My year so far - Picture Heavy

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marchnw
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Joined: June 11th, 2012, 1:53 pm
Location: Columbia, MO
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My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by marchnw »

I decided it was time to do my first real post. Hopefully these pictures show since I'm copying them from my blog. We started herping at the end of January here in Central Missouri.

Ambystoma maculatum
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Ambystoma texanum
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As far as herps were concerned, we were still with salamanders in February, although we did find one reptile.

Ambystoma annulatum
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Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis
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Ambystoma texanum
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Scincella lateralis
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We finally got some snow in March; and quite a bit of it for this area.

Here's the University of Missouri's campus on the morning of the snow.
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And here is the road 12 hours later.
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Harder to find herps in the snow, but the birds are easier to find.

Northern Bobwhitea
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Harris' Sparrow
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With snow still on the ground, we started finding some more salamanders and some frogs.

Ambystoma maculatum
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My wife with a Bullfrog
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Lithobates sphenocephalus
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Lithobates palustris
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Things started warming up in April.

Storeria occipitomaculata occipitomaculata
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Plestiodon fasciatus
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Terrapene ornata ornata
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and the ticks started coming out.
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Agkistrodon contortrix phaeogaster
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Carphophis vermis
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Nerodia sipedon
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Prairie Ring-necked Snake next to a quarter
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We took our first trip to the Wichita Mountains in April in hopes of finding a rattlesnake. We knew we were a little early but work seems to dictate when we get to take vacations. Neither of us has ever seen a rattlesnake of any species despite years of looking. It seemed like this was the best bet for what we had time for, but we had no luck with our quest. We did however get our lifer Collared Lizard.

Crotaphytus collaris
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Sceloporus undulatus consobrinus
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
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Several storms and some golfball sized hail made for lousy camping, but let me try for some scenery shots.

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The second half of April and the beginning of May were almost totally dedicated to birding. My wife and I joined a couple of our friends for a birding big day. We observed 183 species in Boone County, MO in a 24 hour period. This was the most species recorded in a single county in Missouri in a single day and the third most for the state in a single day.

We did make a quick trip to Snake Road in April, but missed peak migration - the second time we've missed peak migration in as many tries. We were really hoping to find a marbled salamander since my wife is in love with salamanders and it would be a lifer for both of us, but we didn't have any luck with that. We did find a few species on the road itself.

Ambystoma maculatum
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Plethodon dorsalis dorsalis
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Carphophis vermis
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Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma
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Eurycea longicauda longicauda
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Virginia valeriae elegans
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The Swamp
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Back to Missouri we got our lifer Flat-headed Snake

Tantilla gracilis
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Aspidoscelis sexlineata
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Striped Bark Scorpion
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Ambystoma annulatum
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Agkistrodon contorix phaeogaster
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Under a single rock we found three Slimy Salamanders and a Copperhead
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Plethodon albagula
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As I mentioned, my wife loves salamanders
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It rained A LOT here in May which cause the Missouri River to flood. This stranded a lot of creatures. Mice, snakes, deer, and many others were swimming and running everywhere trying to escape the water. Mice and snake literally would try to climb your legs. While it was kind of cool to see so much stuff up close, it was really sad to see everything in such desperation. We moved several box turtles from the water across the levee. We also rescued several fawns that had been abandoned by their mothers. Here is my wife holding a fawn that I had to swim out after.

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June and July were pretty busy and I didn't herp much. I did spend a little time fishing.

Rainbow Darter
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Mottled Sculpin
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Longear Sunfish
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Over Labor Day weekend, my wife and I headed to the Smokies to look for salamanders. I studied before hand, but those Desmognathus are really a booger for me to ID. But there sure were a lot of salamanders.

Sunset
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Sunrise
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Gyrinophilus porphyriticus
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Desmognathus quadramaculatus
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Desmognathus wrighti
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Plethodon jordani
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Desmognathus monticola
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Last weekend my wife and I joined a family kayaking adventure to a lake in Macon County, MO. My dad noticed something splashing and went to investigate. He thought it was a catfish on a trot line. When he got closer, he saw that it was a turtle. The turtle was barely in the water and the rest of the line was quite a ways out of the water. This means that the turtle had been there for quite some time. We were able to free the turtle which was hooked through the shell. He was still quite feisty.

Apalone spinifera
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My wife got to hold her first Spiny Softshell.
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Sorry for such a long post. If anyone is interested in everything I left out, you can see it on my blog at http://notesaboutnature.blogspot.com.

Nick M.
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sep11ie
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Re: My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by sep11ie »

Great post. Phenomenal pictures. Wow, it is beautiful out there...
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Stohlgren
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Location: Athens, GA (Columbia, MO)

Re: My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by Stohlgren »

Nice post. Some excellent MO diversity. Wish you would post your photos a little larger, especially the scenery shots. They seem like they would be excellent, if they were large enough to see.

-Kevin
VICtort
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Joined: July 2nd, 2010, 6:48 pm
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Re: My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by VICtort »

You have some amazing photos...stand outs are the bird in flight, the scenery photos some of the best around. I think you could do well in the post card business! The live fish photos are well done. About those fawns you think are abandoned...what do you do with them?

Thanks for this very enjoyable post, and you are a lucky man to have a wife that enjoys aspects of your hobby as she obviously does. The long ear sunfish is gorgeous, it may be one of the few Centrarchids we don't have in California, it is a new one to me. Also the collared lizard, one of the most handsome I have ever seen.

Vic
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marchnw
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Joined: June 11th, 2012, 1:53 pm
Location: Columbia, MO
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Re: My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by marchnw »

Thanks, guys!
Stohlgren wrote:Wish you would post your photos a little larger
Yeah, sorry about the pictures being so small. I'll do better next time. ;)
VICtort wrote:About those fawns you think are abandoned...what do you do with them?
I'm pretty sure they were abandoned. You could see for a mile each direction and most of that was under water. Anyway, we got the fawns out of the water and put them on the levee since we thought this was the best chance they had. This is what the area biologist was doing as well. However, water went over that levee that night, so I think it was all for naught. One fawn was probably only a day or two old and had been hit in the head by something. This one we took to a local animal shelter that deals with such things. I haven't heard since, but it was doing well two days after the event.
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TravisK
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Location: Eastern Washington

Re: My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by TravisK »

I just love your landscape shots!

;) the herp shots were nice too.
Nate S.
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Joined: March 28th, 2013, 7:59 pm

Re: My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by Nate S. »

Great post! Love all the salamanders and the collared is really nice looking too.
sawfish
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Joined: October 21st, 2012, 9:12 am

Re: My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by sawfish »

severely first-class photos :mrgreen:
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MichaelCravens
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Location: Phoenix, AZ

Re: My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by MichaelCravens »

Very well done. Beautiful images, they made me homesick.

Michael Cravens
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pjfishpa
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Joined: June 2nd, 2013, 6:51 am
Location: NW Ohio / SE Michigan

Re: My year so far - Picture Heavy

Post by pjfishpa »

3 slimies and a copperhead in one flip -- Sweet! Nice landscape shots and you can't beat salamandering in the Smokies either!
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