KingCam
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- Cam
Due to the extreme heat and dryness this year I really haven't done any field herping to speak of. So I thought I would post something from last year that includes a couple of salamanders. This is something I had previously only posted on a field herping forum. Anyway, here's the post:
The field herping was limited and scattered to make time to see family, friends, and of course the 3-day music festival we traveled down there for.
Friday on the way down we stopped at a gas station. While Kristin was in the bathroom I went outside and did a quick walk around the building. I found a large plywood sign laying on the ground in the middle of a cut lawn/field. I always hate looking for snakes in front of the general public, and this place was crowded, but we were ready to get back on the road and I simply wasn't going to leave without taking a look.
I'm glad I did!!
The general consensus is that this is a Thamnophis sirtalis, but I haven't decided on the subspecies yet. What do you think? sirtalis or parietalis? Anyone have a good range map for these?
We got in town at 5:00PM, dropped our luggage off at my cousin's house, and went to the show. Day one of the concert was good. REO Speedwagon and Trace Adkins headlined!! :hat:
The next morning we woke up a little later than we meant to and headed to a family friend's property in Stone/Christian county. He gave us an extensive tour of the property, while we endured several stories of all the copperhead he'd killed on his property. While this was obviously painful for me to listen to, it gave me hope that we'd find some southern copperheads without too much difficulty. A southern would be a lifer for me, all I've ever found are osage.
Here are a few photos I snapped during the tour
After the tour ended he left us with the Polaris to do as we pleased. By the time we finally were ready to do some hiking/flipping at 10:30AM it was already getting hot. 86 degrees and climbing fast!!
We started at an old barn with lots of lumber and scrap inside. All we found were some inverts, a couple of ringnecks, and a pickerel frog.
By the time we were done poking around the barn it was nearly 11AM and 90 degrees!
We decided it was too hot to be hiking around, as I was getting dizzy and she was getting a bit nauseated. We got back in the Polaris and discussed coming back tomorrow morning before it got hot.
Steve (the landowner) had pointed to a very large slab of limestone in his field during the tour. He made the comment "I bet that's a palace for a big one!" I made a point to drive by this rock on our way out, and boy am I glad I did!!! He wasn't kidding about it being a palace for a big snake. We found this very large P. obsoletus chilling in the shade under a cedar tree right next to the giant slab of limestone.
She tagged me shortly after I thwarted her escape. I figured she was extra testy due to the high heat and the fact that she was heavily blue. She did calm down after the initial strike, though. (I refer to pretty much all snakes as 'she' unless I actually know the gender).
We spent the rest of the day visiting family and going back to the music festival. I was beat by the time we got back to our beds at 1AM after the show. The high that day was 92 :shock:
I got in bed and it didn't take long before I could hear thunder. "GREAT!!!" I thought, "it'll be nice a cool tomorrow morning!!"
Sunday morning we got out of bed by 6:30AM and made it to the property at 7AM. Steve was still asleep, but he left his barn open so we could use his Polaris again. I can't thank him enough for giving us such a great piece of property to hike and allowing us to use all of his stuff!! Thanks again, Steve!
We got on the Polaris and headed straight towards a creek bed in some damp, rocky, heavily wooded hillsides. Kristin found the first herp of the day, a prairie ringneck snake.
Very close to where Kristin had found her arnyi I saw something quickly disappear into the leaves. With just a little bit of digging I found the first lifer of the trip!! A very small Plethodon albagula. Please excuse the blurry photos. It was hard to get a good shot due to the low lighting within the woods.
Western slimy salamanders? Why the hell aren't they called Western sticky salamanders?! These things secrete a substance very similar to glue. I'm sure that's nothing new to any of you guys, but I was sure shocked by it. The is the first salamander I've found in my adult life. (Do I qualify as an adult yet? :lol: ) Not long after I found two more larger albagulas, a toad, and another ringneck.
At this point it was 8:35AM, and I was starting to wonder why I wasn't finding any copperheads when suddenly I look down the creek bed and see this:
My first Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix!!!
