Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Moderator: Scott Waters
- SnakeStick
- Posts: 355
- Joined: August 18th, 2010, 5:35 pm
- Location: Hilton Head Island, South Cackalacky
Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
What's up everyone,
I'm going to start by apologizing for how poorly this post is put together. I had all the images sized evenly and captioned until my Ipad died . I'm honestly just too ticked to go back and redo it. This post is a combination of previous posts from the SE chapter as well as other pics that haven't been posted here. This post is in chronological order (for the most part). Just a warning, this might be really redundant to all you SE chapter members and FB friends.
2012 has been a good year as far as herping goes. Making this post brought back a lot of fond memories. I got to meet a lot of other herpers and managed to get a few lifers too. My 2012 herping season started off with a garter snake found on 1/1/12. I hope I can do the same on 1/1/13. Okay, let’s get to the pics. There's a ton of them....
This T. s. sirtalis was found basking in the sun. Temps were in the mid-fifties.
After heavy rains S. holbrookii are a rather common sight around the yard. It hadn't rained recently, but this guy was hopping around.
T. s. sackenii soaking up some sun on a fetter bush.
I went to Atlanta to visit some family. I met up with fellow forum member, Jake S., to get out and find some salamanders. Goal accomplished.
Eurycea cirrigera
D. conanti
Eurycea guttolineata
Plethodon cylindraceus
Pseudotriton ruber
H. platyrhinos shed
I observed a group of Southern Leopard Frogs calling on a warm night in January. Here’s one of the participants,
I made a goal this year to see all the Pseudacris species occurring in the coastal plain of SC. Around mid-February, I got my shot as heavy rains lingered in the area for a few days. As I arrived at my destination, promising sounds were emanating from a nearby ditch. Some patient stalking proved rewarding…
Brimley’s Chorus Frog
Southern Chorus Frogs were out calling in good numbers, here’s a pair in amplexus,
Spring Peeper
Ornate Chorus Frogs proved difficult to locate. Here’s a male calling from the center of a grass tuft,
Coastal Plain Cricket Frog
The chirp-like calls of this Little Grass Frog led me uncomfortably close to a mother gator and young. Thankfully any decent flashlight will make a gator’s eyes light up like stars.
Green Treefrog,
Eastern Garter Snake
Peninsula Ribbon Snake
Banded Water snake
Cottonmouth
Five-Lined Skink,
Eastern Glass Lizard,
The high ground surrounding the tidal creek behind my house contains some good sized hummocks and a vast amount of discarded wood/stumps. The wood has decomposed slowly (petrified?) over time and become great habitat for kingsnakes,
King 1
King 2
Me with a juvenile, you can get an idea of the habitat from the background.
Eastern Diamondback,
I met up with friends to do some flipping around S.C. Although conditions weren't optimal for flipping, we did manage to turn up some cool stuff. Thankfully, we got some rain Saturday morning which helped push the snakes back under cover. Here are some highlights of the three day outing:
Me with a black rat snake,
Red-bellied watersnake,
My first canebrake of the year,
This rat snake was basking on top of a junk pile,
Marbled Sally,
A large, gravid female kingsnake found in the ribs of a car hood.
Canebrake, as flipped,
Kingsnake, as flipped,
Canebrake,
Copperheads were the most common snake flipped, followed by rat snakes and racers, respectively. This one was a beast,
Rat snake sitting on its dinner plate (copperhead in background),
A small corn snake,
Six-lined racerunner,
The work of a scrapper,
Cottonmouth,
Coachwhip,
Corn snake found AOR on the way home,
A "zig-zag" copperhead from Francis Marion NF.
Nice kingsnake from FMNF.
Here’s some shots from a short trip to IL.
