The weather is finally nice. It's about time. My days off are dwindling as work has become very busy. I miss the pandemic. But I had Friday the 14th off and I urged Andrea to take her lunchbreak with me at our local spot for 45 minutes of sunny nature happiness. It didn't take much arm twisting.
We were happy to have instant gratification... a large female Garter sitting among the stinging nettle. That's one way to keep us away from you!
Sly's vernal pool had a massive Bullfrog sitting on a log. Stunning!
That was it for reptiles and amphibians in our allotted time, though I did get a crappy shot of a Hairy Woodpecker, the first we'd seen in years.
The next day was Saturday and we got an early jump and headed to our hit-or-miss place in Plymouth County. Never say die, even when we should. We still had a number of First-of-Years to find. We started off with a Redback and a Leadback. As is often the case (I'm happy to say), the Plethodons were abundant.
Can tou believe that it was mid-May and we'd still not seen a Ringneck? We finally did, a wee one sharing the underside of a rock with a slug.
Blinger-Ringer.
The vernal at the end of this path is still nice and full, despite the child-men riding their ATVs through it. Life goes on. There were plenty of tadpoles in it; some small black ones (toad?) and plenty of these larger fellas with small legs sprouting. They seem too small for Bulls at that stage. Greens perhaps?
No bull about it, this guy in the adjoining pond was pure Bullfrog!
As usual, our next stop here was a cranberry bog, or as I like to think of it, a frog-bog. There were tons of healthy frogs in it! Here are two nice Bulls.
It's also a great bog for small Painted Turtles, as long as they keep their distance from the bigger Bulls.
I'd said "no more Bullfrog pictures" but this guy made me change my mind.
The bog also had some stunning Green Frogs. That last guy is just too much.
Our next stop in this place got us some nice Painted Turtle stacks.
I'm a loner, Dottie... a rebel.
We'd hoped for a few snakes along this path but found none. Even worse, we saw no Fowler's Toads. This path is usually hopping with them, but nuthin'. Like we needed something else to worry about. A die-off? A late start? Hognoses cleaned house before we got there? Who knows?
We were pretty toasted by this point but wanted to check one more spot. Distant Painters made us happy with our decision.
A plethora of massive Northern Redbellies made it even sweeter!
This distant basking site had a Redbell and some Painters... I didn't notice the second Redbelly all the way to the right until I uploaded the photo!
Another hidden Redbell/ Painter combo.
A kayak went right past this old-timer Painted Turtle who couldn't have cared less.
That's it for the day. We also added a couple of birds. Not too bad, but we really had to work for every sight. We put in over 6 1/2 miles but it's all worth it in the end. And we still had Sunday (with a good forecast) ahead of us.
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