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.