Cricket frogs were the most common herp and could be heard calling 24/7,
Bullfrogs also made an appearance,
Midland water snakes were a common sight around the pond,
We flipped this ringneck under a piece of tin,
Fowlers toads could be found hopping around the property. This was a lifer for me and probably my favorite find of the trip,
This big rat snake was found hanging out around the wood pile,
On the way back we made a brief stop at a state park in Tennessee. Here's a habitat shot (Cedar Glades),
A short walk turned up fence lizards, racerunners, and box turtles. Here's one of the boxies,
Back to SC…
DBT's can be seen moving around in the tidal creeks near my house. Here's a super-cropped photo,
I finally got my hands on a Pseudemys sp.,
This slider was excavating a nest in my yard,
Corn Snake,
Eastern hognose,
Rough Green
Scarlet snake,
King,
Corn Snake,
Passionflower,
DBT,
Tropical Depression Beryl brought much-needed rains to the coast of SC, and as a result anuran activity was extremely high. H. cinerea, H. chrysoscelis, H. squirella, H. femoralis, H. gratiosa, H. avivoca, L. clamitans, L. sphenocephala, L. catesbeiana, B. terrestris, P. nigrita, P. ocularis, A. gryllus, and G. carolinensis were heard calling that week. Here's a Cope's gray that was calling from the middle of the road. Unfortunately he stopped before I was able to get my camera,
And a Bronze Frog,
I've seen a few female DBTs wandering around with intentions of nesting,
The street I live on yielded these two gems on consecutive nights,
This canebrake was found a few hours before the first rains of Beryl,
The next one was a lifer for me. This adult mud snake was found on the last pass of the night. This specimen had very little red pigment.
Eastern Hognose
The next few shots are from Ocala NF, FL...
That's the end of the FL pictures.
The next few shots are from the "Places You've Never Herped" outing hosted by The Orianne Society. The event, which took place in GA, was a friendly herping competition constricted to a few different WMA's. Participants were provided data sheets to record their findings throughout the day. Data sheets were used to declare the winners and to give data to NAFHA. The outing was a great success. It was nice getting to meet some fellow forum goers.
Here are some of the finds, the boxie was the only find I can call my own,
That's it from that field trip...
Thanks for looking!
I'm going to start by apologizing for how poorly this post is put together. I had all the images sized evenly and captioned until my Ipad died . I'm honestly just too ticked to go back and redo it. This post is a combination of previous posts from the SE chapter as well as other pics that haven't been posted here. This post is in chronological order (for the most part). Just a warning, this might be really redundant to all you SE chapter members and FB friends.
2012 has been a good year as far as herping goes. Making this post brought back a lot of fond memories. I got to meet a lot of other herpers and managed to get a few lifers too. My 2012 herping season started off with a garter snake found on 1/1/12. I hope I can do the same on 1/1/13. Okay, let’s get to the pics. There's a ton of them....
This T. s. sirtalis was found basking in the sun. Temps were in the mid-fifties.
After heavy rains S. holbrookii are a rather common sight around the yard. It hadn't rained recently, but this guy was hopping around.
T. s. sackenii soaking up some sun on a fetter bush.
I went to Atlanta to visit some family. I met up with fellow forum member, Jake S., to get out and find some salamanders. Goal accomplished.
Eurycea cirrigera
D. conanti
Eurycea guttolineata
Plethodon cylindraceus
Pseudotriton ruber
H. platyrhinos shed
I observed a group of Southern Leopard Frogs calling on a warm night in January. Here’s one of the participants,
I made a goal this year to see all the Pseudacris species occurring in the coastal plain of SC. Around mid-February, I got my shot as heavy rains lingered in the area for a few days. As I arrived at my destination, promising sounds were emanating from a nearby ditch. Some patient stalking proved rewarding…
Brimley’s Chorus Frog
Southern Chorus Frogs were out calling in good numbers, here’s a pair in amplexus,
Spring Peeper
Ornate Chorus Frogs proved difficult to locate. Here’s a male calling from the center of a grass tuft,
Coastal Plain Cricket Frog
The chirp-like calls of this Little Grass Frog led me uncomfortably close to a mother gator and young. Thankfully any decent flashlight will make a gator’s eyes light up like stars.
Green Treefrog,
Eastern Garter Snake
Peninsula Ribbon Snake
Banded Water snake
Cottonmouth
Five-Lined Skink,
Eastern Glass Lizard,
The high ground surrounding the tidal creek behind my house contains some good sized hummocks and a vast amount of discarded wood/stumps. The wood has decomposed slowly (petrified?) over time and become great habitat for kingsnakes,
King 1
King 2
Me with a juvenile, you can get an idea of the habitat from the background.
Eastern Diamondback,
I met up with friends to do some flipping around S.C. Although conditions weren't optimal for flipping, we did manage to turn up some cool stuff. Thankfully, we got some rain Saturday morning which helped push the snakes back under cover. Here are some highlights of the three day outing:
Me with a black rat snake,
Red-bellied watersnake,
My first canebrake of the year,
This rat snake was basking on top of a junk pile,
Marbled Sally,
A large, gravid female kingsnake found in the ribs of a car hood.
