A Five Snapper Lunch. 9-25-2020

 I'm off on Fridays these days, but Andrea isn't. But she is working from home so when last Friday was a warm and sunny one, we made plans to walk around the local cemetery pond on her lunch break.

As expected, the water was super low. We need some rain. In fact, we've never seen this pond so low. Still, walking along the edges stirred up dozens of small Bullfrogs. They were like green bullets but I finally got my camera on one.

One corner of the pond was dry, with just a small channel of water in it. I could see a Snapper was sleeping in the channel, so I snapped a picture...

Surely I could get a little closer if I step into the dried up pond edge...

Oops... not quite as dry as I thought...

A Red-ear was basking out in the middle near an island.

The next turtle we saw was our old Snapper friend Whitey... he of the white face and begging eyes.

He is always looking for a handout. We have given in before but we know it's not a good idea so he went away disappointed this time.

The Bullfrogs continued to be ever-present, hopping in at every turn. A good example of the total frogginess is seen in this picture. I tried to photograph the guy on the far left, not even knowing the others were there.

This guy was keeping a look out for danger... which was present.

Snapper #3 looked at Andrea for a while but when no handouts came, he swam off.

Another surprise Bully... I was photographing the back one. Somehow, I couldn't see the large one in front of him.

The aforementioned danger? This Great Blue Heron was in a very good position to have a Bullfrog Buffet.

Another handsome Red-ear was up doing some sun worshipping on the other side of the island.

Almost to the car, we saw one more Snapper who was probably seeing if we had food.

But wait... there was another one coming in from the left...

It was another familiar face... Pandaface.

Sure enough, there was an altercation. (We've seen it happen here before.)

And when it was done, Pandaface, the bigger turtle, was the victor. 

The other guy didn't stray too far... just in case we had food. But we didn't.

In fact, that was all the time we had. But that was a great lunch-break.

Summer's End. 9-20-2020

 No, not the douche Summer's Eve... the last walk of the Summer of 2020. It was very cool and we wanted to hit a place out in Middlesex County where we had seen our first Massachusetts Wood Turtle. It looks like a decent snake place but it was hotter than hell when we were there earlier in the year, so this brisk morning seemed like it gave us a decent shot.

We got out there in decent time and hit the river. Pickerel Frogs were jumping into the drink and hiding under rocks. This is the only one I actually got the camera on. In extreme close-up, at that.

Down in the same area, this White-lined Sphynx Moth caterpillar wowed us.

We walked further down the trail, cutting in towards the river wherever possible. At one of these inlets, this little guy was laying in the reeds...

With a roughly 3" carapace, it isn't This Year's Model, but still a very young Wood Turtle. 

He was not touched by our presence, dear, but that worked out well because when Andrea texted our friend who knows this spot, it turned out he was there! We waited near the turtle and it didn't move much, staying pretty much in his shell while we were there. It was good to finally meet our friend in person and be able to show him this little cutie!

Next up, Andrea found this Wood Frog right near the Wood Turtle.

Wood Frog... Wood Turtle... could Wood Snakes and Wood Salamanders be far behind?

But that was just about the end of of success. We went to a sandy nesting area and saw turtle tracks, both big and small, but never saw the print-makers. We scoured the bushes, the dunes, the side trails and everything but saw nary a serpent or turtle.

Mother Nature threw us a small bone when we flipped this little Redback before leaving.

So we obviously didn't break any species count records but we did see another Massachusetts Wood Turtle and some pretty 'phibs. We also got in some good recon at a place that was far too hot to explore our last time out. There's still a lot to see there but I don't regret our time spent foraging through the dusty trails, feeling like the astronauts at the beginning of Planet of the Apes and getting a little lost. It's all good... and all in the name of experiencing nature.

Killed By Eft! 9-19-2020

The nights have been cool and Saturday the 19th wasn't supposed to get much out of the mid-60s. We decided to try our luck way out in Worcester County for Redbellies, juvenile Rat Snakes and other shoestrings. We got out there by 11:30 and it was barely scraping 60° but it was sunny and we liked our chances.

I'd asked Andrea on the way up (while listening to Crucified Barbara's version of Motörhead's "Killed by Death") if she thought we'd see any Efts. Well, our fist flip spot answered that question immediately.

No snakes there, but amphibians were present. Here's a Redback Andrea found.

A tarp came up empty. No, wait... no it didn't! Eft Magic.

THE TREE was barren at the moment, so we went to another flip spot. This served us a bit better, with a Milk and a Garter hiding under it.

A few more newts were seen. Many were rather dark, until the second one pictured here:

Before heading for the water, we saw one more Redback, a real stunner. Check out the gold-flecking on the noggin here, will you?

The sun was just starting to reach the duck-weed filled (and very low) swampy pond, and two Painters were waking up to warm up.

We made our way over to the big pond and took a stroll along the edge. It was peaceful and beautiful, nary a human in sight. In the lightly choppy water, Pickerel Frogs hopped in and out. This guy bobbed in the shallows.

A few smaller guys were actually having an easier time of it. That second guy has a lot of green, defying some of the field guides.

We continued down the beach and Andrea noticed a little pool just on the other side of the sandy beach path. It was a goldmine for small Bulls and Greens!

We made our way from the beach through a quiet wooded path. It's amazing how few humans we ran into. The parking lot had been a bit frightening, but so far so good. Out to the sunny wetlands next to the access road, we saw some happy Painted Turtles. Note that every one of them has a muddy butt. That's a sign of the cooler nights... they're planting themselves into the mud for sleepy-time.

