Turtles with Dirty Butts. June 7th and 8th.

As usual, it was raining on the weekend. Torrential downpours on Saturday. We were out doing soggy errands when we thought we might as well drive through a local cemetery to see if any turtles were up looking to dump some eggs. I mean, turtles don't care if its raining.

We pulled in and drove around. Andrea told me to stop and back up, she thought she saw a Painter. I saw a rock. But, I pulled back further and she was correct. A Painted Turtle was butt deep below a pile of mulch.

(Photo from the car... it was pissing down.)

Chuffed at our good fortune, we headed out. Almost back to the road, we saw a Snapper on the prowl, looking for a place to lay. Andrea braved the elements for this shot.

Not bad.

The next day was supposed to be OK so we planned on a trip to a spot in Middlesex County that we never made it to in 2024. We missed it. It's also a great turtle spot and we'd hoped to see more nesting Chelonians. It was cloudy and sticky but around 70° so anything was possible.

I still needed Wild Turkeys for my bird count this year. There were a bunch of them all over, so #55 on the year was pretty easy.

Along the path, our first-of-day dirty Painted Turtle butt!

Redbacks are pretty hard to come by in this park so I was pretty happy to roll a log and have one there.

Some Painters catching rays.

We got to a spillway that wasn't spilling a whole lot because Beavers had been active. There was a lodge right next to it and this Water Snake was right on top, playing King of the Hill.

This Garter slithered off the path and into the brush. I was lucky to get a head shot through the leaves and it was the only one we saw all day.

We got to the corner of the pond, a spot that sometimes has dozens of turtles up on logs. It looked empty until Andrea said "I think there's one out there" and pointed to this Blanding's and Painter sharing a perch.

Painted Turtles were the order of the day. This is the usual Blanding's to Painter ratio... about 1 in 75 turtles. But every Painter is a jewel.

We'd been hearing Bullfrogs and Greens off and on all day and I finally got the camera on a Green in the grass. A stunner, at that.

An open field. We were in search of nesting turtles. We saw many, all Painted Turtles.

This gal was walking along, searching for a good spot.

Next to the field, high above the pond, some basking Painters were visible through the trees.

We decided that we had enough steam to walk the extra couple miles to get down to a spot where the river comes through. We've had plenty of frogs and some Water Snakes down there. Andrea reminded me to keep an eye out along the path for nesting turtles... "Like that one."

We didn't see much along that path but there was a Bullfrog in the river when we got there, so we got our mandatory 7th species.

Not every Painted Turtle was nesting. Some were males.

On the way past the beaver lodge, I looked for the Water Snake to see if it was still there hours later. There was one but comparing lip stripes and color blotches, it appears to be a different snake. It wasn't right at the top, just a pretender to the throne.

We were full-on toast by the end. We'd done almost six miles but were very happy with our hike. We got exactly what we came for... nesting turtles. And a bonus Blanding's. We don't see a ton of them at this spot. Despite our fatigue, we stopped at a waterfall on the way back to the highway to look a see if anything was there. I pulled up a piece of tarp and two Water Snakes were nestled under it. I didn't have my camera ready so I put my hand down on snake-body while I opened up the lens. One Nerodia retreated into the foundation but I managed to grab this black beauty.

I got a small confetti-musking.

All in all, a good day. The next weekend is calling for rain both days. Who knows when we'll get out again? I guess we can always cruise the cemetery again.

Redbellies in June. 6-1-2025

A sunny Sunday. Warm. Let's leave early to go look for Hogs in Plymouth County. What could possibly go wrong?

We got to our State Forest at about 10 AM and decided to hit a new trail. No more gasline path for us. We parked in a familiar spot, then turned to take a different path. Our first encounter was a Ringer under some bark. Blue-eyed and asleep.


At a crossroads, we had to decide on which way to go. Which way would be the least likely to get us lost, more like it. We chose the one with the large turtle in the path. We got up to it and saw that it was a huge Red-ear. I don't think we'd ever seen one at this place before.

We continued on for a while, got to a pond (the water levels are still low here but much better than last month!), flipped a Fowler's Toad, then headed back.

On the way back, the Red-ear was digging a nest (or test nest... one never knows) right at the crossroads.

