Last Minute Decision. 9-4-2022

It was pretty nice out but we didn't know where we wanted to go. We decided on a spot in Middlesex County that we hadn't been to yet in 2022. It is a good turtle place. It got much hotter than we'd expected and we were drenched in sweat before too long, but this is how the walk went.

Mercifully, the gnats weren't too bad. This place can be brutal. Our first sight was a chorus line of Painters, about a mile in.

It took a while before we got to the next pond, which is usually pretty fruitful. BUT, the drought has taken its toll on this place and the water is all messed up. That main pond had some water, though. This Pickerel jumped out of the grass next to the pond. Check it out... his back blotches form stripes.

A distant Painter...

A spillway from the main pond was covered up by the work of Beavers. On the other side of the culvert, this lovely pool was constructed by our mammalian mates. Nice work.

The pond itself had a few small Bullfrogs around the edges.

After a short walk to the next pond, we started seeing turtles. But they were all very far away. The pond was mostly a mudflat, with pooling water on the distant side. I got as many shots as I could, but none are great. We have seen Blanding's up with Painters before but these are all the latter.

This guy was on our side, plopped in front of Andrea.

We stopped and had a chat with a gent who hikes this place all of the time and he was lamenting the scarcity of Water Snakes in the past few years. Our own observations agreed... the number is less than it used to be. At any rate, I got my first wind (I'd been dragging thus far), so we decided to hike another mile further in to a water area where we had seen Water Snakes and Green Frogs in the past.

We got there and the beavers had taken care of the water situation. It was more full than we'd ever seen it, if a bit muddy.

I managed two Green Frog photos, both very difficult to get. <Almost fell in!

We rested for a while, then headed back. This young American Toad was hopping across the path on the way.

A few more Painters on the way out...

And a gorgeous Bullfrog taking advantage of that nice Beaver-built pool.

But again... no snakes. Will September be as bad as August was? The drought and heat of 2022 has really taken its toll on water sources. Hopefully, some snakes will have adapted to the difficulties. We should be seeing all kinds of shoestrings out there. I'm not giving up, but this place should  have had a few crawling about.

There's always next time.