So, we'd done our usual loop. We were back where we'd started. I theorized that maybe some of the earlier spots would be more fruitful now that the sun had been up for a few hours, so we checked a few of the flip-spots again. It doesn't happen often, but I was right! This young Milk had come closer to the surface to sleep under a warming rock.

A tarp that I'd checked earlier revealed (after gentle inspection) that a Garter had slipped in during our time there.

A twin Eft flip.

We took one last walk past THE TREE and there were still no signs of inhabitants, except for some skins, including small ones with saddles evident. Close, but no cigar. Under a rock at the base of the tree, this Pickerel was snuggled in for the day.

We took one last walk around a field before leaving. On the way out, this shoestring Garter gave us a big smile before heading to the car. Stretching in a straight line, indeed. We finally got our shoestring!

I printed this picture out and made it into a bookmark. Please help yourself... download it, make a bookmark and start a good book.

Last sight before heading home... we left as we came in... Killed by Eft.

Not a bad morning and afternoon. We left as it was filling in even more with filthy humanity. We made it home in time for me to have a nap, too. Win/ win.

The Magic Tarp. 9-13-2020

 It was once again going to be a nice day out so we decided on a turtle-centric hike in Middlesex County. Tis the season for shoestrings and walking pebbles and we wanted to see some of each. It was lovely out when we got there but there were a lot of cars in the lot. Would this be a human-filled day?

Tarp is always of interest to us. Snakes like to hide in it. It retains moisture so when that "time of the every couple of months or so" hits, they like to hang in the tarp to moisturize their old skin. This place has had a pile of tarp laying there for a few years now. That would be our first target. Under the first edge I lifted was a huge surprise... the very first Milk Snake we'd ever seen in this refuge.

Judging from this little fella's roly-poliness, we figured shoestring Garters were probably present, too.

Carefully unfolding the tarp, we saw some more potential meals for that chubster... here's two of three newbie Garters that we saw in the tarp.

Since Milks are snake-eaters, we figured we'd warn them. Note the blue eyes on the second one.

Also in the tarp, this ready to shed adult Garter gave us the blue stink-eye.

We headed in, enjoying a rare gnat-free walk at this place, ever vigilant for small turtles and snakes. This gorgeous, large Garter gal was stretching out next to the path.

The first time we got near the water, we saw a couple of Painted Turtles enjoying the warm sun.

It's nice to see the occasional Redback again, now that the nights are cooler.

Before hitting the ponds in earnest, we relaxed on a bench and admired this Pine Sphynx caterpillar (Thank you once again, Teá!)

Then we settled in to look at turtles. There were so many Painted Turtles up and sunning that it was almost comical. Here are some...

In the past, there has been a Blanding's or two in the mix in some of these distant stack shots but today, it was all Painter. No wonder some people call them "sun turtles".

Andrea spied this Bullfrog in hopes of breaking up my streak of turtles.

Now, back to the Painters. The far side of this particular pond was just bursting with happy, sun-worshipping Painted Turtles.

If you're still with me here, just look around the photos... noggins are all over the place.

Madness, I tell you. This Heron was struck by the sheer silliness of so many turtles that he started cackling to himself... a victim of Chelonian Fever.

We made it past the pond eventually and up to what has been made into a nesting spot; an open, sunny field. They over-tilled it in the Spring, though, and the tire-tracks look like they would doom any small turtles trying to climb their way through the field. We didn't see any anyway. Andrea went to look for Wood Frogs while I headed to a spot that overlooks that turtle-crazy pond. On the way, I saw this fine American Toad.

So, what could I see from up there? Painted Turtles!

This little guy had a nice clump to himself!

But not for long...

Yoga.

We're always happy to see such a healthy population of Painted Turtles. This day, in particular. Yes, we love them because they're beautiful but this field had over a dozen dead adult Painted Turtles around the perimeter of the far end. We'd seen 4 on our previous trip but the numbers this time were staggering. What was it that is killing them? They were only partly devoured. There are plenty of Raccoons there... could they be the culprits? Perhaps the deep furrows caused by the tilling slowed the turtles down enough to be trapped. I do not know, but it's a fucking bummer.

I asked this Mantis if she was responsible. This is the look she shot me.

Since we still had plenty of gas (a rarity these days), we decided to head down the trail a bit more to see what we could find. On the mile walk to the next water (a marshy riverbed) we didn't see anything (except a massive Garter skin coming out of a hole) but when we reached the water, we were rewarded with some Green Frogs.

There were a few pesky Pickerel Frogs darting in the grass as well. They made photographs extremely tough, as you can see.

Heading back, we finally saw our first Water Snake of the day, a gorgeous juvenile, about 16" long and beautifully banded. He was stretched out straight in the path. Luckily, a bike hadn't come by and squished him.

We helped him make his way across.

Happily, we saw some Painted Turtles up on the path on the way back as well.

That second guy was Business Turtle... on the go.

There were still some baskers, too.

I got my pathetic 2020 Bird Count up to 67 with this Belted Kingfisher.

Before leaving the ponds, I got artsy with this Painter in the lowering sun.

We were feeling the walk back but happy with our nine species on the day. The question we both asked... should we check the tarp again before leaving? Of course! And we were delighted to see (without having to move any tarp at all) this momma Wolf Spider and her kids.

We didn't want to bother her, so we only poked around very gently on the other side. That was good enough to really piss off this Garter.

The day ended on a fun note. We were driving the long entry road out and noticed a large frog sitting in the opposite lane. Not a good spot. I put on my hazards, jumped out and stopped the oncoming car while I went over and poked this chubby Green Frog to make him hop to safety.

The driver and I exchanged a thumbs-up and nobody has to worry about how big of a splotch that bruiser would have made. He hopped on in the brush, happy to be able to eat again.

Did I just fat shame a frog?