Canebrake, as flipped,
Kingsnake, as flipped,
Canebrake,
Copperheads were the most common snake flipped, followed by rat snakes and racers, respectively. This one was a beast,
Rat snake sitting on its dinner plate (copperhead in background),
A small corn snake,
Six-lined racerunner,
The work of a scrapper,
Cottonmouth,
Coachwhip,
Corn snake found AOR on the way home,
A "zig-zag" copperhead from Francis Marion NF.
Nice kingsnake from FMNF.
Here’s some shots from a short trip to IL.
Cricket frogs were the most common herp and could be heard calling 24/7,
Bullfrogs also made an appearance,
Midland water snakes were a common sight around the pond,
We flipped this ringneck under a piece of tin,
Fowlers toads could be found hopping around the property. This was a lifer for me and probably my favorite find of the trip,
This big rat snake was found hanging out around the wood pile,
On the way back we made a brief stop at a state park in Tennessee. Here's a habitat shot (Cedar Glades),
A short walk turned up fence lizards, racerunners, and box turtles. Here's one of the boxies,
Back to SC…
DBT's can be seen moving around in the tidal creeks near my house. Here's a super-cropped photo,
I finally got my hands on a Pseudemys sp.,
This slider was excavating a nest in my yard,
Corn Snake,
Eastern hognose,
Rough Green
Scarlet snake,
King,
Corn Snake,
Passionflower,
DBT,
Tropical Depression Beryl brought much-needed rains to the coast of SC, and as a result anuran activity was extremely high. H. cinerea, H. chrysoscelis, H. squirella, H. femoralis, H. gratiosa, H. avivoca, L. clamitans, L. sphenocephala, L. catesbeiana, B. terrestris, P. nigrita, P. ocularis, A. gryllus, and G. carolinensis were heard calling that week. Here's a Cope's gray that was calling from the middle of the road. Unfortunately he stopped before I was able to get my camera,
And a Bronze Frog,
I've seen a few female DBTs wandering around with intentions of nesting,
The street I live on yielded these two gems on consecutive nights,
This canebrake was found a few hours before the first rains of Beryl,
The next one was a lifer for me. This adult mud snake was found on the last pass of the night. This specimen had very little red pigment.
Eastern Hognose
The next few shots are from Ocala NF, FL...
That's the end of the FL pictures.
The next few shots are from the "Places You've Never Herped" outing hosted by The Orianne Society. The event, which took place in GA, was a friendly herping competition constricted to a few different WMA's. Participants were provided data sheets to record their findings throughout the day. Data sheets were used to declare the winners and to give data to NAFHA. The outing was a great success. It was nice getting to meet some fellow forum goers.
Here are some of the finds, the boxie was the only find I can call my own,
That's it from that field trip...
Thanks for looking!
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
What a year!!
-
- Posts: 162
- Joined: May 21st, 2012, 3:23 pm
- Location: Utah County, Utah
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Nice herps!!!! Looks like it been a good year for you!
-
- Posts: 13
- Joined: April 12th, 2011, 11:10 pm
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Great post ! It brought back memories of herping Francis Marion and all points between with Greg Theos in the 90s. The Corn snakes are gorgeous . I never get tired of seeing the "Okeetees" . The Pine Snake pic is very disturbing ,what is the story behind it?
- Mark Brown
- Posts: 567
- Joined: June 8th, 2010, 2:15 am
- Location: Austin, TX
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Wow, that was one helluva post/year! You find some stunning Corns over there and that aberrant Scarlet King and "zipzag" Southern Copperhead would just about make my life. You don't have better shots of either, do you? I love oddball Copperheads and that one is really interesting.
- BillMcGighan
- Posts: 2362
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:23 am
- Location: Unicoi, TN
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Super, Ian
Habitat shots are killers, as winter approaches.
Small snake track in sand is intriguing.
Habitat shots are killers, as winter approaches.
Small snake track in sand is intriguing.
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Not a whole lot to apologize for there Epic post/year! Tons of great shots.
Were those two dead pines found together? Were they DOR?
Were those two dead pines found together? Were they DOR?
