Three Days in May. 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 2026

Thursday the 21st was my birthday and Andrea took it off so we could do a nature walk. We decided to check out a new (to us) place in Middlesex County. It's close to a Border Cafe, where Andrea had promised me lunch. It was a pretty nice day, low 60s with spotty sun. Not too bad. The place is a greenspace surrounded on all sides by the city but once you're in there, it's really beautiful. Map in hand, we chose our trails, concentrating on wetlands.

There was a lot to look at but very little in the way of critters. We did see a pair of Garters sunning next to a stone wall, but they saw us first and took off quickly. We made our way to the "pond" which was pretty low. We heard a few Green Frogs but couldn't see any. There was more trash at the end of the boardwalk than I like to see as well. Heading back, a bit disappointed, we went by the Garter wall again and one of them had come back out. Photos were tough, but I managed to prove that there was indeed a Garter there.

There were a lot of pretty flowers there, too, like this Wild Geranium.

Lunch was delightful and the band had a cake for me that night at practice. Good times. I'm fat.

Friday the 22nd, Andrea was still off and we decided to head into Bristol County, hoping for a Milk Snake. I discovered that a trip to this spot was $20 in gas, so we hoped for some luck. Low 60s again with intermittent sun.

The Garden didn't have anything for us on the way in, which reduced our Milk chances by 90%, but we forged ahead undaunted. Keeping with the purple flower theme I've got going, here is a patch of Caitlin’s Giant Bugleweed. How's that for a name?!

A lone Painter was basking down on the river.

We were having absolutely no luck finding things. We started to concentrate on birds. There were plenty calling and I was zeroing in on a Great-crested Flycatcher when this Broad-winged Hawk (#55) flew into the area, emptying it out of other birds. Fair trade... only the second I've ever photographed.

We got to a sit-down spot on the river and I saw this dragonfly (Dusky Clubtail?) struggling in the water. I got it out and it stayed with me while it dried out.

I had to force it off after about 15 minutes when we wanted to continue the hike!

Finally at the turn-around point, we saw a few more turtles, Painted Turtles sharing the rocks with waterfowl.

Not long after that, we saw a Mute Swan furiously chasing one of the Canada Geese. It was wild.

We were at a spot reminiscing about how good it used to be when a Wood Frog threw us a bone and hopped into view. We were now at two species!

Not long after that, I flipped a gorgeous, jet-black Leadback but he started head-bangin', making a photo very difficult. You get the gist, though.

Soon, we spied a more traditional, and less cuckoo, Redback.

I was very happy to have an Ovenbird (#56) pose for me in between it's calls of "teacher teacher".

So cute.

Finally, in the Garden on the way out, we flipped a last-year's-model Garter coiled under a rock. It musked Andrea into sticky stinky oblivion as I replaced the rock.

It seems very strange that on such a warm and (sometimes) sunny day that we wouldn't see too many reptiles or amphibians but sightings have definitely been on the decrease this year and indeed the last few years.

Saturday the 23rd was supposed to be the best day of the three weather-wise. Andrea wisely said "since we didn't see stuff where we expected to, why not go to a place where we expect to see nothing?" And so, we got on the road as early as possible and headed out to Plymouth County. $25 gas trip this time. We did hit some traffic (going to Cape Cod) but still got there at a reasonable hour.

We hit the bogs first. I figured frogs are always there. Not this day, though. I did scare one in and saw a small Painted Turtle swimming around that I couldn't get a shot of. Finally, under a board, we flipped our first Fowler's Toad of the year.

Yay!!

Then, we started to see a few Frogs. First a Bull, then a Green.

We searched around the edges of the pond and the immediate area but saw no critters. There was a ton of Sedom growing nearby. Upon looking it up, I see that it is a groundcover known as Pretty Mary Sunshine in the gardening trade. No clue if this is native or if it just took over from some wind-blown seeds. It's very pretty at any rate.

An Eastern Kingbird (#57) sat for a distant portrait. 

Another Bull in the bog.

We'd hoped to score a Hognose or a Racer or a Redbelly or anything but it became evident that we would wind up snakeless. We decided to explore a new trail since we were there. We chose one and it looked very good for possible snakes on a different visit. We did flip one amazing thing... a female Northern Black Widow. Pretty chuffed with that one.

We hit another trail on which we'd seen a Hog a couple of years ago but we saw nothing and we'd already put in roughly five miles, so we headed back to the car and went over to the visitor's center for some easy birds. Luckily, there was a massive Red-bellied Turtle up basking in the cloud-covered sun.

Andrea spied some shells further down the edge of the lake but said there was no shot. I took the challenge and got a decent photo of a Red-bell and two Painters while sitting on the ground.

Sitting on a bench overlooking the lake, we rested and I extended my zoom out for a distant shot of two more Red-bells and a Painter. Nice!

We ended the day with a couple more birds, #58 and #59, a Chipping Sparrow and a Brown-headed Cowbird. 

Overall, not a horrible day even though there was just 5 species of reptile and amphibian. A FoY, 3 birds and a Black Widow. I'll take it. But we're a bit worried that we didn't see a lot more toads. But this year has been messed up from the start so not only are we out of sync, I suspect many of the animals are as well. We will continue to trudge on as long as we're able. Being in nature is still better than being on the couch.