Nerodia, Chelonia and Frogs. 6-3-2018

This post goes out to the Mass Wildlife Officials who are forced to monitor this blog! Welcome to today's entry of Water Snakes and Painted Turtles! 💖

Really, I never stop to wonder why I have so few readers here. Even I am bored to tears by my writing. But I like the pictures so let's cut to the chase. Sunday morning, lows 60s and sunny. Middlesex County...

Water Snakes were the order of the day and we started seeing them right away.


A mating couple...

Fatty.


Ask this Bullfrog how high the pollen count was.


Another Nerodia... they were everywhere and it was wonderful.


Long-time readers of this blog (me and Andrea) know very well how tough it has been to get a decent Marsh Wren shot in the past but between my new camera and a very cooperative bird, I got my #71 on the year and crossed these guys off of my Nemesis List.


It wasn't all beer and skittles... we saw a small Water Snake crawling through the reeds and I noticed that much of its back end was skinned. Some innards were coming out along the bottom as well. Something had struck and would be dining again soon. It was heartbreaking. I got this shot of a possible culprit nearby... a large Snapper.


Right around the Nerodias doin' it part, we'd met an older lady walking with a cane. She was pretty cool, saying Mating Snakes would be a good name for a punk band. In fact, she mentioned Incestuous Mating Snakes. I told her I really was in a punk band and she said she might come to the next show. Man, if she does, I'll keep her in drinks all night!

A wee Muskrat or Water Vole or something, noisily munching some reeds.


This place is usually very turtley but we hadn't seen any Painters until I spied this noggin about 20 feet out. My zoom lens came to the rescue.


This NWR is also a stronghold for Northern Leopard Frogs, a species that can be tough in Massachusetts. My trophy-herpin' ways went into overdrive when we spotted one. This was the best I could do.


We walked a thin, overgrown path between ponds and Water Snakes were speeding away before we could get photos. This periscoping Nerodia sat still long enough for me to get arty.


This Painter did not besmirch the birch.


We headed up to a sunny, open area where we've seen predated turtle nests in the past. We hoped to see some lady shells up laying but none were present. Andrea gasped and almost tripped over this massive and gorgeous Nerodia gal laying in the sun.


Dat were a big Water Snake.

While inspecting some predated nests, a large Snapper started crossing the road about 50 feet away. She got a look at us in the distance and turned back to the brush. We ran up to try to get a photo... and did.

We left her alone quickly, hoping she'd resume her trip to the other pond.

Heading back along a thin trail again, we saw yet another Water Snake.


Now that we were on the other side of the pond, we'd found the Painted Turtle sweet spot... a little, green cul-de-sac that we could see through the trees was filled with Chelonian goodness.


Looks like a Red-ear in the foreground here.


Heading back on to the main trail, we met a birder named Chris who had just moved up from Florida. He was adding lifer Northern birds and having pretty good luck. We walked and talked with him for a while and got him his lifer Northern Leopard Frog, who posed much better than the last one. "Look at my hat!"


This big guy just sat on the edge of the trail as we walked by.


We hadn't seen any Garters which struck me as odd. This place was usually pretty reliable. It was with great delight that I flipped this little guy, probably last year's model.


We parted ways with Chris and took one last path, one that we've seen turtles cross in previous trips. Sure enough, in the distance, we saw a shell moving in the open. I ran up to corral it. It was a Snapper.

Looks big, huh? It wasn't.

He was about Painted Turtle-sized, a size you don't see much in the wild.

Ask this Water Snake about the pollen count. Looks like he's been snorting the stuff.


Another shell on the path in the distance! Andrea did the sprint this time, for a Painter.


She moved it closer to the water and patiently waited for it to come out of its shell. I walked to the edge and saw this little guy about to go in. I said, "No! Not yet!" and he actually waited while I took his picture. Then he slipped into the drink.


A couple more Painters were seen while we waited for shy-boy to emerge.



He finally came out and plopped into the water.


And that was our day. We got out in time to do some family stuff with Andrea's Mom but didn't feel like we were cheated out of a good nature day.