- MattSullivan
- Posts: 419
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 2:07 pm
- Location: New Jersey
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
love all the hognoses! my favorite snakes but i've never seen one
- SnakeStick
- Posts: 355
- Joined: August 18th, 2010, 5:35 pm
- Location: Hilton Head Island, South Cackalacky
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Thanks everyone,
Celinder, this area does produce some nice corn snakes. I'm partial to the ones with thick saddle borders.
The road-jerky pines succumbed to careless rednecks.
Mark, I dont have any other shots of that copperhead. Here's a cropped version,
Here's another shot of the scarlet snake,
Bill, I regret not taking more habitat shots this year. I always enjoy seeing people's habitat shots, especially tin/AC sites.
Unfortunately, I didn't see the snake that made that track. I'm guessing it was a hognose.
Monklet, The DOR hatchling pines were found in the same area. One was found in the evening and one in the following morning. I didn't manage to see a live one this year.
Matt, I never get tired of finding them. I hope to see H. nasicus someday.
Celinder, this area does produce some nice corn snakes. I'm partial to the ones with thick saddle borders.
The road-jerky pines succumbed to careless rednecks.
Mark, I dont have any other shots of that copperhead. Here's a cropped version,
Here's another shot of the scarlet snake,
Bill, I regret not taking more habitat shots this year. I always enjoy seeing people's habitat shots, especially tin/AC sites.
Unfortunately, I didn't see the snake that made that track. I'm guessing it was a hognose.
Monklet, The DOR hatchling pines were found in the same area. One was found in the evening and one in the following morning. I didn't manage to see a live one this year.
Matt, I never get tired of finding them. I hope to see H. nasicus someday.
- Nigel Smith
- Posts: 268
- Joined: June 8th, 2010, 10:52 am
- Location: Lexington Kentucky
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Wow looks like you had a great year. Congrats on all of your finds. I especially liked that aberrant scarlet snake and all of those hognose shots. That scarlett snake was insane! Sorry about those pinesnakes. Always sucks to see them dor. At least you know your in a good area.
- Mark Brown
- Posts: 567
- Joined: June 8th, 2010, 2:15 am
- Location: Austin, TX
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Ah, so it is a Cemophora......I couldn't tell for sure from the first photo and guessed wrong. Thanks for the bigger Copperhead photo - what a cool snake!
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
My favorite snakes are pit vipers, hognose and kingsnakes. You certainly posted some nice examples of all of those, but that scarlet snake, WOW that takes the cake! I would be freaking out if I came across something with such a cool aberrant pattern. Great job and thanks for sharing!
Andrew
Andrew
- AndyO'Connor
- Posts: 1019
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:14 pm
- Location: Pacific Northwest
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
As mentioned, the scarlet is pretty wild. A few other pics that stood out were the baby cotton sitting on top of the adult, some of the timbers, the zigzag copper, the DBTs, I could keep going, some excellent finds.
- walk-about
- Posts: 567
- Joined: June 14th, 2010, 12:04 pm
- Location: 'God's Country' aka western KY
- Contact:
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Totally rocked this post! What a fantastic year. That Cemophora is crazy. Loved the last hognose. The magnificant cypress tree unreal. How big was that spiney softshell? Crossing road? Very impressive sir.
RoCK ON!
Dave
RoCK ON!
Dave
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
You had an epic year! You really did well on hognose snakes. I know everyone else is jealous. You got a lot of herps while eating too which is cool. Both the hognose and a snake eating in the field were firsts for me this year.
One of the things that sticks out about this post is your friend seriously looks like Matt Damon. It's freaky.
One of the things that sticks out about this post is your friend seriously looks like Matt Damon. It's freaky.
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Wow! That's a lot of herping!
Congrats on a great year!
So much to comment on but the king in the car hood and the coachwhip with the head raised that high were nice. Also some awesome hognose and I especially liked the pics of the aberrant snakes !
Gary
Congrats on a great year!
So much to comment on but the king in the car hood and the coachwhip with the head raised that high were nice. Also some awesome hognose and I especially liked the pics of the aberrant snakes !
Gary
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
That Scarlet is just ridiculous.
- SnakeStick
- Posts: 355
- Joined: August 18th, 2010, 5:35 pm
- Location: Hilton Head Island, South Cackalacky
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Thanks again to everyone who commented. I'm glad you all enjoyed.
Nigel, that scarlet was pretty crazy. I doubt I'll ever find another one like that. I'm still kicking myself for not holding on to it for some daytime shots.
