An Extraordinary Day in the Field. 5-2-2020

Let me preface this post with a quick walk we took down a busy, urban street on Tuesday, April 28th. It was sunny in the morning (though cool) and Andrea wanted to show me how she sometimes sees Garters and/ or DeKay's in this most unlikely of settings on her way to the train station. Well, nobody was up sunning yet, but we flipped a chunk of concrete next to the sidewalk and got our First-of-Year DeKay's!


That was a lovely way to end a crappy April.

So, the weekend forecast was a good one. They waffled back and forth on which would be better day so we decided on a couple of Plymouth County places for the two days. Saturday, we went back to a spot we'd already been to twice, but we'd be seeing it on a much warmer day. It's is a busy place, yes, but it's huge and we can spread out, away from other humans. We got there mid-morning and decided to hit the wooded area first.

As I like to do, I was inspecting trees for Gray Tree Frogs, but once again, I came up empty. Our first sighting was a couple of robust Redbacks.



Did we want to go deep into the woods here? I figured that since we were there, why not. More chances at Grays and maybe a Garter and... oh my...

This is huge for us. We thought the habitat looked good for Box Turtles and I think there are historic records. But this, our first non-Cape Boxie, absolutely blows our collective minds.

Our First-of-Year, our first Plymouth County, first at this spot... this gal has it all.

So, how do you top that? You don't, but there's a lot more to see of this place so we stepped away from our instant gratification and went out to the sunny trails. The sun was just starting the warm the edge of the woods and we figured some snakes might be coming out to start the day. We were right... this last-year's-model Nerodia was edging into the sun.


Further up the trail, its big sister was doing the same thing.

Andrea's size reference...


As soon as we'd stepped out of the car, we'd started hearing toads calling. Now, alongside the bog, it was getting loud again. Some egg clusters from the previous months' amphibian mating were already starting to burst...


Somehow, Andrea spotted this wee DeKay's crossing the path.

First one we've ever seen at this place.

We finally found the source of the calling, some American Toads were frolicking in the bog.


Love is in the air.


Another Water Snake was resting on the edge of the bog.


Watch out, cowboy... don't get eaten!


Another Water Snake was poking out to the path, this one with gorgeous reds on her sides.



Another species enjoying the bogs on this sunny Saturday... Spotted Turtles!




We followed the toad calls (because watching their shenanigans is a lot of fun) and while doing so, we spied a Bullfrog voyeur.


Um, a little privacy, please?


This Bullfrog had better manners.


Another species, our 8th on the day so far, and we hadn't even photographed a Painted Turtle or Garter yet! This is a Green Frog.


Not sure what was calling them out, but here are three more baby Water Snakes!



^ Somebody drop a pencil?

We were on mostly new-to-us paths. We hugged the woods, thinking that snakes would be emerging into the sun and we were right. It was paying off. Also, there were very few humans on these paths.

We got to a crossroads and to the left, some of the most beautiful habitat I have ever seen was spread out before us. Looking down the water next to the path, I saw hundreds of turtles lined up in the sun. There was no way to photograph it, though. The most extraordinary sight I have ever seen. We slowly made our way down the path, very quietly, and snapped pictures of basking Painted Turtles when we could do so between the trees and bushes.







We saw something in the path ahead and realized it was a medium Snapper. We approached slowly, not wanting to scare it. 10th species on the day.


I was handling the turtle, removing leeches that were in some delicate places. While I was doing that, Andrea noticed this one not much further up the path.

This tough guy did not  want his picture taken.


We were finally at the other end of that waterway and I could get an opposite end picture of the huge amounts of turtles up. This doesn't do justice to my original sight from the other end but you get the idea.


And here's an idea of how far apart the Snappers were on the path.


We were enjoying ourselves far too much so when we saw two policemen on their vehicles at the edge of a path we'd been exploring, we were sure we must be trespassing. But no, they were just taking a break in a secluded area and said we were fine. We all had masks up, so it's all good. A couple came from another direction, mask-less, and were talking about Spotted Turtles. Obviously a "herper", he got all excited when he saw a "Milk Snake" and picked up a juvenile Racer that was trying to eat. I taught him the difference, we put it down, and the Racer (our first of year) finished his meal in peace.

Andrea and I weren't the only ones with our baby Water Snake eyes on. 11th species on the day.

While I was photographing the Racer, Andrea spied this over-wintered Painter hatchling in the grass.

We're super happy with the progressing "baby" theme of the day.

This far end of the turtle trail was no less turtley. Painted Turtles were everywhere!


Shenanigans might have been going on...


There were even a couple of adult Painters up in the grass.



Further up yet another trail, a lump in the path turned out to be a small but feisty Snapper.

What a gorgeous shell.


Andrea's hatchling eyes were working well... she spotted one, then another as those two cops drove by. She halted them to get the tiny shell out of the way!


Yet another new trail for us, yet another wonderful habitat. The water came right up to the path and as we walked along, Green Frogs and Spotted Turtles were slipping into the drink. This is what we could get photos of...





This small Painter was up, too, and put on quite a show for us when we tried to film him. Too speedy for our efforts.


We started heading back toward the main trails. We knew we'd be seeing more humans but we were pretty far out. Going back, I saw this distant Painter that was huge! I was actually surprised to see it was a picta. (We've seen Red-bellies here.)


Andrea in her preferred habitat.


There were indeed more people up on the main trails but we kept our masks up and carried on. It's amazing the things humans do not see, even though they're right there. Like Baby turtles.


Another adult Painter up in the grass... a really beautiful one.


This Snapper was poking around on the bog-side of the path while humans were fishing and not social-distancing on the pond-side.


We made our way back to the woodside trails to make our exit. We saw less humans and still saw critters. Like another Painter...


A couple of Bullfrogs, the second of which would love to see the baby snakes and turtles we'd encountered.



Another last-year's model Nerodia who showed us some good attitude.

Stay feisty, lil fella... you're gonna need it out there!

A big Painter on a fungus covered Birch.

Don't besmirch the birch.

Last up? A roughly two year old Water Snake doing his impression of a pencil.


I can't lie. That was the best hike we've had in Massachusetts in years. 11 species and amazing quantities of some of them. And let's not forget, the day started with a Box Turtle. Amazing.

I was commenting that I hadn't added any birds to my 2020 count at this bird-friendly place. Then a Wild Turkey (#34) walked across the street to make the day perfect.