My herpetology class went out herping (all 16 of us) and we managed to grab a few things, although I'm sure we alerted many of the critters ahead of us of our presence, and only caught those that thought they were well enough hidden.
Our first stop was a pitcher plant bog. It was beautiful, with yellow pitcher plants in bloom and many many crayfish holes. Unfortunately, all that we turned up were a crayfish and a cricket frog. We had expected to see black racers or coachwhips. There weren't very many hides, nor was there a great deal of canopy cover.
The next stop surpassed the first by far. We spent about 45 minutes hiking to this creek...
On the way there, we found Storeria occipitomaculata (red belly snake), but I don't have a picture of it. We also found Scincella lateralis (common ground skink). The ground skink was trumped by this Sistrurus miliarius (pygmy rattlesnake).
After the rattlesnake, we found bunches of cricket frogs. They are impossibly abundant wherever you go in our area. What was interesting was the variety of colors that we found them in...
This shade is what you would typically expect, the diagnostic character of the triangle between the eyes is easily seen. However, I also found an all black cricket frog, something I've never seen before. I could find no trace of a triangle between the eyes.
We also stumbled across a Pseudacris crucifer that did not have a clean "X" marking on its back. The toe disc size, yellow tint on the hidden part of the leg, and lack of other species specific patterns helped us determine that it was indeed a spring peeper.
Someone then yelled "SNAKE!" and we all went rushing to catch it, as few in the class, apart from myself, the grad students, and the professor, will grab a snake. It was a Coluber constrictor priapus (southern black racer). It was not a fan of my camera and struck at it once, but didn't bite anyone.
Then, while rolling logs a little closer to the creek, I saw an orange thing the size of a worm beneath a rotting log and I thought "well, if it's a worm it wont hurt me." So I grabbed for it and exclaimed "$#*% yeah!" when I realized what it was. A Storeria occipitomaculata (brown snake). Previously, it seemed everyone else found these little snakes, or similar small snakes, and now, finally, I can say that I have.
After admiring the creek, we hiked our way to a pond that was 20 minutes away.
Here, we heard Acris gryllus gryllus, Pseudacris crucifer, Rana clamitans clamitans, & Rana sphenocephala. To our surprise, we heard a spring peeper calling from within 1 meter of where we were sitting. We looked closely, and found this guy, who graciously kept calling while we took his picture (this was at night, but we had a flashlight on him).
Nothing, not even the occasional flash from a camera or student creeping forward would deter him from luring in a female. I think we cramped his style.
From that pond, we traveled to 2 more. The last pond was an important one. It was a pond where Pseudacris ornata (ornate chorus frog) had been heard in 2004. P. ornata is a rare species in our area, so hearing it call would have been a dream. Sadly, we didn't, but we did hear multiple other species, including Hyla gratiosa, Hyla chrysoscelis/versicolor, Bufo terrestris, Rana catesbieana, Rana sphenocephala, Pseudacris nigrita nigrita, Pseudacris crucifer, and Acris gryllus gryllus.
All in all, it was the best herping trip we've had thus far. Now, if we can only find some Nerodias...
Our first stop was a pitcher plant bog. It was beautiful, with yellow pitcher plants in bloom and many many crayfish holes. Unfortunately, all that we turned up were a crayfish and a cricket frog. We had expected to see black racers or coachwhips. There weren't very many hides, nor was there a great deal of canopy cover.
The next stop surpassed the first by far. We spent about 45 minutes hiking to this creek...
On the way there, we found Storeria occipitomaculata (red belly snake), but I don't have a picture of it. We also found Scincella lateralis (common ground skink). The ground skink was trumped by this Sistrurus miliarius (pygmy rattlesnake).
After the rattlesnake, we found bunches of cricket frogs. They are impossibly abundant wherever you go in our area. What was interesting was the variety of colors that we found them in...
This shade is what you would typically expect, the diagnostic character of the triangle between the eyes is easily seen. However, I also found an all black cricket frog, something I've never seen before. I could find no trace of a triangle between the eyes.
We also stumbled across a Pseudacris crucifer that did not have a clean "X" marking on its back. The toe disc size, yellow tint on the hidden part of the leg, and lack of other species specific patterns helped us determine that it was indeed a spring peeper.
Someone then yelled "SNAKE!" and we all went rushing to catch it, as few in the class, apart from myself, the grad students, and the professor, will grab a snake. It was a Coluber constrictor priapus (southern black racer). It was not a fan of my camera and struck at it once, but didn't bite anyone.
Then, while rolling logs a little closer to the creek, I saw an orange thing the size of a worm beneath a rotting log and I thought "well, if it's a worm it wont hurt me." So I grabbed for it and exclaimed "$#*% yeah!" when I realized what it was. A Storeria occipitomaculata (brown snake). Previously, it seemed everyone else found these little snakes, or similar small snakes, and now, finally, I can say that I have.
After admiring the creek, we hiked our way to a pond that was 20 minutes away.
Here, we heard Acris gryllus gryllus, Pseudacris crucifer, Rana clamitans clamitans, & Rana sphenocephala. To our surprise, we heard a spring peeper calling from within 1 meter of where we were sitting. We looked closely, and found this guy, who graciously kept calling while we took his picture (this was at night, but we had a flashlight on him).
Nothing, not even the occasional flash from a camera or student creeping forward would deter him from luring in a female. I think we cramped his style.
From that pond, we traveled to 2 more. The last pond was an important one. It was a pond where Pseudacris ornata (ornate chorus frog) had been heard in 2004. P. ornata is a rare species in our area, so hearing it call would have been a dream. Sadly, we didn't, but we did hear multiple other species, including Hyla gratiosa, Hyla chrysoscelis/versicolor, Bufo terrestris, Rana catesbieana, Rana sphenocephala, Pseudacris nigrita nigrita, Pseudacris crucifer, and Acris gryllus gryllus.
All in all, it was the best herping trip we've had thus far. Now, if we can only find some Nerodias...