We did some more hiking after this, but it was getting hot fast. All we managed to find before we had to meet my grandma for breakfast was some inverts. Here they are:
Thanks for looking!!!
- Cam
The field herping was limited and scattered to make time to see family, friends, and of course the 3-day music festival we traveled down there for.
Friday on the way down we stopped at a gas station. While Kristin was in the bathroom I went outside and did a quick walk around the building. I found a large plywood sign laying on the ground in the middle of a cut lawn/field. I always hate looking for snakes in front of the general public, and this place was crowded, but we were ready to get back on the road and I simply wasn't going to leave without taking a look.
I'm glad I did!!
The general consensus is that this is a Thamnophis sirtalis, but I haven't decided on the subspecies yet. What do you think? sirtalis or parietalis? Anyone have a good range map for these?
We got in town at 5:00PM, dropped our luggage off at my cousin's house, and went to the show. Day one of the concert was good. REO Speedwagon and Trace Adkins headlined!! :hat:
The next morning we woke up a little later than we meant to and headed to a family friend's property in Stone/Christian county. He gave us an extensive tour of the property, while we endured several stories of all the copperhead he'd killed on his property. While this was obviously painful for me to listen to, it gave me hope that we'd find some southern copperheads without too much difficulty. A southern would be a lifer for me, all I've ever found are osage.
Here are a few photos I snapped during the tour
After the tour ended he left us with the Polaris to do as we pleased. By the time we finally were ready to do some hiking/flipping at 10:30AM it was already getting hot. 86 degrees and climbing fast!!
We started at an old barn with lots of lumber and scrap inside. All we found were some inverts, a couple of ringnecks, and a pickerel frog.
By the time we were done poking around the barn it was nearly 11AM and 90 degrees!
We decided it was too hot to be hiking around, as I was getting dizzy and she was getting a bit nauseated. We got back in the Polaris and discussed coming back tomorrow morning before it got hot.
Steve (the landowner) had pointed to a very large slab of limestone in his field during the tour. He made the comment "I bet that's a palace for a big one!" I made a point to drive by this rock on our way out, and boy am I glad I did!!! He wasn't kidding about it being a palace for a big snake. We found this very large P. obsoletus chilling in the shade under a cedar tree right next to the giant slab of limestone.
She tagged me shortly after I thwarted her escape. I figured she was extra testy due to the high heat and the fact that she was heavily blue. She did calm down after the initial strike, though. (I refer to pretty much all snakes as 'she' unless I actually know the gender).
We spent the rest of the day visiting family and going back to the music festival. I was beat by the time we got back to our beds at 1AM after the show. The high that day was 92 :shock:
I got in bed and it didn't take long before I could hear thunder. "GREAT!!!" I thought, "it'll be nice a cool tomorrow morning!!"
Sunday morning we got out of bed by 6:30AM and made it to the property at 7AM. Steve was still asleep, but he left his barn open so we could use his Polaris again. I can't thank him enough for giving us such a great piece of property to hike and allowing us to use all of his stuff!! Thanks again, Steve!
We got on the Polaris and headed straight towards a creek bed in some damp, rocky, heavily wooded hillsides. Kristin found the first herp of the day, a prairie ringneck snake.
Very close to where Kristin had found her arnyi I saw something quickly disappear into the leaves. With just a little bit of digging I found the first lifer of the trip!! A very small Plethodon albagula. Please excuse the blurry photos. It was hard to get a good shot due to the low lighting within the woods.
Western slimy salamanders? Why the hell aren't they called Western sticky salamanders?! These things secrete a substance very similar to glue. I'm sure that's nothing new to any of you guys, but I was sure shocked by it. The is the first salamander I've found in my adult life. (Do I qualify as an adult yet? :lol: ) Not long after I found two more larger albagulas, a toad, and another ringneck.
At this point it was 8:35AM, and I was starting to wonder why I wasn't finding any copperheads when suddenly I look down the creek bed and see this:
My first Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix!!!
We did some more hiking after this, but it was getting hot fast. All we managed to find before we had to meet my grandma for breakfast was some inverts. Here they are:
Thanks for looking!!!
- Cam
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