3 Days in May. 5-19, 21 and 23, 2020

It's catch as catch can in this stupid world, so we went out on Tuesday the 19th at 7:30 AM to look for urban Garters. It was cool but it was sunny and right there, in a small strip of brush/ chain link fence, next to a parking  was a pair of healthy looking, good sized Garter Snakes.



Our usual turn-around spot hadn't warmed up enough yet, so we went back and walked through the park on the way home, staying close to the edge, next to the train tracks. We saw a couple of warming Garter bodies through the iron fence.



This guy was out in the grass on our side of the fence.

You can't go wrong with five morning Garters. All of them appeared to be very healthy.

Thursday the 21st was my birthday and we'd really hoped to get some hiking in. Luckily, it was still plenty warm after Andrea's work ended, so we went over to a sort-of local spot for some PM critters. Andrea struck first with a frisky Ringneck.


I contributed a dusty American Toad.


See this cutie?

Her next find was one of the most beautiful Milks we've ever seen!



We also got our first Lady Slipper of the year.


Saturday the 23rd was forecast to be a sunny, delightful day. We'd planned on the massive turtle spot. It was, after all, World Turtle Day. But we saw the howling wind when we stepped outside and made a last minute change to a different spot in Plymouth County.

Much to our surprise and disappointment, it was raw and windy when we got there. Still, we started our search. We managed a Ringneck in a pile of rocks, so it wasn't a bad start.


This jet-black Leadback was an impressive animal.


The vernal there is one of our favorite places to look through and we're happy to see that it is so massive this year, most of the man-children on their ATVs have been avoiding it, forming a new path going around it. Bullfrogs have decided they are in charge.



A water's-edge log had 3 moist Redbacks under it.



Another Bully Ribbit-machine.


Peepers were present, as well, though they were hard to find until they jumped. The second guy here is roughly 3/4" long.



Happy with our first stop, we next headed to the bog. It became clear pretty quickly that we wouldn't see many (if any) reptiles. The temp had dropped to about 51° and with the whipping wind, it was very uncomfortable. Let's face it, the forecast was very, very wrong. Still, our anuran friends could be seen a little bit. Let'e give it up for Bullfrogs! YEAH, BULLFROGS!!!!


Before finishing up on this spot, we added a Green Frog to the mix. We'd heard their calls, but this was the first one we saw.


We hit a few more spots but hurried through them because, let's face it, it sucked out. There were no turtles tenacious enough to bask in the chilly, sunless wind. We were admittedly disappointed that the weather wasn't what we were led to believe it would be, but we're grateful for the five species we did see. And that made it 8 on the week. Hell, we're lucky to get out at all, I guess.

On a very positive note: we saw NO OTHER HUMANS out. Never once had to pull up our masks.