Goodbye, July. 7-24 and 31, 2017

 Having missed the previous week (due to band obligations), we were eager to get out for what was supposed to be a sunny Saturday. Throwing caution to the wind, we decided to scope out a new spot, an area that Andrea had been researching on maps and herp databases. What could possibly go wrong?

Neither of us were feeling great... work-worn and just under the weather, but we found a place to park and followed a trail map that I printed out, pointing ourselves toward the water. Due to the excessive rain during the month, it's easy to see why a summer Redback was our first encounter.

The woods were cool, so we kept to the trail, venturing to the water's edge where we could. A small (this year's model?) Wood Frog hopped across our path.

The water was thick with duckweed and the only turtle we had seen was scared into the drink by a noisy family but we eventually got deep enough into the hike to start seeing basking Painters.

The water eventually connected to a river and there were plenty of humans in kayaks and boats, so our turtle sightings dried up. This plump American Toad helped us to lick our wounds.

We followed our map, but honestly had no idea where we were. But, staying on the main path made sense. Surely we'd run into something that would tip us off! The trail became flooded ahead of us, but not so much that we couldn't get by, so we didn't turn back. Our tenacity paid off when we got to a puddle filled with newly metamorphed Green Frogs.

I failed at getting a shot of a Pickerel Frog from one of these puddles. They're a species we haven't (yet) seen a ton of this year and it would have been nice, but... oh well.

At the end of this path, we went to the water's edge where an elderly couple was enjoying the day. We had a lovely talk with them and the gent pointed out where we were on the map... we'd done a huge loop and we were back almost to where we started! While spending a little time with them, we noticed a Bullfrog on a log in the water. Charmed us all!

We said our goodbyes and never told them that we hope to be exactly like them in the future.

That was all we saw on this trip. We cut it a little short because we were both fatigued and not feeling too well. But this walk did our souls a lot of good. And on the drive home, we saw a Peacock strutting near the road. This is not a part of my 2021 bird count, unfortunately. Look at that blue!

The next day, we didn't feel well and the weather sucked, so we didn't go out.

We ended the month (Saturday, July 31st) with another visit to a favorite spot in Plymouth County. The place can either bring much joy or break your heart. While it didn't exactly break our hearts, we didn't see a lot of animals before we called it a day.

We got there plenty early and most of the cover we wanted to flip was still in the shade. Our first flip got us a small (but not Tiny) Fowler's Toad.

That was it for flipped animals, except for a Brown Prionid longhorn beetle that Andrea uncovered.

The vernal on this path (the one made "famous" in my Gore Shriek story) was still present, but we saw no life under the surface. I saw one frog noggin, but couldn't get a shot.

We went to the next spot, the bog, and decided ahead of time that we'd only hike half of it. Old age setting in? You betcha. Some Red-spotted Purple butterflies were showing off in the parking area.

This spot is always a joy to be at. We just stand there, watching frogs and turtles enjoying the sun. Though we heard some Greens, all we saw were Bullfrogs... and adorable, young Painted Turtles.

We took a trail off the bogs that goes through the woods towards the lake. We snuck up on a Plymouth Red-belly basking on a PVC pipe!

We like this path because there is an area where you can wade into the lake. Andrea did just that. While she was cooling off, I photographed this wee, freckled Bullfrog. It was small and I thought it was a Green, but that's not a dorsolateral ridge, it's a belly fold.

We started back to the car, keeping an eye on the bogs. A few more pretty Bulls caught our eyes.

We took a short sit-down and this Violet Dancer stopped by to visit.

Andrea was decidedly not feeling well, so we went straight to the visitor's area to get some water and use the facilities. While there, I photographed this Daddy Long Legs, a Huntsman (thanks to Doug for the ID confirmation!), while some townie lady told me about how they're the most "poisonous" spider around. (False!)

We decided to pass on the last stop that we'd normally do here because Andrea was definitely not feeling all right. Before hitting the car, we looked out at the water to see if any turtles were up. Yup... a big, adult Red-belly!

Ending on a high note, this young (maybe 3-4" carapace) Red-belly was basking on the end of a stick. Seeing one this size means that some successful nesting has taken place here by this rare species!

We'd seen a hatchling of this protected species here a few years ago... I wonder...

So that was how we ended July. No snakes this time around, though I think our day in Essex County a couple of weeks ago makes up for that. Truth is, we just like being out in the wild and seeing nature, whatever there is. Species counts are fun and it's always cool to see uncommon stuff, but being together and experiencing nature is much more than finding stuff to get massive "likes" on facebook or even having a knock-yer-socks-off blog post.

An Embarrassment of Riches. 7-10th and 11th.

 The last two days of my summer vacation... warm and cloudy. For no other reason than we hadn't been there yet this year, we headed to Essex County, up North, yo, to walk around a lovely area. I don't remember what time we got there, but there was only one other car in the lot and we saw two Garters take off before we even entered the place. That showed promise!

