We were gearing up for our long-awaited vacation in the mountains, but decided to spend Sunday in the southern part of the state. We headed for Bristol County and a long favorite spot, planning to make a day of it.
Typical of this time of year, it was pretty warm. We got there early, while the grass was still dewy. We got instant gratification when, in the Garden, we flipped an in-the-blue Ringneck.
We'd never seen one of these guys in the Garden before!
Down by the river, a few Painted Turtles were already up in the sun.
We went for quite a while after that without seeing any critters, but the day was so beautiful, we were fine with just being out there. We got to a spot that we have suspected is a big Garter hangout. There was in fact a Garter or two hanging out there. But they slithered into the brush as we passed. This is the best I could do.
The waterfall was very occupied by a large, noisy gathering of humans. We didn't stay long. But we did see some distant Painters from that vantage point.
The waterfall is usually the far-point of this hike, so we turned back. Upon passing the Garter Hangout, we now saw three peacefully sunning themselves. The last one might be the one I got the shot of earlier. Check out that cinnamon one!
Andrea discovered she had lost her sun-hat on the trail somewhere so we retraced our steps on our return hike. That brought us to a spot where we could quietly relax on a bench and watch the river for a bit. (The hat wasn't there.) Some Painted Turtles were basking, but it didn't last long.
Bugs kept bugging them and one slid back into the drink. The bigger guy dealt with it for a bit longer...
Eventually, his movements sent him into the drink. He didn't look too happy about it when he emerged!
That was it for this first stop. Andrea found her hat in the Garden, so all was well. We hit the road and headed to another nearby place (actually just inside Plymouth County) and saw a young Snapper basking on a log.
A much larger one was poking through the reeds but this is the best I could do before he submerged for good.
Onward and downward, we went further into Plymouth County to our Musk Turtle spot. You always need a Stinkpot or two, right? Our first sight there was a pretty candy-stripe Water Snake tooling through the shallow water.
We watched it go on for about 30 feet, then her turned and headed back, going by right in front of us, doing his Water Snake thing, never even noticing us. Very, very rewarding.
We watched some Banded Killifish in the shallows, too. One was being a jerk and attacking most of the smaller ones. This guy that I got a photo of was not the jerk.
We crossed the street to the better Musk side. It was occupied.
We gave him plenty of room, then I got right down in the action and got an old-timer Musk in hand. Handsome fella... missing a bit of lower beak there.
We went to the reedy area near the beech. The water was super low but we discovered what baby Stinkpots do when the reeds are out of the water. They tangle themselves into floating plants.
We saw three youngsters total. Here are two hiding in the muck.
A cluster of (Brown?) Bullhead babies was fascinating to watch.
The next day was the 4th of July. We had to get to Andrea's Mum's house so we didn't have much nature-hiking planned. But we did go over to Green Snake Place to try yet again for Greens.
On the way to the car, Andrea spied this pretty Garter that had slipped out into the sun since we'd last walked by.
We got to Malden, dropped off Marge's coat and went to the nearby cemetery to pay our respects to Andrea's dad... a great man. While there, we walked around the pond, which was also very low, and saw no turtles. Until one Red-ear threw us a bone and popped his head up. Yay!
So, we did four counties in 2 days and saw 8 species of reptile and amphibian. (Where my frogs at?) No records broken or fancy things spotted, but a couple of good days doing nature walks. No complaints.
Next stop... the Berkshires!
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