Ending November. November 13th and Thanksgiving.

 Our year in the field is essentially over. We're already making plans for next year, hoping to hit a few spots we hadn't been able to this year. Still, when the weather isn't horrible, we like to try to stretch our legs. In that spirit, we walked around our favorite pond on Saturday, November 13th. It was too cool and cloudy to have much of a chance, but it's better than sitting on the couch.

Bless their little red backs, there were still plenty of Redbacks present. The first guy is wearing a little leaf hat or toupée.

Sexy and slender.

This little chocolate guy has a tail regenerating. The tip looks like a cat's claw.

A little guy on the left and a teeny guy on the right who'd have rested comfortably on a dime.

Andrea might have seen a turtle plop in at one point but she's not sure.  We did get one surprise, right around Ringneck Hill. This Garter tail was seen slowly pulling in, going into a hole.

I went to lift the top rock to see if we could find the entry hole and... oops! It was all one rock and she was sitting under it!

Obviously, she'd come up to grab a few rays before retreating to her sleep spot. Ringneck Hill is obviously home to many snakes of different species.

That was a nice surprise. It might well be our last snake of 2021. Still, there is plenty to enjoy outside. We sat for a bit, having this as our view.

One more beautiful Redback.

Since it was cool, I'd hoped that a stream that has Two-lines and lots of mosquitoes would be missing the latter. Sure enough, no 'skeeters bothered me, but I was also unable to stir up a Two-line! I did, however, disturb a Pickerel Frog who had turned in for the year.

I apologized and tucked him back in. See you next year! 

He's likely the last frog we'll see until the Spring.

We're signed up for Turtle Duty again this year. We didn't get called much last year... like, only once, so we were surprised to get a call to walk the big beach on Thanksgiving Day. But we accepted and hit the beach at 3:15 PM, knowing full well we' be in the dark by the time we reached the Point.

I had debated whether or not to bring my camera but we had an hour and a half of daylight and I'd hoped to see some birds and seals before the sun set. I was rewarded with #79 on the year, some Sanderlings.

We didn't expect to see many (or any, really) turtles because it was very nice out for a change. Very little wind and it was in the 50s. Less than a mile in, however, we saw a couple walking towards us and it looked pretty obvious that they had one. They did, a small Kemp's... the gent carrying it was no nonsense and was hurrying with it to the parking lot where a Sanctuary person was waiting. Luckily for the lil' turtle, these folks knew exactly what to do. We thanked them profusely!!

In the waning light, we saw a lot of this...

And there would be a lot more even after we couldn't see it anymore. Roughly 4 miles out and 4 miles back.

I did get a shot of a curious Gray Seal looking in at us.

Neither of us had ever seen the sun set over the ocean before. We got a gorgeous show.

A seal was bobbing up out there, making me look like a real photographer. I was very glad to have brought the camera.

Just before we had to resort to our headlamps and flashlights, we found a turtle. It was a Kemp's-Ridley and it was obviously dead. It had some chips on the edge of the carapace and some on the plastron below. He didn't smell very fresh. Though he was at the current high-tide wrack line, he'd obviously been dead for quite a while. He either died out in the water (clipped by a boat?) or had come in and been pulled back out again. At any rate, we called him in and prepared him to pick up on our way back.

As expected, it was completely dark by the time we hit the Point. We were greeted by an adorable sight there. Instead of scaring off a flock of Eiders (our usual night-time Point practice), there was a cute little seal face in our lights. He looked at us, then at the water. Back to us, back to the water. Us. Water. He slowly decided to slowly flop his way into the drink. I couldn't for the life of me get a shot in the dark but it was a great treasure to watch this youngster flop along.

Sorry lil guy, but we had to check the wrack.

This is the track he left...

From there it was just walk back the 4(ish) miles along the receding tide edge to see if anyone was left washed up. Our lack of practice was catching up with us with a couple of miles yet to go, but we persevered. It kicked our asses, but we made it and got the deceased turtle to the Sanctuary. He will be necropsied in February and we can learn from peeking inside. Poor fella.

