Double Digits in Massachusetts! 6-6-2026

Seeing 10 species of reptile and amphibian is always a goal but living in Massachusetts, it is not always easy. Usually, you'd have to hit a few different places to do it. Well, that thought wasn't on our mind (until it was) when we decided to head into Bristol County to a place that is now open for camping and thus a place with far more humans that I'd like to see. BUT... it's sometimes a good Eastern Milk Snake place and we still hadn't seen one yet.

We got up at 6ish, the usual workday time, and got out early. We stopped to water Andrea's garden before getting some crud for breakfast. While there, a Red-tailed Hawk (#62) was watching from a light tower.

We ate on the road and arrived at our destination by 7:30 AM. Not bad for a couple of lazy folks! Our first sighting there wasn't of the cold-blooded variety, it was a family of Mallards. DUCKLINGS!!!!

We got to a good flipping spot where I found nothing (except a few new pieces to flip... I noticed a spike in views on an old post naming this place on this blog. Hey, anybody out there?! Say hi, won't you?) but Andrea spied a Garter going through the grass. I saw a Pickerel hop past, too.

The beach had one nesting Painted Turtle. This was another reason we picked this spot, so yay! That worked out!

A female Widow Skimmer landed on my shoe. My show which is dark blue, by the way. That's how bad the pollen was.

A Bullfrog was spotted in the morning sun in a hidden water spot.

By the campsites, I was surrounded by a strong floral smell... it was a massive bush of Multiflora Rose.

Next up was a couple of Fowler's Toads that were under rocks.

Having not seen any basking Painters earlier (just the one nesting), it was nice to see a few more. They were all dealing with the heavy pollen in the pond in their own ways.

This is a Snapper size that you don't often see. About a 6" shell. I had to get two shots after I noticed the foot hanging down. That's a bit too cute, I think!!

We watched him get down from that rock and into the water and he did it with surprising grace. Seriously. We thought the worst would happen and we'd have to try to get down the rocks and save it, but he figured it out masterfully. It helped that he was small enough to use a skinny stick for support.

We have a secret turtle spot and that's where the Red-bellies often hang out. We struck Red gold. Painted Gold, too.

We even got a bonus Snapper who was on top of something just under the water.

Watch out, our species count was up to six! The missed Pickerel and later a possible Green Frog were looming large.

We were walking towards some folks fishing, a guy and his kids and a talkative old-timer. We were talking about animals when Andrea spotted an honest to goodness Water Snake! Lotsa red!

We were talking with the old duff (because we're old duffs) when one of the kids yelled out "Dad just caught a turtle!" I looked down and he was reeling up a Painted Turtle. Having extricated hooks from turtles before, I offered to help. It was hooked in the soft skin under the chin and it came out easily with no blood. We took it to release in a different spot. Note the heavy pollen again.

Another nearby Painter enjoying a soak in the sun.

An Eastern Towhee was making it really easy to add it to the bird count and it soon became #63.

A couple more toads, both Fowlers (though I didn't inspect the one hiding in the dirt).

We were walking by a spot (we were well on the way back by now) and I said, "remember, we've seen Garters in this area before!" No sooner had I said it than we saw two in quick succession.

Andrea found another Fowler's on the hop. A sandy stunner, at that.

Then, with some luck, we finally landed our First-of-Year Milk. A little guy, but it counts!

Our count was at eight! Damn! We didn't have a lot of space left but we still had a couple of spots to look at. A Pickerel Frog threw us a serious bone when it jumped into a bog right in front of us. Thank you, pal(ustrus)!!

The same bog had some more frogs! Greens??? No, all three were handsome Bulls.

We had one last chance and we knew what the species was that would either make or break us. Musks. We drove to the front of the place and looked in the water's edges. I had to go in to grab it, but we got our tenth species, a pissed off Musk!

We saw what we thought was a pair of distant Painters basking but upon uploading, I noticed it's a (smaller than we're used to seeing) Redbelly on the left.

I was down below a pretty formidable rocky area and Andrea wasn't feeling sure-footed so when I found another Musk, I hauled my carcass up to show her.

She came down (carefully, as did I) to return the turtle to the water. I tried to get a shot on the rock but it was far too fast for me.

