TOLD IN NEW CHILLING pICTA-VISION 3-27-2021

 Chrysemys picta picta is the Eastern Painted Turtle. We saw a shit-ton of them on our Saturday walk through a spot in Middlesex County. Need proof?

It was in the high 50s and the sun was out. That means the Painters were out.

We almost got a picture of a Garter Snake. But failed.

But Painters. Painters here, Painters there... Painter, Painters everywhere!

In between ponds, Andrea went to look for Wood Frogs and I sat and listened to unseeable Peepers. Then she came back and we headed back to the Shell Game.

Every place that could support a basking turtle had at least one Painter, usually more.

I mean, come on!!

Even the ducks had turtles with them.

Here's a couple of good butt shots.

Some distant ones...

It wasn't until I uploaded these pics that I realized that a Blanding's Turtle had crept up onto the mound in this shot. I'd been looking for them all day and was surprised to see we'd had one! First of Year.

We took a trail further in and found our idyllic spot... just a nice hidden pond right off the path. The one guy sat there not 10 feet from us while the 6-pack lounged on a log on the other side.

Our turn-around spot had a Tick-Tack-Toe threesome.

We rested, then turned back. We still saw dozens of Painters up basking but figured some might have already been photographed so we didn't take too many shots. Andrea did manage to find our target snake species... our first Water Snake of the year, a chunky gal basking on a clump a good 6 feet out into the pond. She went unnoticed by all (except us).

Having broken the snake seal, Andrea next saw this tannin-stained Garter crawling straight through a beaver dam. We got the photo once he emerged out the opposite side.

I added another tanniny Garter ion a pile of sticks.

We carried on, heading back to the forest trail... with one last look at some Painted Turtles.

By the way, I hadn't mentioned it... we did most of this hike with soaked feet... the path was well-flooded in a few spots.

After a long turtle-free Winter, this was exactly what we needed... turtles by the hundreds!

Monday, Monday (bah-da, bah-da-da-da) March 22nd.

 Andrea was working. I wasn't. But it was beautiful out and as soon as it was her lunch hour, we headed over to a local pond to look for turtles. Snappers were most on Andrea's mind, as they often are.

As soon as we pulled in, we got instant gratification. This log got us our First of Year Red-eared Sliders and Yellow-belly Slider (both species are released pets, of course) and a bonus Painter. From left to right is RES, RES, Painter, RES, YBS and a big RES in the back.

There was some nice bird action as well... this First Spring Hooded Merganser was enjoying a large fish dinner.

Then Andrea saw a white shadow under the murky surface of the water...

Probably not for the first time, ol' Whitey was our FoY Snapper.

And then he was gone.

We walked around the whole pond and saw a few more turtles. A big, basking Red-ear...

And a swimming Painted Turtle.

OK, I know Painters are super-common and often looked over by people who seek the unique but damn, look at how beautiful this animal is! You just can't take that shit for granted!

Some "hidden" Painters.

A not at all hidden Red-eared boy.

A large Yellow-belly doing an awkward balancing act.

And one last Painter enjoying the rays.

Time was almost up but we started over to where the Snapper had been to see if we could see our old friend again. A woman who had been sitting by the pond stopped us and pointed out a bat that was flying around! We saw it but I stood no chance of getting a picture. We got to talking a little and she told us roughly where the Great Horned Owls were at. Having never photographed one, we were keen on heading over for our few remaining minutes. We gave the woman our blog name... I don't know if you ever visited, Pond Woman with Heron Tattoo, but it was nice to talk with you and thank you for the tip!

We went up to the area and there was another couple of people looking around. A guard to the place actually pointed out what we were looking for and I got these iffy photos, but they are two fluffy Great Horned Owlets and (the ear, anyway) of the mum.

They make it 46 birds on the year and since I have never gotten a photo of one before, Lifer #192.

I had thought about going back at a later date to try for a better picture but the place has since asked that people do not go to that spot anymore. Evidently, assholes have once again ruined it for everyone; people have set up tripods on graves and spent altogether too much time in the area, thus making the birds uncomfortable. I'm happy with the two photos I got in the few minutes I was there. 
Read this.

Just to end on a snakey note... Friday the 26th it was warm but cloudy. I took Andrea to her dentist appointment and on the way back pulled over to a trash-strewn, filthy spot right on Hyde Park Avenue... and saw this sweet Garter face.

Not a bad work week, really.

Go Straight to Shell, Boy. 3-21-2021

 Warm sunny day... one thing was on our mind. Turtles. I guess that means there was a lot of things on our minds... lots of turtles. We headed to our new favorite place in Plymouth County where they are abundant. We got there around noon and the sun was high.

We both had to "look for Wood Frogs" first, though, so we headed into the woods. It turns out that Woodies AND Peepers were awaiting us in there!

We poked around a bit despite being overly excited to go look at basking turtles. That paid off when Andrea found our First of Year Ribbon Snake!

This is also the first Ribbon we have seen at this place! Win- win!

We searched around the frog sounds for a while in a hidden cranberry bog but never did land our eyes on the noisemakers. So it was out the the sunny paths to look for turtles.

One reason we love this place? It is fully loaded with Spotted Turtles and this stretch had quite a few to offer. I missed a few shots but you can see what I mean...

Right around here, I was wondering where the hell were all of the Painted Turtles? Ah... saw one through the trees...

Ummm... nope.

Finally got one... basking below another Spotted!

And that changed the tide... from there on out, it was all Painters. No frogs, no more snakes but a shit-ton of Painters.

Many showed me their butts.

This was great. I saw some shell-shine on the side of a bog. I took a shot. There were 5 Painted Turtles up there, but it was a bit blurry, so I took a second photo. Within that moment, three more turtles had joined the cluster! Hot spot!

Out by the main pond, there were turtles seen on both sides of the path. Here is a sampling of the Painters seen, both young and old.

This one came out nicely... the straight ripples make it look like a better shot than it really is!

A chorus line...

Not observing social distancing...

And the award for cutest Painter on the day goes to our last one, a wee niblet who was basking near where we took a sit-down.

My, but that was a lot of turtles. I got a sunburn, even. What a great walk that was. We ended up watching some birds and Andrea pointed out this Eastern Bluebird (#44) who posed nicely for us.

And that was that. Other than some disgusting dog-shit-bag problems, it was a wonderful day. (By the way, my new thing is to move the shit-bags from the trees, bushes, water and what-not and put them in the center of the path. If responsible dog walkers see what the scumbags do, maybe they can teach them how to not be assholes. It's worth a try.)