The little turtle that we'd seen the couple carrying out when we got there was alive and headed to the rehab aquarium!! I'm glad to end this post on a positive note!

Slithering into November. 11-6th & 7th

 I never like to visit the local dens before November. We did OK out on the trails throughout October and since there was a frost in early November, we felt justified to go check 'em out. Saturday the 6th was supposed to be cloudy and cool, but it turned out to be sunny instead. After doing some errands, there was still a little sunlight so we headed over.

Sun wasn't hitting too many of the hills that we know are den-sites but checking the spots where it was hitting, we finally spotted a Garter grabbing the last rays.

Leaving from that hill, I almost stepped on another sunbather.

The cooler weather doesn't bother the Redbacks yet.

Sly's hill hasn't been too active for a couple of years but this time, there was a sneaky Garter basking. Andrea spied it from above... it was all but unseen from the Valley.

While photographing that one, I saw another not too far away.

The sun was rapidly going down, so we didn't push our luck. We knew we'd been very lucky already. On the way out, we saw a few more Redbacks. That second flip was a four-pack! Not too shabby!

That was a bonus day and it was quite a bonus indeed! And it never hit 50°.

Sunday was sunnier, as promised. It still was barely 50°, but it was pleasant in the sun. We'd left earlier to get more sun time and since we'd set the clocks back, we have to get used to everything all over again. On the way to the dens, we encountered a Redback, always a good opener.

We hit Robles' Den first but there was nothin' doin'. Down to the Valley we went and right away saw a pair of Garters on Sly's Den, with their tails almost touching a good sized Water Snake gal. You can see a tail in her portrait.

The Valley was a happenin' spot. Yes, it appears everyone made it back to their hibernaculum area this year. Garters were slithering to the beat.

We headed back to the Cottonwood Den and were very surprised to see a This-Year's Model Milk Snake coiled up. He was in the shade; obviously the sun had just moved on him.

Since we hadn't seen any Milks in October, this was an extra treat.

So, that's what our November is like so far. We don't expect much, so seeing 4 species over the weekend is a treasure. We never know when our last sighting of any of these animals will be. So, we'll just enjoy every one we see.

Virginia is for Turtles. October 29th and 30th (and 31st)

 Andrea's niece was having a wedding! We were invited! We went! It was in Chesterfield County in Virginia! We took a very early flight, getting into Virginia late morning and we had a few hours to kill before checking into out hotel. That was on purpose. Back in 2007, we'd hiked by a certain pond in the area and found our lifer Rat Snake and, obviously, we have fond memories of the place. That's where we went.

It wasn't very warm, but it was warmer than Massachusetts. We flipped a bunch of logs, hoping for a local salamander but saw none. Finally, while walking through some wet leaves, we saw some hopping. Our first sights were Cricket Frogs, a species we hadn't seen in over 5 years, the last time being in North Carolina.

I'm unable to identify if they are Eastern or Southern Cricket Frogs. The ranges overlap here. If they're Eastern, they're lifers. But since, I don't know, that's that.

The pond was very (in)active with turtles. Lots and lots of turtles. The first sight of the water was this: That goes RES, Red-bell, ? and Red-bell.

Here's a closer look at those back two. That guy on the left could be anything, but I'll call Slider until I know better.

But it was mostly Red-eared Sliders (not really supposed to be in the area but close enough to their natural range that they are very successful here) and Red-bellies. Northern, not of the bangsi Redbells of Plymouth. There are also Eastern River Cooters and Yellow-bellies in the area and I wouldn't swear that some of those aren't in any of these pictures.

No mistaking this little fella.

Red-ear? Toughie.

Definite Red-ear!

Lo and behold... the magnificent Painted Turtle! We see them by the hundreds up here but this guy actually made me squee with joy in Virginia.

Peering through some brush, I saw some turtle heads. There was a couple basking on a log. I zoomed through the branches, focusing on a head. I was surprised as hell to see what I captured... that's FIVE Slider noggins!

3 Sliders and a Cooter.

The wooded trail was just as exciting as the water. Andrea found a super-warty Cricket Frog.

A hop startled us and we saw our only Bullfrog of the day, perhaps our last of the year.

