Andrea has a few Fridays off now! How wonderful! But, of course, the first one she had off wasn't particularly a nice weather day. Still, when I went out to run errands, I took her with me so we could hike a little. Low 50s, but sunny. There could be stuff up.
We went to a nearby (to our errand route) spot in Norfolk County. To be honest, there wasn't much happening. We did get a nice Red/ Lead Redback flip, though.
We did a few miles of hiking, content with the fresh air and nature sights, but didn't see much more. Finally, almost back to the car, we saw a slim Garter poking through the leaves.
How 'bout a close up?
So, the next day, Saturday, was supposed to be overcast but not horrible. We decided to head out into Middlesex County to have a stab at Blanding's Turtles. It was cool and breezy when we got there but our target is fairly cold tolerant and we also wanted to see some frogs.
Right away, a Phoebe (#66) was very interested in me while I was "looking for Wood Frogs" behind the closed rest-rooms. It wasn't until later, I thought that there's probably a nest nearby.
With water right up close on both sides of the path, frogs were quick to jump out of sight but we finally got a shot of a green Frog.
And then a small Bull.
Working our way up the path, we trod through a few puddles, but we soon saw that the Beavers' work still had much of the path under water. Though we've done stupid things at this place in the past, we decided to turn back to stay relatively dry. Our last sight was this duo.
Essentially, we went back to a different trail to do our hike backwards. So, the vernal that usually ends our hike was the next thing we saw. There was a very content Painter basking on a log there. He paid us no nevermind as we slowly walked past, photographing him.
We were delighted to finally see a snake on this path. This dusty Garter hit the spot.
We got to a fairly secluded pond after finding our way off-trail through the woods. We know Blanding's like this pond, so I stepped quietly... I saw some shells. These are Painters.
These too.
I edged in for another vantage point and saw a stack... it looked like two large turtles, likely Blanding's and a half dozen smaller Painters. Sadly, they saw me at the exact same time. I blew it. This is my photo of the stack...
Oh well, at least he's a handsome devil.
We continued along the path (backwards) and saw a few more Painters. It was fairly sunny and we were surprised to not see any snakes. But Painters keep us happy. Wait! What the hell is he basking on?! (I suspect it's water lily root, but it sure looks diabolical!)
Here's a long chorus line of Painters. The tree is in the middle... I couldn't fit them all into one photo.
In the woods, a Garter slid into a beautiful spot for a photo, with the sun shining down on his head.
We got over to the vernals, where on our previous trip, Wood Frogs had been making a racket. Everybody seems to have moved on by now, though. I wanted to go down the main path as far as I could before the Beaver Flood stopped me. It was then that I saw some distant turtles basking... and one was a big 'un. We took some safety shots and crept closer...
Yep- this big one was indeed a Blanding's, our First of Year. There were two Painters up basking near it.
We slowly crept down to a bench that is about 40 feet from where they were sunning and got to enjoy some quiet time with turtles. That, my dear, is what it's all about for us. From the bench, I could also see this stack of Painters if I leaned over far enough.
After relaxing for a while and before leaving, I went down-pond for a different view of this trio.
Hah! I'd thought they were all on the same stick!
Of course, thanks to the flood, we had to go out by way of the train tracks. Luckily, no trains came by while we were up there. We ended the day, and thus the month of April, with this burgundy-backed Redback.
Not as many snakes of frogs as we'd hoped, but any day you see a lot of turtles, including the fairly rare Blanding's, it's a pretty good day!
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