Stay tuned for more Garters, Water Snakes and Painted Turtles. The year has just begun.

Starting June with Shells and a Friend. 6-2-2018

Finally, we were going to have the nice days be on the weekend and it would get shitty on Monday. We decided to hit or Plymouth County spot Saturday morning, though we wound up waiting a bit for Spring showers to stop. I decided we would get seven First-of-Years this fine Saturday, all species we've seen here before.

Things started off pretty well in that respect, our first stop got us our FOY Racer!

Being in-the-blue, he was pretty easy to wrangle, though he still nipped a bit.

The little fella took the long way back into hiding.


While still stopped at this spot, we took the trail further than we'd ever taken it before and were rewarded with a lively vernal pool.

Lots of life within these waters... toadpoles and (probably) Wood Frog tadpoles.



Our next stop was a bog area. What's better than a frog in a bog? Many frogs! Here's some Bulls.



And a Green. This was all right there at first peek.


Suddenly, Andrea squee'd; she'd found a hatchling Painted Turtle speeding along the path.

It seems that this lil guy overwintered until June before emerging. He was full of piss and vinegar, too.

We moved him into the bog water, far from the frogs who would have considered him a snack.

This Bullfrog would have, too, but he was in an adjacent bog.


This distant rock had two Painters on it when I lined up the camera. Funny how that happens, isn't it?


We changed our plans for the next stop. My water had already run out so we picked a new route that would take us to a spot with a fountain. It's also the best place to see Plymouth Red-bellied Turtles. We quietly approached the pond where they often bask and were blown away. A distant perch...

and a closer, newly fallen pine tree!


That hidden Red-belly slipped into the water but the other two close ones (and the Painter hangin' tough with them) paid us no mind and did some impressive yoga.


This sight... it was awe inspiring.

You can see the 7th Redbell's noggin in the water between the pine tree halvess. This is what happened when I tried for a solo shot...

As good as my new camera is,  I still can't photograph a turtle that doesn't want to be photographed! Are those his eyes shining back at me?

This Painter had the whole other end of the fallen pine to himself.


We reluctantly left that area to walk a couple of nearby trails. Just as Andrea flipped a salamander and yelled "Redback"!, we heard a familiar voice.


Our friend Steve was there! We hadn't herped with him in quite a while and it was great to see him. He hadn't yet seen the Red-bellies so we went back to watch them again. The yoga poses had gotten ridiculous by then.


The three of us continued to look around this area, scoring another Redback.


We next decided to walk some trails that can be good for Hognoses, Ribbons and Greens, all of which would have been FOYs for Andrea and me. We saw none of those but encountered many lovely Fowler's Toads.





There was still a few hours of daylight left so we all decided to go check out some bogs that Steve had visited in the morning. He'd had an outstanding morning, with Redbellied Snakes, Greens, Spotted Turtles and more. Our destination was where he'd seen the turtles. That particular spot was still busy, even this late in the day. Some turtle noggins pulled in but we got to see some Bullfrogs.



I walked right by this guy but luckily Steve and Andrea saw it... a male Painted Turtle, probably crossing from the drainage ditch to the bog.

A spectacular specimen.

Now that's a clean plastron.


I used my new camera's zoom to good advantage in the bog... these Painter heads were a good 20 feet away but I got 'em!



The clouds had thickened and Steve's weather app alerted him that rain was imminent. Our last sight was this good sized Snapper lounging in the bog.

Was this the turtle responsible for these tracks?


The sprinkles started and we still had to walk past an Osprey nest with a very upset Mom or Dad flying around yelling at us. We did it as briskly as possible. The light rain also made the Grey Tree Frogs start calling but I couldn't find any of them.

It was great to get some hang time with Steve who is a cool and knowledgeable guy and a good friend. We made our farewells and Andrea and I headed home, cutting back through the park. We made one last stop to look for Greys, which we could occasionally hear, but the rain had subsided and they were mostly quiet. But still, FOY Racer, 8 species, hanging with a friend and lots of turtles. That's a good day.