I couldn't possibly have asked for a better pose from this Pickerel Frog.

I can't decide which shot I prefer.

A wee Fowler's Toad.

Got dam, we was havin' fun.

Here's one of those cyanide millipedes, Apheloria virginiensis.

We were heading back to the car, having gone as far as we could along that trail. I didn't want to repeat turtles so I didn't photograph quite as many. But I shot a few. This guy is ancient. Redbell, I think.

No doubt on this one!

Another Painter.

I hadn't added a bird to my count since July, but Carolina Wrens were flitting all over, so I finally got to #77 with a decent pic.

One more turtle shot before we left... some Slider and Redbell yoga.

This park also had a nice nature center with some display animals. We checked it out and this stoned Box Turtle gave us a look.

We checked into our hotel and promptly fell asleep for a while. On the way up to our room, we'd noticed a canal behind the hotel. After dinner, we went down in the dark to see if we'd encounter any animals. Other than a likely frog-plop, we didn't see or hear anything, but it was a cool walk and I got this shot of Andrea.

The next day was Saturday, the day of the wedding. We went over to see Andrea's sister and her husband and we hung out with them for a while. Matt decided to walk with us for a quick hike... he knew a nice trail that goes along a spillway to the reservoir. He was very tolerant of us, what with our running into the woods to look under logs and all.

It paid off, though. We found a few Southern Two-lined Salamanders. They were Andrea's lifers.

Note the bonus tail below...

I'd seen this species once before, in the mountains of Virginia back in June 2014 while Andrea was at another campsite showering with two handsome young men.

Speaking of Andrea, she saw another Cricket Frog near those salamanders.

We got to the water and it was lovely. There were turtles, but they were on the far side and presented a problem to photograph. Still, I shot a few. This appears to be a Painter and a few Sliders.

This one is tougher... a Slider or two, a Redbell and that far left one could even be a Yellow-belly.

Last animal shot in Virginia... Painter and Slider are friends.

That was great. We profusely thank Matt for walking with us (we even had him flipping a log or two!) and showing us a nice local walk.

The wedding was lovely and it was super nice to see some family members that we haven't seen in quite some time.

We got back home on a very early flight and were settled back home before noon. I had to get a Covid test before returning to work the next day, so I went through that unholy dick-dance while Andrea relaxed. But it was super nice out and when I got home, I said to Andrea... it's now or never. We headed over to a nearby spot in Norfolk County to try for a snake or two, since we'd struck out in VA.

Well, we saw a Garter right away. No pic. Then we saw a couple more. No pics. It was mid-afternoon and they were warmed up. Finally, we caught one and tried to calm it down for a photo, with moderate success.

Andrea spied a wee, squirming twig... a this-year's-model DeKay who was on the move. It's the first we'd seen in a while.

A Redback was all tucked in.

Another Deke! When it rains, it pours!

Another difficult to photograph Garter! What was it with these things today?!

Walking back, we saw a stick in the path. The stick started to crawl into the grass.. another DeKay. A real gorgeous one, at that!

We'd seen some dudes getting ready to do some graffiti art in the tunnel on the way in. Well, on the way back, the artist was well into his piece (though not nearly done yet, he assured us) and since it was Hallowe'en, we wanted to document it.

We haven't been back since, but I'd love to see the finished piece before it gets ruined.

Yes, it was October 31st and still, we encountered this tug o' war. A Garter had a toad in her mouth, but another one was trying to steal it away. What an asshole!

This little guy was right there with them, awaiting the victor.

Walking back, Andrea uttered a "Holy Shit"! This absolutely massive Green Frog was in the path, daring us to pass. We did and he hopped into a puddle.

Our last animal of the weekend... I peeled back some bark on a fallen tree and this snoozing Peeper gave me  a tired, but dirty look. Ooops... sorry!

So, between Virginia and Massachusetts, we had at least 13 species over the weekend. We fully realize that most of those will be the last of 2021, but we can live with that. We've had frost in the days since Hallowe'en and hope that everyone is back where they should be for the Winter, at least up here in Massachusetts.