Barreling into Autumn. 9-26-2020

 For our first full hike in Autumn, we chose a spot we've been to a LOT this year in Plymouth County.  It is full of turtles and snakes and, as always at this time of year, we want to see shoestrings and walking pebbles. It was fairly cloudy when we got there but pretty warm... around 70°. 

Oddly enough, our first animal was an Alpaca! That doesn't happen too often.

We went down into the woodsy area to look for Wood Frogs and Box Turtles. We gave it a good scouring but as it was warm and humid, Boxies weren't likely to happen. Our first sighting was a large Garter Snake zipping through the brush.

haha... Gotcha!

Out of the woods, on to the trail. The bogs were pretty much dried up so our pursuit of frogs and turtles would be postponed a bit. We did see, however, this large and perfect Northern Water Snake next to the trail.

Obviously, she was pretty chill.

We finally got to a better water area and started to see some Painted Turtles.

While I was photographing that last little guy, Andrea yelled "Turtle" and ran off on a turtle trot about 50 feet ahead...

She informed me that she'd found a Spotted Turtle in the path.

A late September Spotted is a treat!

Next, we hit a rich vein of Bullfrog.

A bit further up, turning on to what we primarily consider a turtle path, this behemoth of a Bullfrog sat in the water below. With no size reference, it's hard to show how enormous he is but it is one of the largest Bulls I have ever seen. The size of a catcher's mitt.

That turtley path didn't work out as well as expected. There are often dozens to hundreds of Painters up but maybe due to some people that had just come through, we saw no basking. This Spotted was thinking about crossing the path, though.

We had just missed a Pickerel Frog, but I knew that coming up was an excellent spot for them, so I didn't worry about it. Andrea spotted this American Toad next and I made sure not to miss it. Toads aren't going to be seen for too much longer this year.

Another gigantic Bullfrog, who I had the privilege of watching take a few clunky hops.

Not quite as massive as the last one but still a formidable anuran!

This Painter stayed on dry land just long enough for me to get a good shot.

Remember when I said there was a better Pickerel spot? We'd reached it. The problem was this; we saw dozens there, but they were too quick for photos. I managed two decent shots, though.

Dozens of small Pickerels were darting out of our way. No sooner had I said "Any self-respecting snake should be down here... but do any snakes have self-respect?" then Andrea gasped... "Oh my god!" I guess one Garter had a little self-respect.

Back on the main trail, we saw some muddy Bulls.

We'd made it to the main pond and sat for a while looking out at the water. Painted Turtles were stacked up as far as the eye could see. If this was my view from my back porch, I'd be a happy person.

I have no idea what's going on here, but I do know it's hilarious.

Same:

Moving back up the path, we saw more Painters and Bullfrogs. Check out that Painter side-eye.

This photo was of a distant clump way out in the pond... I was tickled pink when I inspected what it was... 2 Painters and 2 Redbellies forming a lovely Chelonian bouquet.

Then, we scattered a few small Greens along with some Pickerels. Make that nine species on the day.

A couple more Redbellies... they weren't cooperative and this is the best I could do...

I had a great time watching the Pickerel Frogs in the edge of the pond. They would hop away from me into the pond, but immediately swim right back and crawl out near my feet. Bizarre defense, to say the least.

Some long distance Painted Turtle yoga...

A nice, little zipper-lipped Green Frog.

After coming close a few times in the last month, we finally had a TEN species day. This Racer, our first adult at this spot this year, put us into double digits... then took off in a flash.

A pretty picta posing perfectly.

Only #7 on the year for my Grasshopper Count, but the Differential Grasshopper is a real beauty. He only had one back leg so he was easier (but not easy) to catch for a photo.

Ol' redneck Painted Turtle. So much more welcome than the human ones.

Make that eleven species... I saw some lily-pads mysteriously moving around and waited, thinking it would be a Snapper doing it. I was right.

A few more Painters in all shapes and sizes.

Well, I guess they're all turtle shaped but they were of varying sizes.

We ended the day in the Nerodia hot spot... Andrea saw this big gal in the water...

Back up on to the trail, I saw a squiggle on the path in the distance. It was like road-cruising... is that a stick, a shadow, or a snake? It was another pretty Water Snake.

Here's his noggin.

Our last sight was another Nerodia, but he was heading into the foliage and this is the best I could do...

But man, what a day. Our first double-digit species count in a long time! We walked about 6 1/2 miles and saw tons of wildlife. Not a bad way to start the Autumn.