Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

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brennan
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Joined: December 13th, 2010, 8:29 am

Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by brennan »

this is my first attempt at a "year-end post". Although herping can be done year-round here in Louisiana, starting next weekend most of my free time will be spent in a duck blind. I do plan on getting out and trying to scratch smallmouth and mole salamanders off the list sometime this winter, but my herping year essentially ends 11/23. i have a crummy little point and shoot camera so don't expect to be amazed by my photos.

so lets get on with the pics........

besides an outing to the EBR study site in February, the first real outing of the year for me was the NAFHA SCC Chapter spring field trip to kisatchie in early April. my stepson preston and i made it up for about 24 total hrs, just enough time to herp and camp. some of these pics may have been posted previously in the field trip thread.

this was one of the two spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) found on the trip. i forgot who actually found them, but i had never seen one before.
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Ambystoma opacum
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Six-lined racerunner
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got this lifer hog-nosed (Heterodon platirhinos)
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here's a shot of some of the habitat, and P-man in his own world
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herpers herping, pulling in minnow traps with no luck
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Crotalus horridus, originally found by Jeffro on Friday, and relocated on Saturday in the same deadfall
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the annual spring rise of the Mississippi River had access to my hunting lease blocked, as usual. from mid april to june i primarily herped locally, and had the usual finds....
Texas Rat Snake (Pantherophis ?, i can never remember), Iberville pa.
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WBR pa, road cruised this little one
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Five-lined Skink, Iberville pa.
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Thamnophis proximus, EBR pa.
lots of Speckled King snakes (Lampropeltis getula holbrooki)
EBR pa
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EBR pa., in situ
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West Baton Rouge pa.
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Iberville pa.
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three-toed amphiuma, caught in minnow trap (Amphiuma tridactylum)
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Storeria dekayi, Iberville pa.
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road cruised a few Southern Copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix)
A pretty good sized adult, Iberville pa
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WBR pa, neonate
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hiked this river cooter, crossing a path in EBR pa
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little buddy likes getting out for frogs while road cruising, Hyla cinerea
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again with a Narrowmouth toad
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the high river water made for pretty good herping in a local barrowpit, the trees were not leaved-out, but it was getting hot. so, P-man and I found lots of Nerodia and rough greens anytime we headed out there in our little pirogue. i had only seen <10 rough green snakes before this spring, our high count for one trip was 10, but we mainly found 2-5.
LOTS of Opheodrys aestivus, WBR pa.
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did manage to get one on dry land, EBR pa.
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also, we found lots of Grayham's Crayfish Snakes basking in these trees (Regina grahamii)
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Nerodia Rhombifer
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Nerodia fasciata
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i took a beach trip to Florida with my family in June, and was able to get some herping in. mainly road crusing, and i didn't turn up much but got a couple of lifers.
Barking Treefrog (Hyla gratiosa)
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Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis)
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Cruised this Glossy Crayfish Snake one night (Regina rigida)
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things really got good about a month later, actually on July 4th, when i made it up to tunica with Rman, gretzkyrh4, and jeffro for a morning of hiking/flipping on Rman's place.

lots of Canebrakes in Tunica, and these guys really know how to find them.

Crotalus horridus, here are the 3 we found on Independence day
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at the beginning of August i went up to Mississippi for some hiking with the family, only found one speckled king, and lots of Sceloporus.

here's Preston and I trying to tackle the rocks
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Sceloporus undulatus
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again in August we made it up to Rman's place, this time it was he, soopaman, jeffro and myself. we found 2 Canebrakes, one was a "re-find", a large gravid female (under AC). incredible, that's the only way to describe that place.

get ready.......
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BINGO!!
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also, Rman found this white-tailed fawn. it could not have been more than a day old, it was smaller than a football. and cute as hell.
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Cruised this one on my hunting lease one evening in September....
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I headed out to Washington pa. one Sunday with gretzkyrh4 to try and find slimy and red salamanders. we struck out on slimys, but among some other finds, got 2 lifers that day.

Eurycea cirrigera
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Pseudotriton montanus
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some finds from the past few weeks.......
Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae)?, SE Mississippi
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Tantilla coronata SE Mississippi
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copperhead, Miss
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Made it out to an Ambystoma site with Preston a week or so ago and he got to flip a few marbled sallies, and really enjoyed himself.
EBR pa., Ambystoma opacum
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Finally, here are some shots from probably the best day of snake hunting I've ever had. made it up to Rman's place one random weekday in early November when it was pretty warm. it was the right day to be there, and although we didn't break the single day Canebrake record (tied it), we pretty much struck gold. 4 C. horridus, 3 L. g. holbrooki, 2 Pantherophis guttatus, 1 garter snake.

