Tiny Consolations. 7-11-2026

After another few days of 90°+ days, the weekend was supposed to cool off and stay in the 80s. We decided to waste a Saturday and head to Plymouth County and continue our search for a "used to be easy" Hognose Snake. They have been so tough for us of late... ever since I said aloud a few years ago, "You know, they're pretty easy to find." I'm a tool. So why not go to place where we often fail altogether to look for a snake that we rarely see these days in a month notoriously bad for snakes! What could possibly go wrong? We got there a little after 8 AM.

Well, spoiler alert: in over six miles of hiking, we came up snakeless. But it's not all dire news. First off, the bog was full of charming Bullfrogs, all posing as if I was a real nature photographer.

The biting flies were buzzing me like mad but I carried on. They didn't seem to swarm Andrea like they did me. The bog had one beautiful surprise for us.. a very blue Green Frog hopped and alerted us. I took a dozen pictures but never really captured it's color. This is the closest I got, with the light setting set lower than usual. Gorgeous. Blue lips... must have been cold.

Some good news... TINY TOADS!! Andrea spotted them and we started to see quite a few. All toads have been tougher to see here and this is a good sign. This guy is probably a Fowler's.

A big, fat Green and another Bull closed out this spot.

The next stop in this park was historically our best Hog path but it turned up goose eggs this time, again. BUT, down by the (slightly refreshed from rain) low-water pond, Andrea noticed that there was a ton of sundews! Spatulate-leaved Sundew, to be exact.

It's always nice to see carnivorous plants! It made me wonder if they could catch a tiny toad, because they were present here as well.

We went through a field to get to another good path and saw a lot of Yellow Wild Indigo.

I'm diggin' the plants this year.

More tinies were seen as we went up the hill. It's hard to tell for certain because the tinies aren't fully formed yet but this guy appeared to be an American Toad as his belly was very speckled.

Another probable American climbed this log just as I was about to peek under the bark!

Lowbush Blueberries are starting to ripen and we snacked on them as we found ones that were ready.

We lamented about the diminishing toad populations last time we were here and were very happy to see these two gorgeous non-tiny Fowler's hopping off the path as we approached. Some much-needed good news.

We tried to find another path to check out, couldn't find it and headed over to the station in hope of seeing some turtles. I'd missed two Painters at the bog stop and needed some revenge. Some  boaters had just launched and scared everything in so we figured we'd come back later. But lo and behold, this bruiser of a Red-belly had been nonplussed as the boat went by.

It didn't take long until I got my Painted revenge when a large one climbed up for some sun.

We sat out on the peninsula for quite a while, just enjoying the breeze and watching the water. A Monarch Butterfly came by and was on some Purple loosestrife that was in front of us.

You can see his proboscis in this shot!

Not a good plant to have around, though it is pretty.

Last up, we watched a Phoebe gathering stuff to take to a nest filled with hungry yellow beaks and feathery tufts.

We tried to find another new spot for Recon but found it full of loud, sweaty humanity when we got there and decided to pass and leave. But, it was great to see some toads, old and new and of both local species this time around. We'll be back next month for another fruitless search for Hoggies. We just don't know when we've been licked. Or maybe we like being licked. Who knows.