merganser.

So, I'm pleased to have hit 75 with no trips out of this state.

We spent a lot of time watching little brown rats (Norway Rats- Rattus norvegicus) scurrying around the jetty looking for snacks. They were very quick and hard to get a photo of. But I persisted because I realized that in the 11 years of keeping this blog, I have  never pictured a Rat!

The purple headed merganser?

Thus ended our day.

(A couple of Buffleheads, I think, simultaneously diving.)

On Sunday the 29th, we figured we'd try again to see the great influx of birds at our local hiking spot. Once again, we opted to peek at the dens first, since it was sunny if not too warm. (High 40s, low 50s.)

Our pal Blister was out again. His blisters have receded in the past two weeks, leaving little deflated scars along his length. He didn't look bad, though, and we saw him out and about crawling around, doing the little looking-for-food head sway.

Near him was another Garter peeking out into the sun... this fella was still half in the hill... just a tentative peek.

So, how did we do on birds? Not great, but we did add two... #76, a Tufted Titmouse. (Totally on to me.)

And #77, a Tree Sparrow.

While there, we went up the hill that overlooks the path we usually walk on (where the people are at the bottom of the picture) and this perspective certainly gives a different impression!

"Our" Snaplings were released in the river somewhere over the hill in the left of the picture.

This distant hawk was watching the marsh below for a tasty snack.

And that is how our November ended.

Those Ain't Boids. 11-21-2020

 There was supposedly a bird irruption going on (RIP Eddie... I had "Eruption" in my head all day) so we got the camera and headed to a supposed hot spot nearby. Of course, along the way, we decided to hit the local dens. Temps were only in the 40s, but the sun was shining.

Roble's Den... a plump Redback greeted us.

This gorgeous specimen made us remark about how coveted a Redback sighting should be to people. Yes, they are super common, but they are stunning salamanders.

There was indeed one Garter up at Robles' place, a dusty character who had some of those (what I suspect are frostbite) blisters along his length. Some Vitamin D is a good idea, mate.

Though certainly not as warm as we or the snakes would have liked, the Valley had two Garters stretching out in the sun.

The Cottonwood Den had but one slender Garter out.

Here's a look at that noggin after he pulled it into the sun.

What of the birds? We didn't really see anything. But I got #70 on the year in the Dollar Tree parking lot on the way home... Ring-billed Gull.

Eh, we have fun.