We saw a small Water Snake (again with plenty of red) but it went under a massive rock. See ya! That made this underwater Musk our last photo of the day.

The turtle actually gave us another chance, reaching it's nose up out of the water but just before I clicked the camera, a bug hit it's nose and scared it and it pulled down deeper. Haha... worth it!

So yeah, that makes ten species plus two new birds. Ice cream happened. That was a good day.

Two Weekdays in June. 6-3 and 6-5, 2026

Andrea was working from home on Wednesday the 3rd and it was beautiful out. It was a good lunchtime to spend walking around the local cemetery pond so we headed over on her break.

The pond was very deep thanks to a lot of recent rain and most of the turtle-basking perches were underwater. Oddly enough, the main stump that is usually pretty crowded had only a pair of Red-ears on it.

Walking around the pond, we saw saw this Snapper snoozing in the shade. Of course, I was alarmed, thinking it must be dead but as I stepped closer, it lifted it's head and gave me the stink-eye.

Not far from there, I pulled a piece of trash out of the edge of the pond. A familiar face started to make his way towards us. It was our old pal Whitey!

Despite the unfortunate name we gave him (his face is white! What can I say?) he seemed happy to see us. Or at least happy to beg for food.

It was almost 10 years to the day from Andrea's first encounter with this turtle!

He followed us around the pond when he saw (heard?) me removing trash from the water's edge. More started were the dozens of Bullfrog tadpoles that were enjoying the warm water on the edges. Legs!

Excuse me... GOSLINGS!!!! They're getting so big, they'll be hard to tell from adults soon!

Another familiar (begging) face is this Red-ear with a fancy shell. You know, the Red-ears are released pets, thus they're deemed "invasive". Some people say "kill it!" but these guys, some of whom have been in this small pond for a decade, don't seem to be a bother to the local fauna and hey, they're cute as hell. I love 'em.

This Red-ear is flipping off all of the haters by perching in a fabulous manner atop some Painters. This is the best "fuck you" I could possibly think of.

This Yellow-bellied Slider that we'd first seen at this pond in November 2020 might have also been seeking an easy treat. He has joined the handout line in the past.

One more non-Whitey Snapper, bidding us farewell.

That was a fruitful and fun lunchbreak!

That Friday was another warm and sunny say and Andrea got off from work at 2:30 and, since she was working from home, we took a drive over to the abandoned school to see if any Water Snakes were out. It was pretty hot and the pond was quite low and we didn't see any again. It was pretty trashy again and I'll have to plan another clean-up.

We did however, see a couple of Painted Turtle ladies nesting on the island, one digging and one probably having just finished up.

We walked around, exploring other avenues in the small area. A Water Snake whizzed across the path in front of us but we had no chance for a shot. Nice to see one still exists, though. We walked around the school and when we got to the front, by the parking lot, a large Woodchuck was startled by our presence and took off flying. Literally, it seems... it is completely airborne in this shot!

If you'll allow me to end this short post with... GOSLINGS!!!! then I will. It looks like a few different clutches might be present here.

The Last Day of May. The 31st, 2026.

After a Saturday that had the worst May storm in history ("it rainin' sideways!") as well as a meteor causing a sonic boom, it was with great pleasure that we were greeted by Sunday with sunshine and temps in the mid-60s. The decision was made to go to the big pond in Plymouth County in hopes of seeing Snappers and, hopefully, some snakes. We got there at about 10:30 and the weather was lovely. A guy in the parking lot (with a massive camera) said the Sandhill Cranes were easy to see that day so we headed on to the trail going in the opposite direction of our usual route, towards the Crane area.

The bogs were plenty full of water thanks to the previous day's storm. That made it good for turtles and we did see a few catching some rays. A Painter.

It is getting to be that time of year so we weren't surprised to see this Painted gal up on the path, looking for a good nest-site.

We could see a Killdeer in the path in front of us, squawking and running around. I wondered if we were getting near a nest. She flew off and I went to look at the spot where she was and a Racer sped off. DAMN!!! I hadn't photographed a Massachusetts Racer in many moons. Oh well.

We tried our best to find the Sandhills mentioned by photo-boy but never saw them. Before too long, I just gave up and concentrated on the cold-blooded side of things. Painters abounded.

