A weekend in the later part of October... Saturday was supposed to be cold and rainy. It turned out to be not so bad, but we carried out our other plans anyway. Sunday was supposed to be sunnier. It wasn't horrible, but as it turns out, it never quite hit 60°. Oh well, we hit a turtle spot hoping to see at least a few more turtles before packing in 2021.
We headed to our newer favorite Plymouth County pond and hit the wooded area first. After all, it seemed like Box Turtle weather and we have seen one there so what could possibly go wrong? Naturally, we didn't see one but we started the day off with some lovely Redbacks.
Out on the trails that circle the bogs, it was tough to see anything due to heavy growth and cool weather, but we saw one Spotted Turtle bravely trying out a little sunlight.
It was fairly windy and that kept the temps lower but if you knew where to bask, you could catch some unencumbered rays. This stealthy Water Snake had a nice, still, sunny area just off the path.
We'd been holding off on deciding whether or not to walk the path by the big pond; it gets very windy there. But things had settled down some and we knew that's where the turtles would be easiest to spot, so that's where we headed. Sure enough, distant Painted Turtles were enjoying a sunbath. Not many, but there were a few intrepid chelonians.
We did not expect to see any snakes along this path, but we were pleasantly surprised by Gene Gene the Dancin' Garter Machine strutting across the path. He was doing the head shake that I associate with following a scent. He made us chuckle aloud as he made his way into the grass.
We haven't seen many all green Praying Mantises lately. This guy one was a welcome sight.
This Great Blue Heron kept flying away from us, but always landing next to the path. We eventually caught up to it 3 times before it flew off in a different direction. Note the Painted Turtle hiding out on the log. It wasn't seen by the bird, mercifully.
Since you never know when your last turtle sighting will be, I greedily photographed every Painter I had a chance at.
If this guy is our last Massachusetts turtle this year, I'm OK with that. This Painter is a beautiful way to end the year.
But I do hope for more.
That's a great place for spotted's. Nice to see one so late in the season.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing a box turtle brumation sweep tomorrow. I expect that some have entered into brumation. Onward to sea turtles !!!!!!