Pantheroohis guttatus, West Feliciana pa
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Canebrake, dodging the paparazzi
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i think i ended up getting 9 or 10 new species this year, placed out some new tin sets and still have a lot piled up that needs to be set out. also, i made it out in the field with i think 7 FHF members to some extent. the only thing to do now is find more next year......

thanks for looking, and be safe out there.

Brennan

EDIT: changed name on 2 lined sallies, and changed ID to P montanus. Corrected glass lizard ID
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MattSullivan
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by MattSullivan »

very nice. your Pseudotriton ruber looks more like Pseudotriton montanus-Mud Salamander
brennan
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by brennan »

Matt, I hope you are right because apparently that would be a pretty good find for Washington parish. I'll try to investigate it
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Carl Brune
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by Carl Brune »

Nice post. I agree with MattS on the Pseudotriton. Was that from Mississippi?
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Jeff
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by Jeff »

your Pseudotriton ruber looks more like Pseudotriton montanus-Mud Salamander
Ditto Matt and Carl. Muds have been found at only one spot, in St. Tammany, since the 1960s. It is a very important find. Let me restate that -- it's a spectacular find. Was it at the usual Washington Parish Red Sal. park spot?

Jeff
gretzkyrh4
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by gretzkyrh4 »

Jeff wrote:
your Pseudotriton ruber looks more like Pseudotriton montanus-Mud Salamander
Ditto Matt and Carl. Muds have been found at only one spot, in St. Tammany, since the 1960s. It is a very important find. Let me restate that -- it's a spectacular find. Was it at the usual Washington Parish Red Sal. park spot?

Jeff
Same spot Jeff. I didn't look that closely and just assumed we had a small P.ruber

Chris
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Jeff
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by Jeff »

It is identical to small-medium adult Muds that I've seen in St. Tammany Parish. I've seen Reds of various sizes from Washington Parish, and they are always very pink with a lot more black spots.

The Slender Glass Lizard looks like a small adult Eastern Glass Lizard, by the way.

Jeff
brennan
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by brennan »

Jeff, I remember Chris W. was bothered by the appearance, but defaulted to ruber due to what you stated above for mud salamander records (or lack of) for Washington pa. I had not ever seen either species, so I had no clue.
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umop apisdn
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by umop apisdn »

Looks like you've been busy. Good stuff.

Also, your glass lizard is an eastern, not slender.
gretzkyrh4
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by gretzkyrh4 »

Brennan,

Great post by the way. Your point and shoot takes some quality shots and there are more than a few things I'm jealous of on your list (ie. live corn in LA).
brennan wrote:Jeff, I remember Chris W. was bothered by the appearance, but defaulted to ruber due to what you stated above for mud salamander records (or lack of) for Washington pa. I had not ever seen either species, so I had no clue.
And you're giving me too much credit. I'm pretty sure Melina is the only one who suggested something looked off about it. I just went ruber based on locality and didn't think twice. Glad you snapped a pic, or we never would have found out.

Chris
Rman
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by Rman »

Great post Brennan!
I believe we should be calling "crayfish snakes", "crawfish snakes" here in Louisiana. "Crayfish" is just wrong. :lol:

With all the new flip sites developing, next year look to be even better than this one. Can't wait!

Armin
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by Coluber Constrictor »

I love seeing all this Louisiana stuff on here. I wish I had more time to herp in that state. Love that corn snake, the canebrakes, and especially the hognose. :beer:
brennan
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Joined: December 13th, 2010, 8:29 am

Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by brennan »

Thanks to all for the positive comments!

Armin - I really agree with the "crayfish" pronunciation, it just doesn't come out right.
And yes, next year should be great. Need to find an eastern diamondback, I'm getting to the point where I don't believe in D backs anymore.

Chris - I think that trip was worth it. I'm just glad I didn't miss that mud sallie, because when we flipped that log, I went for the ringneck snake first........

Carl, Matt and Jeff Thanks again for the ID on the montanus, and for the ID corrections.
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Roki
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by Roki »

Great post! Love all the shots and seeing the little guy getting in on the action.
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Carl Brune
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Re: Brennan's photo thread from 2013.

Post by Carl Brune »

The mud salamander was indeed a great find. I see now that I could answered my own question about the state by reading your post more carefully (your reply to Matt wasn't there when I posted).
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