Barreling into September. Saturday, Sept 4th.

 It was supposed to be a rare one out there... sunny but not too hot.  We sought newbies... hatchling turtles and shoestring snakes. We headed out to Plymouth County early, hoping to not get tangled up in Cape Cod traffic. We were successful... we arrived a little after 8 AM and started at our flipping spot while it was still cool. Can you say instant gratification? A perfect, teeny newly hatched Ringneck!

Under a discarded TV set (not ours, mind you) there were three White-footed Mice that were wondering what happened to their roof. I gently put it back. Here is one of them.

Another newcomer was next... a newly hatched Racer! I love this time of year.

It's funny... a baby Racer is about the size of a subadult Garter. He sure looked indignant when Andrea picked him up so I could replace the log.

Of course, after letting him go, he decided to stay there and strike at me instead of going under his log. Feisty lil devil... it bodes well for his survival.

The vernal made famous in my story "When the Pool Runs Red" was swollen and deep thanks to all of the recent rain. Any frogs I might have photographed skittered off without a shot. Heading back to the car, I could see three Painted Turtles basking on a float behind the house of a very lucky person.

It should be noted that, like every year at this time, Orange-striped Oakworm caterpillars were absolutely everywhere!! We had to watch our steps and swerve while driving.

Our next stop was the bog. Frogs are a given there. It has been a very good year for Bullfrogs and the bog was positively hopping with them.

I'm kinda on the fence on that last guy but I really do not think that is a dorsal ridge. This be a Bull mister.

Here's an interesting specimen. He was about 5 inches long, clearly not a recent metamorph, but he still has some tail. Curious.

Under a board, we flipped a tubby Fowler's who kept nestling down into the dirt as I tried for a picture.

Another interesting observation: Green Frogs were in a different part of the bog than Bulls. We finally got to the Green portion of the hike. And what a stunning frog to break the clamitans seal with!

Another pretty Green Greenie (let yourself go)!

A heart-warming clump of moss... we can learn much from these two... a Green and a Bull, living in harmony.

Segregation never! Integration now!

Andrea had a very successful flip next... a Spotted Salamander. Not having had a good "Big Night" this March, we were really in need of seeing one of these guys! Only our second or third of 2021.

From there, we took a trail through the woods that takes us to a nice spot next to the pond. While there, we saw some more frogs, this time some new Pickerels!

We sat down for a while on a concrete partition over looking the pond and I got friendly with some local fish (I had pretzels with me). I was able to add two species to my fish count in doing so... first, a Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus).

Second was a Largemouth Bass. I had a helluva time trying to figure it out, but my friend Mike lent a hand (again). Thanks, Mike!

Before heading to the next spot, we photographed another Pickerel, and a Bull.

Our next stop is the one that always kicks our collective asses and this trip was no different. We scoured and scoured for young snakes, but came up empty. We did manage a few Fowler's Toads, though.

And the basking areas were stacked with Painters.

We also saw a Monarch Butterfly land on a nice, purple Alpine Aster for a quick nectar break. The Monarchs are headed South this time of year and stop by these parts for a rest on the way. Check out that proboscis, man!

We made one more stop but admittedly, after hiking about 7 miles already, we were getting a bit fatigued. No hatchling turtles yet and our last stop didn't produce any, either. We got a look at this molting Painted Turtle doing yoga, though.

And as I was looking at the log the Painter was on, this absolute behemoth of a Red-bellied Cooter crawled up and considered basking. I swear the head and neck are the size of my forearm. What a beautiful beast. I thought it was a Snapper from a distance... a massive male, but nope. It's a huge Redbell!

So, that's a nice way to end that Saturday. No hatchling turtles, but two shoestring snakes (both from eggs, too, for that matter) and lots of other beautiful critters. I'll take it.