This Snapper (score!) was sleeping near the edge. Yes, I too was concerned that it might be deceased but I worked my way down to the edge of the water and disturbed her enough to make her wake up and move around a little.

Andrea spied this massive Bullfrog.

We ran into a herper woman that we've met before and we were talking. She mentioned seeing a couple of Racers earlier and I expressed my MA Racer photo drought. She had seen them in spots where we had years ago, like what we used to call Racer Rock, but I changed to Water Snake rock a couple of years ago. She said she'd seen Racers and Waters basking together before. With renewed vigor, Andrea and I continued on.

Here is a Painted Turtle with a (probable) Fishing Spider on it's back.

Painters would be the animal of the day; they often are here.

Snappy snout says "don't leave me out"!

This little Painted fella is small and in charge.

These Irises (versicolor) were all along the water's edge. My purple plant pursuit persists.

We were getting to the far end of the trail and the usual basking spots were filled with Painted glory!

We got to Water Snake Rock and I saw a sleek black snake speed off out of the brush towards a bush. Racer. Don't tell me this is going to be another year where I only get a glimpse of a Mass Racer, but no pictures. I walked towards the bush/ tree and I saw it speed off again. I looked in the tree and saw nothing. But I went around to the other side and I could see loops of coils on the ground through the leaves. Parting them, I saw one pissed off Racer and a massive one who was in the blue. Sexy couple? I dunno.

It was so good to see them and get actual photos. The little guy was pissy and standing his ground, making photography easy.

These were the first Massachusetts Racers I've photographed since September, 2022. Damn.

Well, that was fun and I guess we can go back to calling it Racer Rock. From a few steps away from RR, I could see distant turtles and there was no doubt in my mind that one was a Redbelly. Oh hell yes, it was.

That's the one on the right hand side in front of this chorus line shot. A few more Redbells on the right of the logs but mostly, a string of Painters.

We rested at a picnic table but the view was still very good from there. Painters!

GOSLINGS!! (Getting biggah and biggah)

We carried on as that sit-down was only at the half-way point. We didn't take the long route that we've been taking lately due to time constraints but the shorter route paid off with another Snapping Turtle.

It was right around this time that we saw a Water Snake cross the path about 30 feet in front of us. I looked in the brush where it had crossed, saw it and made a grab for a photo op but missed so it went undocumented. This Painter will have to take its place.

We checked along another pond, hoping for a Spotted Turtle. Had we gone the regular route, we'd have had a dozen in the morning but still hadn't seen any yet. This Bullfrog was having a relaxing afternoon.

In one corner of the pond, a pair of Mute Swans were hanging out and they let me get super close, like within 10 feet.

Then a quick hiss and I knew it was time to head on.

Another on-land Painter in the path.

We got to the Osprey nest sit-down and rested again. This small Painter didn't mind our presence.

Dark clouds were moving in quickly and we were feeling some drops. I got this shot of basking turtles before they dropped in. I'm glad I got it because the guy on the left is a Spotted, the only one of the day.

We walked along in a light rain listening to groups of Green Frogs calling, enjoying the rain as it got a bit harder. This Bullfrog seemed pleased as well.

The Spotted bog had nobody up by the time we got there as it had started raining harder and it became much cooler. We made it to the woods just as it began to let up. We saw nothing while in the wooded area. 

Emerging from the woods, we decided to backtrack a bit and take a peek at some rock-piles before going to the car. There were a couple of massive smooth-scaled skins there. Racer.

After not getting more than a tiny glimpse of one at this place in the last four years or so, I have to say that I'm pleased that they're more ubiquitous this year. I flipped dozens of rocks hoping that we could score our first DeKay's of the year. We've seen them (on the crawl) here but not for a few years. All I got for my efforts was a sore back.

Despite a slow ending and wet clothes, we were obviously pretty happy with our 5 1/2 mile hike. We stopped off to get some tomato and basil plants for Andrea's garden on the way home.

As Andrea was preparing to plant her new plants in the ground, I was weeding and poking around. Under a board in her garden, a pair of good-sized Dekes were resting! First DeKay's of the year!!

They were quite cold. 

We'd seen a few in the gardens before, one even in Andrea's plot, but this was way beyond expectation. A perfect end to a fun (if tiring) day.