Of course, once we had our cameras ready and we were alert, we didn't see anything for a while. Due to the heavy rains we'd been having, there were puddles and pools all around and along the path. We finally got to a pool full of new Green Frogs.

While I was photographing those cuties, Andrea spied a Tiny!! Likely a new American Toad. (Never seen a Fowler's here...)

Before reaching the first pond-edge, we finally got our cameras on a snake... a large Water Snake was crawling through the brush.

Look at that beautiful face!

We got to the water's edge and the rocky area between the water and the concrete path was just sick with snakes. Pure heaven. We finally got a Garter shot... or two.

Every few feet there was a pile o' Nerodia plopped out, sunning on this overcast day, digesting their breakfast or lunch.

Ol' one-eye.

Andrea then spied a young Milk on the edge, as well. It looks like the tip of his tail isn't long for the world... well healed at a wound and ready to fall off.

He took umbrage with Andrea's close-up inspection.

The art of nature... a perfect circle of a Garter

Sneaky shot through the bushes of a big, beautiful Water gal.

OK, that was along about 100 feet of lakeside path... just ridiculous. We missed a few shots and likely didn't see every snake resting there, and our heads were spinning. We went on up the path to go to the next pond area, which is usually good for turtles.

And what was crossing the path leading to the next pond? Another Water Snake!

The pond was, as always, covered with duckweed and turtles were indeed present. Painted Turtles, to be exact.

Don't you dare think for a minute that this pond was deprived of lazy, sunning Water Snakes.

This guy was ridin' high in the reeds.

As you can see this stretch of the walk was no less amazing than the last one... a few more Painters...

And another Nerodia-flop.

Then we walked the short path between that pond and another section of the big lake. On the way there, we saw a big, beautiful Green Frog.

Next, we flipped a rare summer Redback!

We rarely have days where we see way too many snakes to count or keep track of. But this was one of those days. Some slithered away as we approached, but it's safe to say that this stretch was also pretty damn snakey!

In fact, these last three were all plopped out right next to each other.

Not sure if it's this Water Snake or one already photographed but I did catch one to show a kid and his nervous father. The kid wanted to hang with us. We had the snakes.

We next went up to a power-line cut to look for berries and more snakes. Oddly enough, we spent an hour up there with zero snakes and the berries weren't ready, for the most part. Much of the lower part of the trail was flooded, too, so we turned back. We did manage a few ticks up there, as well as seeing some almost-fledgling Tree Swallows waiting for another food delivery from mom and pop.

We decided to head back, and of course that would take us past that concrete/rocky lake edge. Now, I don't know how many of these same snakes we photographed on the way in, but there were even more out sunning on the way back. Also, I don't think I'd ever seen Garters and Waters snuggling before, but these two big, obviously with-snaklet gals seemed to be doing just that.

They weren't the only odd couple hanging out together.

A few were going stag...

The walk back to the car was through the shaded woods, but there were still Water Snake flops to be seen away from the water!

So, we're not sure if we've ever had a day where we've seen more snakes. At any rate, we saw dozens and dozens and just take a look... most are huge and fat! That was the best day we've had in ages, just watching snakes be snakes and getting a couple of good photos. This was one for the books.

The next day, Sunday, the temps and weather was much the same but the sightings were far less. We headed to Bristol County to a traditionally fruitful spot and got there pretty early. Unfortunately, the garden that we see first there had just been mulched; so freshly, in fact, that the scouts that did it were wheeling their gear away as we approached. The garden is usually a sure-fire snake spotting spot. Not this time.

It took a while to see anything, but we eventually found a pretty, no-dorsal-stripe Garter under some bark in the woods.

Andrea has pretty good eyes when it comes to Tinys. My camera, on the other hand, is just too slow.

The young American settled down for a real portrait.

Some distant Painters were the only turtles we'd see that day.

I'm always on the lookout for tree frogs and I know they like to huddle under loose bark on logs, so I always look. This Ringneck was quite a surprise to find there instead.

On the way back to the car (and we'd done a full hike, we just didn't see much!) one hefty Garter had emerged from the mulch to sunbathe magnificently and give us a gorgeous photo.

Before heading home, we went over to a small spot fort a quick look around. It's actually a county over in Plymouth County, but it's not far from where we'd been. At any rate, I heard a guy pointing out some Water Snakes to his kids, one of which wasn't amused. I couldn't get photos of those particular snakes, but we all talked a bit and it was good to see another snake non-hater. He soon pointed out this one to us, too.

I returned the favor by pointing this dynamic duo out to him.

A couple more Nerodia bits before I close this thing up...

Damn, I remember earlier in the year when we couldn't scrape two Water Snakes together to save our souls. This weekend was extraordinary. What a joy to see so many local snakes. It was going to have to hold us, too, because the next weekend, we'd be on the road and unable to get out for a nature walk.