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.