So Many Miles Put Between Us! August 12th and 19th

 We had only seen ONE snake in all of August. yes, it was a tough-to-see Green, but where have all of the Garters and Water Snakes been? We headed out on Saturday, August 12th to a nearby spot in Norfolk County. We hadn't yet been because of Andrea's ankle; the place is super rooty on the trails. We got there early and had an enjoyable hike. We saw a Green Frog out in the sun on the first boardwalk.

Believe it or not, that was our one reptile/ amphibian for the entire 5 mile-plus hike. The weather was fine, our eyes were working fine, but we just didn't score. A few other observations, however...

A Red-spotted Purple Butterfly posed nicely.

Many puddles were seen on the main trail on the alley. Most of them had Mosquito larvae in them. This one was absolutely full of them. Yeah, I know... mosquitoes aren't my favorite things either but you have to admire the success they're having in a mudpuddle.

The last sight was an interesting one. This Song Sparrow was all puffed out in the direct sun, oblivious to us and really concentrating. He was "sunning", a way to get sunlight onto the skin under the feathers to keep parasites under control. Very cool.

5+ miles for a Green Frog. We say it was worth it.

My band played that night and we were just too knackered the next morning to get out and about. Oops. Our next nature walk was in Bristol County the following Saturday, the 19th. We wanted to hit an easy Garter spot. No Garter August had to stop!

Our first stop, the Fragrance Garden is a sure-fire Garteriffic place! Other than being dive-bombed from above by a mysterious Pickerel Frog (which I missed a photo of), we struck out. In fact, we were two miles in before we finally saw our first cold-blooded critter, a very small American Toad.

Distant Painters were seen out on the river.

At the Waterfall, Swans had most of the best perching spots but these two Painters had a decent place.

It should be noted here that Andrea and I had by this time both flipped Redbacks, a species we haven't photographed since April. Well, we still haven't. They Reef-geckoed right into oblivion.

We did finally get a Pickerel on the camera.

We flipped a chubby, dark American Toad on the way back.

Going back to the car, we hit the Fragrance Garden one more time. Lo and behold, an August Garter!

*whew* Nice to know they still exist!

From there, we went across town to another park, if only to look at a discarded picnic-table area where we've seen a lot of snakes in the past. On the way to that area, we saw another new Pickerel at the pond's edge.

A small Fowler's Toad was on the path.

Our snake spot was empty. It was pretty hot by that time so we weren't surprised. In the cool shade, this slug (Red Snail? Red Slug? Couldn't get a proper ID) had his eyes out, enjoying a damp crawl.

From there, we headed into Plymouth County to an old mill that is great for turtles and Water Snakes. We saw nothing. The water was rushing like mad because of all of the rain we've been having. So we headed over to Musk Turtle Spot.

We looked around but found no turtles but there was a Water Snake nestled into the wall next to the reservoir.

Thus ended our Saturday World Tour of Norfolk and Bristol Counties. Not horrible. It was nice to finally see a couple of snakes, even though we had to work really hard for it. Eh, no pain no gain.

Dawning of the Age of Chelonia. August 5th and 6th, 2023

We made it up pretty early in order to go to a favorite spot in Plymouth County. We figured that if we got there as the sun was warming, our chances for snakes and turtles were pretty good. We were half right.

We got there at about 9:30 and decided to skip the woods where Andrea broke her ankle. We walked along the bogs and before too long, we saw a couple of Spotted Turtles. Needless to say, they were difficult shots to get. I swear that second one had a head when I first saw it!

Painted Turtles were, as always, easy to see. What a treasure it is that we have such beautiful turtles as our most common species?!

A big Snapper came up to say "hey"!

A Painter resting near a clump of Pickerel Weed.

We hit what we call "Osprey Path" and got yelled at repeatedly by the adults of the nest. While there, we saw one adult come back with a Sunfish for the brood.

Painted Turtles and Duckweed... they often go together.

This pretty Bullfrog let us know that we were getting closer to a froggy area.

But not before seeing a couple of silly Painters.

We finally got to the rich Frog Vein. There were noggins poking up everywhere. Too many to count, way too many to photograph. Here are a few... it goes Bull, Green, Bull, Bull/ Bull.

We made it to the picnic table and had a sit-down, trying to avoid the sweaty butt-mark that a cyclist had left there as we arrived. Distant Painters were visible.

There was a Great Blue Heron standing on a perch out in front of us and its curious posture made me take notice...

I had no idea what it was doing. My guess was drying it's wings like Cormorants do but upon researching it when I got home, it really isn't known why they do it. At any rate, it was a new and exciting sight for us.

Andrea spied a cache of Milkweed Tussock Caterpillars.

This poor Painter is in potato chip phase... turtle sheds look so uncomfortable!

There was a big speck out in the pond... closer observation revealed the toad of local turtles, the Plymouth Redbelly, looking as put-upon as hell!

We ended the hike with two Painted Turtles... one on land and one asking you to not besmirch the Birch.

No snakes, which really surprised us. We'd even made a super-easy "ice cream" bet... any snake gets us some ice cream. Oops. Better luck next time. Andrea's ankle did 6 miles+, by the way.

We hit a Flea Market on the way home. I couldn't stop myself and flipped an American Toad next to the parking lot.

I bought the Jaws 2 novelization for $6 there.

The next day, we planned on getting up super early to take a walk around our favorite pond in Norfolk County. We severely overslept. I was kind of upset, but we decided to walk around our Green Snake place because it's good for Garters and it seemed like too long since we've seen one. (It had been two weeks.)

It was very hot already when we got there at about 12:30 PM. We were greeted by a quartet of migrating Semipalmated Plovers (#77) though, which was nice.

We flipped as we always do but no snakes were hiding from the heat yet. Walking up the path, we saw two things at the same time. A family of five walking towards us, and Andrea saw a Smooth Green Snake crossing the path. Because of the oncoming family, an in-situ shot wasn't going to happen, so Andrea grabbed it, our First of Year! And what a stunner... big and perfect.

And funny-looking, if I may be so bold.

We showed it to the family, who thought Andrea was insane for handling it, then let it go on its way. What a huge treat that was.

Down closer to the water, we'd hoped to see some Garters on the beach (it has happened) but didn't get lucky twice. We saw some translucent planktony-shrimpy things in some tide pools, though. You can see them if you look closely, which you won't, so why did I even say that?

Asian Shore Crabs were present, too, though not in the numbers we're used to.

That was enough... we checked the trails and the usual spots but it was very hot and we left and got some icy drinks for the drive home. I had to go grocery shopping, but Andrea asked if I wanted to visit our friends in the cemetery pond. We do pass it, so... why not?

When we got there, we saw a huge Snapper basking on a small rock, and a (comparatively) small Red-ear on a huge rock. This was backwards!

A Double-crested Cormorant caught a fish... looked like a Bullhead of some kind.

Sadly, the pond is filthy with trash... humans suck out loud. The turtles, many of which are discarded pets, don't seem to mind but I do worry about the Bullfrogs that breed there. This guy with the massibe tympanum made me worry.

A few Whiteys cam by to look for a handout. I really thought we knew which was which but hell, I don't know.

A couple more Bullfrogs, sitting under a tree stump on an island.

Another familiar face, the Red-ear with the pretty shell. He was also looking for treats.

OK, that Heron from the day before was doing something I'd never witnessed before. Imagine my surprise when there was another one doing it, albeit with the wings behind the body. Too weird.

When we left, we noticed that Big Snapper had overtaken Big Rock. No sign of the Red-ear.

Not a bad two days. Lots of turtles (5 species!) and frogs, weird Heron behavior and our FOY Green. No complaints, after all.