Memorial Day Weekend 5-27th through the 29th

Of course, the question is... where can we roll? We knew we were going to have a few days of nice and sunny weather so, we tried to choose wisely. On Saturday the 27th, we went to a place deep into Norfolk County where I had memories of smooth paths. Eh, memories can be deceiving but we did OK. I missed a photo of a Bullfrog right away but got a chance to redeem myself before too long with a couple of bruisers.


Every year, we enjoy seeing the Barn Swallows in and around their nests. An easy #65, Barn Swallow.

At the water's edge, I peeked in and saw these two water Snakes cuddling in the warm shallows. I felt bad because Andrea couldn't get down there.

I pointed the snakes out to a young family and one of the kids paid me back with a Green Frog that I hadn't seen from my (taller) vantage point.

Turtles were proving to be tough. I finally got a distant Painter, basking in solitude.

Proceeding  up the path, we saw a stick moving across the path ahead of us. Of course, it was a Garter, so I ran/ pushed Andrea up and procured the Garter for a shot.

Another young family had seen us and eventually another pair of hikers came by so this poor Garter was in six different sets of hands before crawling off on his way. I got musked but otherwise, he was a good show specimen.

We got to the waterfall area and Andrea did her best walking with crutches, putting a little bit of pressure on her bad foot. She did remarkably well. While she rested a bit, I got another Painter shot.

On the way back, an Oriole was teasing me but I finally nailed #66, a Baltimore Oriole.

Andrea did a lot more walking. This was the first time she had tried so much. Before heading up the gravelly path to the car, we saw one more economy sized Bullfrog.

Of course, we had to cut off 2/3rds of our usual route at this place but we saw some nice critters and Andrea really did a good job using her foot. Yay.

The next day, Sunday the 28th, we took a rare trip into Boston proper. Our friend Jef had asked us to come along on his Urban Nature Walk, a monthly hike that he arranges. He is an amazing naturalist and he usually gets a pretty good turn out. This month's walk was in the shadow of Fenway Park in Boston, seven acres of gardens that house the only lizard found in Massachusetts: the Italian Wall Lizard.

The lizards have been here since at least 2016 and have survived our shitty winters by digging into the mulch at the gardens. It is always a treat to see that they survived another year up here, their Northernmost spot. (There are many other populations in the US...) Unfortunately, Jef couldn't be with us (we love you, Jef!) but a bunch of us carried on with the lizard safari in his name.

And yes, we saw them fairly quickly.

A lot of brush had been cleared away and gave a pretty good view of the Charles River from the lizard gardens. Despite the fencing that is up, we could see some Painted Turtles basking.

A bunch of the group decided to check out further up (down?) river and between us, Andrea and I decided to join them, partly pushing in the chair and partly with her "on foot". It was worth it because we saw more turtles. Here are three Red-ears and an unidentified small one. They were pretty far away so this is the best I could do.

Don't cage me in!

I saw some shell-shine way off in the distance and tried for a shot. Hot damn- a three-headed Painted Turtle!

A handful of us stood on the bank of the river amongst the goose-poop because we'd all seen a Snapper head come up at one point. We could see his shadow under the water and we waited there for a ridiculously long time in hopes of getting a shot and to add another species to make Jef proud. After a good 20 minutes, I got this, which is shitty, but it's all we have.

I started to second guess myself when I uploaded it, thinking it looked a bit like a Red-ear, too. I put it to some friends in a turtle ID group and they unanimously said Snapper. After my nap, I was back in Camp Snapper, too. So... YAY!

Not far from the Snapper (we think there was actually about three of them teasing us), this Painter was getting his bask on.

Right around here, our group disbanded. What a lovely time we'd had! That is a wonderful bunch of people. Andrea and I rolled/ hobbled back through the gardens in hopes of another lizard or two. Seek and ye shall find.

Make that two fun days in a row! We got home mid-afternoon and enjoyed some relaxing and planned the next day.

That next day was Memorial Day, Monday the 29th. I wanted to see some Musk Turtles so I picked a couple of spots out in Bristol and Plymouth Counties. We got to our Bristol County spot pretty early and took a look at the Fragrance Garden. Pretty quickly, we got a stripe-less Garter!

Sweet!

Nearby, there was an in-the-blue garter waking up and catching some rays.

There were no turtles up basking yet, Musk or otherwise, so we went down the trail with the chair. It wasn't as easy as I was hoping but we did OK. Eventually, I flipped a Redback, the first one we've seen since Andrea's accident! It was a wee one, roughly 3/4 of an inch long.

Andrea hoofed it through a sandy part so we could get to a super nice sit-down spot. It's a tranquil area overlooking the river. Much to our surprise, a massive female Water Snake was enjoying the spot, too!

This was really exciting for us because we've been coming to this park for over 15 years and this is only the third Water Snake we've seen here. Being on a river, you'd think it would be filthy with them but no... they're tough to see for some reason.

We went on a bit further but the soil was sandy and roots were tripping the chair, so we turned back. I checked the turtle basking spot before we left and a solo Painter was enjoying a bask.

Well, no Musks there, but we went on to another spot, just inside Plymouth County, where we've had good luck with Musks and other things. It was pretty quiet this day, though. No turtles present. No snakes, either, until I noticed this small Water Snake resting in the wall.

