In spring of 2023 I decided to try finding Blandings turtles. My usual hiking route is not along the areas where they are known to exist. Images of the species showed it often basking in wetlands and sometimes alongside painted turtles. A fair number also were shown as taken while the turtles were moving away from wetlands along roadways. The trees had buds and the skunk cabbage was out but most foilage was not out yet. The nighttime temperatures were cool  but the sun had come out and I saw muskrats, possibly beavers, garter snakes, and a large number of painted turtles. Unfortunately, using binoculars to check the swamp edges, logs, and shrubs had not revealed any blandings turtles. As fate would have it, I came across another hiker who told me they should be coming out of the vernal pools and making their way to the main swamps.  This turned out to be a valuable tip as scouting the vernal pools I saw two turtles. The first disappeared into the dark water,  but the second was making its way out of the vernal pools and provided the best look at a Blandings of the day. I continued searching in a larger body of water, hoping to capture one basking. As luck would have it, I found one with a painted turtle basking on top of it!

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