This got us thinking... obviously a released pet. What are the chances that a male Red-ear was released in the same area and the two mated. Perhaps the chances are better than I care to admit but still, it seems pretty slim. Would a Painter or Redbelly try a Red-ear on for size? Would she lay infertile eggs? I need to look into such things.

The rest of that first stop was searching more familiar paths. We found a couple more Fowler's but no Hognoses.

We moved on to the bogs, hoping to add some frogs to our day. First thing we saw there? A "soooon" Fowler's. I feel better about toads this year. They weren't very abundant here in 2024.

On the second bog, we finally flipped our First of Year Redbellied Snake. A new spot here for this species.

The obligatory belly shot.

Since we were (again) striking out on Hogs, this was a happy find; our other target.

A nice Green Frog. Sadly, the only frog we saw in the bog, which still seems to be recovering from a cleaning. Color me worried.

We'd already hiked almost six miles so we headed to the station in hopes of seeing a few turtles and ending the day on an easy note. As hoped, we did just that. Four Redbellied Cooters were up warming in the sun.

^^^ Muffin Plastron.

What, no Painters? It didn't take long before two crawled up in between the two most distant Redbells.

Here is the map... two Redbells in the foreground and the two plus Painters in the back.

It came out to seven species on the day (our usual count, it seems) but it was a very hard fought seven. 6 1/2 miles of hiking over 4 1/2 hours. But its all good. One more FOY and plenty of beautiful nature to nourish my usually aggravated soul. I'll take it.

Damn Hogs. It's either feast or famine with those bastards.

The Last Days of May 5-30-2025

One last hurrah in the month of May... Andrea got off work (at home) at 2:30 so I woke up and asked if she wanted to go out and look for critters. We originally chose a spot just inside Norfolk County to look for Milks. On the way there, I asked if she wanted to stop by the closed school to see if any Water Snakes were up and about. We decided to do that and got into slow moving traffic. Oops.

Well, we eventually got there and went to the boardwalk.

But there was no boardwalk. The place was thoroughly flooded. No Water Snakes for us. Wait... what's that on the second log on the left?

Big enough Mama to see from 40 feet away!

We poked around the edges. I stood on a grate and looked out over the pond next to the playing fields. The spillway is full of volleyballs and tennis balls and pollen. Pretty gross. These Painted Turtles didn't seem to care, though.

I told Andrea that I had to stand on the grate to see these guys (and she'd never do that) and she said, "no, I can see them." The other side of the pond had a sweet stack of Painters that I hadn't even seen.

So, to continue on to the Norfolk County spot or just try to get over to the park that is attached to the playing field. We decided on the latter just to avoid more annoying traffic.

It was fairly quiet there. It is usually filled with dog walkers, bikes and other things but it was pretty calm. We saw a large Water Snake hanging out next to a bridge going over the brook.

Further on, another big Mama, this time with a visible meal in her.

We got to our turn around spot and saw a Painter trying out a suitable nesting spot.

On the way back, Andrea finally found us a frog... a pretty Green sitting in a puddle.

There are tons of rocks here but since I'm getting older and weaker, I only go for the easy, low-hanging fruit. I really was hoping for a Garter. This, another big Mamajamma Water Snake, was nestled into an interesting coil. She didn't last long. She bolted off, saving Andrea the bites and musk that would have come with moving her to replace the rock.

Always on the lookout for such things, we saw a Snapper head in the brook.

Walking back by the bridge, we noticed the big Water Snake lounging on the hill going down towards the water. Was she consciously waiting for something?

Because about 6 feet from her, this good sized Snapper was walking up a small waterfall.

Now, I'm not sure a 3 foot snake has a ton to worry about, save a possible nip but you never know and nature holds a lot of surprises. I like to think she was waiting for the coast to clear. The Snapper disappeared quickly.

Heading back, a smaller Water Snake was cruising through the brush.

A few more Painters for good measure.

Finally, almost to the parking lot, a Garter appeared. It was too fast for me but Andrea got our voucher shot and all was well with the world. No way I could lift the rock it went under.

Unplanned trips that pay off with exciting sights are the best. This was a decent Friday surprise.