We headed out, taking one last look around. Somehow, from out of nowhere, a large Painted Turtle popped out in one of the spillways and swam away. I barely got the shot but I'm pretty happy with what I did get.

And that's that. Our Memorial Day weekend hikes. No Musks, but Andrea did a great job hobbling along and we've really been getting our $50 worth out of that wheelchair. Nine species over the weekend despite our being compromised. I'll take it.

Rolling with the Punches. 5-21-2023

 Last Sunday was my burpday and the only thing I really wanted was to get out to see some animals. With Andrea still unable to walk, we tried to think of places where the wheelchair wouldn't kick my butt as I tried to push her around. We went to a spot in Middlesex County where the paths are fairly well beaten down and maintained.

Since we couldn't go about our usual method of one of us on either side, we had to zig-zag the chair to see things. It took some work, but we started to be able to see Painted Turtles, including one enjoying the sun from a beaver mound.

There was a Painter on the shore who wasn't paying much attention, so I procured him for Andrea to get a good look at.

Not much further up the path, we saw an unmistakable sight... young Snapper crossing. About a 3-4"" carapace... the feisty age!

We got out to our turn-around spot and that's where we finally saw a Water Snake. 

The chalkboard at the beginning had said "too many Water Snakes"... we envied their luck, and probably their ability to get up and out earlier in the morning.

This spot had plenty of Painted Turtles if you looked hard enough.

On the other side of this spillway, we finally saw our first frog, a small Bull.

We'd been hearing loads of Bulls and Greens calling but this was the first and only frog that we laid eyes on.

Heading back, we wanted to check another path but knew it was usually pretty grassy and we weren't sure how the chair was going to handle it. It turns out it did OK. It was too late for snakes to still be out but I knew a spot and we decided to make it our turn-around place.

Sure enough, that spot had a stub-tailed female Garter curled up under a rock.

She musked me into next Monday which might account for Andrea's hands-off approach when I put the incredibly chill Garter on her lap.

Now, we have a term... "hamburgers". That's when there is a layer of snake body sticking out from between two rocks. It is a favorite sight of ours but we don't see it too often. But in the same area as Ms. Musk, we saw this:

Not a perfect Garter hamburger, but maybe more of a sloppy Joe. Still, it was a good way to end the hike. I pushed for 3 or 4 miles and did OK. It takes a bit of getting used to but letting her see animals instead of sitting around the house is worth it.

Back at the chalkboard, I changed "too many" to "not enough Water Snakes".

Wheelin' n' Dealin'... May 13th and 14th.

 I bought Andrea a wheelchair for $50 on Craig's List... it was cheaper than a rental and I needed one for Sunday, the 14th when my pal Ryan was getting married. So, since we had wheels, we decided to take a stroll around the Plymouth County pond where the ankle-break incident happened in the first place.

I was pretty sure it would be easy, so I just went full blast, expecting to do the whole hike we usually do. Well, the first patch of sand that I hit, I started losing my cool. Fucking thing wouldn't budge!! ARRRGH! I got it going and over-exerted myself rather quickly. But, while my stupidity was reigning king, we saw a bunch of turtles. The Painters all slipped in before I could get pictures but here are some slower Spotteds.
    

That last little fella was a small one in a bog spillway. Too cute. 

Andrea could see most of the turtles but she could not find this Bullfrog that I tried to point out. Good camo from the path.

I cut the trip in half... I finally knew that there was no way I had the energy or stamina to do the usual hike. We cut across to the big pond and sat and relaxed for a while, watching a couple of Canada Goose families swim around. Heavenly.

I finally got the camera on a couple of Painters.

We saw a Snapper swimming... I thought his head was down but evidently, he was just raising it when I snapped the picture, then he submerged entirely, leaving me with a headless photo. Big brute, though... gorgeous.

Another Painted Portrait.

#62, Tree Swallow. How could I not include this picture?

The reason we started coming to this pond a few years ago was because Sandhill Cranes had been reported here. We'd never seen them before and since visiting this place, had constantly struck out. There was a guy photographing in the area they are known to hang out. His camera was much bigger than mine (story of my life) but he was very generous with information and showed me what to look for out there. Finally, my camera found the brown blobs way out yonder. We'd been looking for about five years and finally, our 203rd Lifer, #63 on the year, the (blurry) Sandhill Crane. Two of them. Mom and chick? Maybe.

I gave Andrea a small Spotted Turtle to play with while I tried for those shots.

A happy, if handicapped, hiker.

I was determined to push past a rock wall on the way out, even though the path was sandier. My tenacity paid off with a flip of our First of Year Milk.

That was a nice ending to a tiring but rewarding day. Still paying for the over-exertion, though. My heels are still sore!

The next day was my pal Ryan's wedding. We didn't get much of a chance to get out and look around as the pond wasn't wheelchair accessible. The rest of the place was, though. I did, however, sneak down at one point and saw a Solitary Sandpiper (#64).

There was a lovely bouquet of Painted Turtles out on an island in the pond.

And, of course, the lovely couple. 

There you are. Last weekend. Got my $50 worth of wheelchair already!