Andrew, freaking out is probably an understatement of my initial reaction to that scarlet snake. I didn't know what to think when I first saw it.
Dave, that softshell was a monster. She was crossing the road in an area where I would least expect to see one. To my knowledge, there wasn't any water for miles.
Reptiluvr, I think he looks more like Kevin Bacon in Tremors. Haha. I didn't come across as many herps eating as I did last year.
Gary, that coachwhip shot is one of my favorites from this year.
Nigel, that scarlet was pretty crazy. I doubt I'll ever find another one like that. I'm still kicking myself for not holding on to it for some daytime shots.
Andrew, freaking out is probably an understatement of my initial reaction to that scarlet snake. I didn't know what to think when I first saw it.
Dave, that softshell was a monster. She was crossing the road in an area where I would least expect to see one. To my knowledge, there wasn't any water for miles.
Reptiluvr, I think he looks more like Kevin Bacon in Tremors. Haha. I didn't come across as many herps eating as I did last year.
Gary, that coachwhip shot is one of my favorites from this year.
- Tim Borski
- Posts: 1855
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:28 am
- Location: FL Keys
- Contact:
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
HOLY COW Ian, You had quite the year!
At first I liked the Coastal plains cricket because of the lighting, then I really liked the EDB at the base of the Palmetto, then I thought the AOR Corn was a real looker, then the Hog with the orange head, then....Jeezus, it just kept going and going and getting better!
And then...then, there were all the yummy hab shots!
Excellent, excellent job and congrats on a great season! Thanks.
Tim
At first I liked the Coastal plains cricket because of the lighting, then I really liked the EDB at the base of the Palmetto, then I thought the AOR Corn was a real looker, then the Hog with the orange head, then....Jeezus, it just kept going and going and getting better!
And then...then, there were all the yummy hab shots!
Excellent, excellent job and congrats on a great season! Thanks.
Tim
- umop apisdn
- Posts: 395
- Joined: June 13th, 2010, 6:06 pm
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Congrats on getting your eastern king featured on the HN site. You had tons of great shots this year.
SnakeStick wrote:Gary, that coachwhip shot is one of my favorites from this year.
- SnakeStick
- Posts: 355
- Joined: August 18th, 2010, 5:35 pm
- Location: Hilton Head Island, South Cackalacky
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Thanks a lot, Tim. I knew you would like the habitat shots.
Mike, haha, I didn't even know it was on there. Thanks for the heads up.
Well, since the year isn't over, I think it would be acceptable to add a few more photos...
This sub-adult Indigo was seen slowly moving away from it's tortoise burrow,
Mike, haha, I didn't even know it was on there. Thanks for the heads up.
Well, since the year isn't over, I think it would be acceptable to add a few more photos...
This sub-adult Indigo was seen slowly moving away from it's tortoise burrow,
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
WoW- Great season, ? could that cottonmouth neonate be a hypo its just so light?
- SnakeStick
- Posts: 355
- Joined: August 18th, 2010, 5:35 pm
- Location: Hilton Head Island, South Cackalacky
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Thanks, btskanks. I would consider that to be typical coloration for a cottonmouth that size. I've definitely seen lighter specimens.
-
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- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:25 am
- Location: Mobile, AL
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Great stuff, great area, great year! I'm drooling over some of that habitat...
- SnakeStick
- Posts: 355
- Joined: August 18th, 2010, 5:35 pm
- Location: Hilton Head Island, South Cackalacky
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
James, I did see quite a few hognose this year. Putting in countless hours of searching for them inevitably paid off. Although on rare occasion they would find me. My first platyrhinos of 2012 was found in the garage of my new house. Did you attend that last meeting at Conecuh?
Thanks, Nshepard.
Thanks, Nshepard.
Re: Lowcountry Herping 2012 (mostly SC and GA)(DUW)
Ian,
Great year!!!!! I'm glad we were about to spend a couple hours herping together again this year. You have found just about everything I would've loved to find this year and some! I was wondering how you managed to get by without posting that late year Indigo. That would have been my favorite of the year. I look forward to getting out with you maybe this Spring sometime.
Cary
Great year!!!!! I'm glad we were about to spend a couple hours herping together again this year. You have found just about everything I would've loved to find this year and some! I was wondering how you managed to get by without posting that late year Indigo. That would have been my favorite of the year. I look forward to getting out with you maybe this Spring sometime.
Cary