Social Distancing: Turtles 3-26 thru 3-28-2020

I feel like a totally useless blob these days, puttering around the house (when I'm not napping) while Andrea works from home. I'd feel too guilty going out without her, so when we got a chance to take a quick walk on her lunchtime, I was rarin' to go.

We went over to our local cemetery to walk around the pond, hoping to see some animals. It was far cooler than we'd expected, so turtles seemed unlikely. But a couple of Red-eared Sliders were defying the cool breeze and catching some rays.

Considering these "invasive" (released, unwanted pets, fuck you very much) have a home range in the Southern US, they are quite cold tolerant. Pure turtle yoga, here.

These are our First of Year  Red-ears.

We also added Common Grackle to our meager 2020 bird count.

These guys' electric calls were buzzing all around us.

The next day was a nice one: warm and sunny. Unfortunately, Andrea was stuck at her workstation. Finally, at a bit after 2 PM, she said we could go out. We headed straight over to our Spotted Turtle place, somewhere we don't go near once the 'skeeters come out. Sure enough, there were some turtles up, but they presented a problem... they could only be seen through the bushes. I did my best with these two Spotteds. (The second one, on the right, had only just hoisted up while I was fiddling with the camera.)


This Painted Turtle was even tougher.


As we quietly snuck past the spot, the second Spotted and the Painter slid into the water, but the initial Spotted stayed put, unwilling to give up his late afternoon perch.


Further up the path, we poked through some bushes and saw some Painted Turtles up. These two were NOT practicing social distancing.


This guy, on the far end of the very same log, was.


Shadows were getting a bit long and we regretted not getting out earlier for snakes. But we thought we still had a shot at some tenacious knuckleheads and we were right. This well-warmed Garter zipped into the brush.


While I was struggling to get even that lamentable photo, Andrea noticed this guy right at her feet.


Our last encounter was this Redback that you would think that I flipped and placed him on to this piece of moss, but no... he saw us coming and crawled up there, hoping to get into a field guide.


The next day was Saturday, so we didn't have to wait for anything, though we did get a late start. We drove out to out Blandings Turtle place to see in anyone was up. It's also a wonderful Wood Frog spot where we saw some fantastic orgies last year.

While driving through the town near the refuge, we noticed there was still snow around. We were much further north than we'd been so far this year. When we got there and got out of the car, we realized that reptiles might not be happening. It was pretty cool. Still, this brave Painter was the first thing we saw.

We went down to the vernals but it was silent. No Wood Frogs at all. We realized that we were just too early, not only for Blandings, but for springtime Wood Frog hijinks. We ran into a fellow herper (Hi Patrick!) who was hoping just like we were. Maybe next week.

We walked a bit further on before taking our usual route. Up there we saw a robust Redback, trying to hide under his own foot.

We could hear running water, so I went down to explore, having never seen a stream here before. I did find the water but do not know it's source. Maybe there had been enough snow in this part of the state to do this?

Back on the trail, we saw a few more distant Painted Turtles not obeying the social distancing rules.

Further up, way off in the distance, we saw a Painter that seemed to understand the importance of this pandemic.

That was about it. We saw some birds and heard some Peepers but we never saw even one frog. This plump little tennis ball of a bird is a Swamp Sparrow, only the second one I've ever photographed.

See ya.