Good Riddance, oh August. 8-26, 27 & 28.

Can't get rid of this August fast enough. Sickness, death and so far, only four damn snakes! Miserable weather... drought... Well, we were going to get a little rain on Friday (the 26th). Before it hit, we were bored and decided to go to a local spot to look for a bird that I'd never heard of. It was pretty hot but we dressed cool and headed on over to this Norfolk County spot.

We parked, then walked towards the river. The poor river. Mostly a sandbar with puddles. But I walked into the mud and was rewarded with a pair of Bullfrogs.

A wee "This Year's Model" Green Frog hopped up to see what was happening.

Where there was water, there were Painted Turtles. We were a little surprised to see them up basking on such a hot day, but there you go... sun turtles!

The walk was already well worth it. Yeah, I still had (have) cold symptoms but this makes it all better.

This GBH looked a bit disgruntled, though.

A thru-the-trees sneaky Painter Chorus Line shot.

We saw a few more Bullfrogs as the skies started to darken.

Well, that was an excellent unplanned walk! The rains did come and it was torrential for a while, which we needed so much. It also cooled things off a bit. Saturday, the 27th, was supposed to be in the mid-70s.

We got up and out early on Saturday and headed into Plymouth County. Andrea, as always, has baby turtle fever and the place we went is super turtley. It was still cool when we got there. Oddly enough, we saw nothing for the better part of two miles... missed a quick Pickerel Frog and saw a Painter head pull into the drink with no picture. Finally, I photographed this clump in the water just after it blinked. Starting with a Snapper is always fun.

At a spot where there are boards set up between a bog and a spillway, there was a massive Bullfrog hanging out in the space between the boards. He was obviously eating everything that spilled over the side.

Hopefully, he got out with no problem. I'd considered helping but he was likely very content where he was.

Painted Turtles were the order for the day. Once we started seeing them, we saw a lot. The river and bogs had plenty of water.

(There might be a Snapper beak in the lower left corner of this shot.)

Andrea next found this stunning Fowler's Toad.

Another behemoth  Bullfrog.

Let us all admire the grace and beauty of the Painted Turtle. Since that's mostly all I got pictures of, we don't have a choice!

Little blighter!

At the half way point, we sat for a bit, but not before looking around. Andrea said "There's a Nerodia swimming towards you!" Sure enough, there was!

She was looking for a snack along the edge. She never noticed me standing there, even as she poked around near my foot.

Walking along the big pond, a Pickerel hopped between my feet.

I'll admit that I was pretty gassed by now. We'd done a few miles and despite taking a lot of breaks, I was feeling kinda shiddy. I stood at another spillway looking into the water, and this young Painted Turtle swam up to me... again, I don't think he knew I was there.

We sat at that spot for a while, just watching the water. My zoom lens picked out a Painter noggin or two.

Walking back, we spotted this youngster up on the path. She quickly turned around and walked back to the water.

This Pickerel jumped into a perfect pose!

Another rest. This one involved laying down and sharing a pop-tart with some excited Bluegills. Andrea said "Is that a noggin out there?"

It was.

Another small Painter was up on land, walking the path with us.

We got to a part of the pond that is usually pretty good for stacks but the level was noticeably low so there were mostly single basking Painters.

A Black Swallowtail posed very nicely for us.

A couple more Painters...

This is a really beautiful Green Frog, with a gorgeous emerald head speckling onto his back, but I just couldn't get a decent shot.

One last Painter on the day... the lil nipper!

Here's a Red-legged Grasshopper, a species I'd missed the year I was doing a Grasshopper/ Cricket count.

That was that. I was absolute toast... probably did way more than I should have. But in 6 miles, we saw some cool animals. But I must admit that I was disappointed with just one snake. Our 5th for August. Not fair.

The next day, I really needed to rest. If we were going to get some fresh air, it had to be an easy place. It was fairly hot and we were tired so I said, "let's do Green Snake Place." (3 Greens in 8 years makes it our most reliable spot. Sad, isn't it?)

We got there after noon and as usual, we scoured the place. Looking here, looking there... scrutinizing the terrain. Nothin'. Then, laying right out in plain sight, Andrea saw this...

Mother Nature had thrown us a bone that was a long time coming. First of Year Smooth Green.

We were very pleased, obviously. We never hit "targets". We found a place overlooking the harbor, in the shade with a cool breeze. Not a bad way to vegetate on a Sunday.

We poked around some new spots there. It's bigger than we ever give it credit for. But it is filthy. Still, beauty can be found. We saw a Common Tern (#90) diving into the drink, looking for lunch.

As we were walking back to the parking area, we were once again lamenting the lack off shoestring snake babies. Then Andrea saw this neonate Garter taking what is likely his first ever meal.

That ended the day, and thus August, on a pretty good note.

Wow... we saw 7 snakes in all of August. Oh well, at least we finally saw a Massachusetts Green. It doesn't happen every year.

Here's hoping that September is a better month for everyone.