Brennan's photo thread from 2013.
Posted: November 18th, 2013, 8:44 pm
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.
Ambystoma opacum
Six-lined racerunner
got this lifer hog-nosed (Heterodon platirhinos)
here's a shot of some of the habitat, and P-man in his own world
herpers herping, pulling in minnow traps with no luck
Crotalus horridus, originally found by Jeffro on Friday, and relocated on Saturday in the same deadfall
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.
WBR pa, road cruised this little one
Five-lined Skink, Iberville pa.
Thamnophis proximus, EBR pa.
lots of Speckled King snakes (Lampropeltis getula holbrooki)
EBR pa
EBR pa., in situ
West Baton Rouge pa.
Iberville pa.
three-toed amphiuma, caught in minnow trap (Amphiuma tridactylum)
Storeria dekayi, Iberville pa.
road cruised a few Southern Copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix)
A pretty good sized adult, Iberville pa
WBR pa, neonate
hiked this river cooter, crossing a path in EBR pa
little buddy likes getting out for frogs while road cruising, Hyla cinerea
again with a Narrowmouth toad
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.
did manage to get one on dry land, EBR pa.
also, we found lots of Grayham's Crayfish Snakes basking in these trees (Regina grahamii)
Nerodia Rhombifer
Nerodia fasciata
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)
Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis)
Cruised this Glossy Crayfish Snake one night (Regina rigida)
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
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
Sceloporus undulatus
"
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.......
BINGO!!
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.
Cruised this one on my hunting lease one evening in September....
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
Pseudotriton montanus
some finds from the past few weeks.......
Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae)?, SE Mississippi
Tantilla coronata SE Mississippi
copperhead, Miss
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
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
Canebrake, dodging the paparazzi
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
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.
Ambystoma opacum
Six-lined racerunner
got this lifer hog-nosed (Heterodon platirhinos)
here's a shot of some of the habitat, and P-man in his own world
herpers herping, pulling in minnow traps with no luck
Crotalus horridus, originally found by Jeffro on Friday, and relocated on Saturday in the same deadfall
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.
WBR pa, road cruised this little one
Five-lined Skink, Iberville pa.
Thamnophis proximus, EBR pa.
lots of Speckled King snakes (Lampropeltis getula holbrooki)
EBR pa
EBR pa., in situ
West Baton Rouge pa.
Iberville pa.
three-toed amphiuma, caught in minnow trap (Amphiuma tridactylum)
Storeria dekayi, Iberville pa.
road cruised a few Southern Copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix)
A pretty good sized adult, Iberville pa
WBR pa, neonate
hiked this river cooter, crossing a path in EBR pa
little buddy likes getting out for frogs while road cruising, Hyla cinerea
again with a Narrowmouth toad
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.
did manage to get one on dry land, EBR pa.
also, we found lots of Grayham's Crayfish Snakes basking in these trees (Regina grahamii)
Nerodia Rhombifer
Nerodia fasciata
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)
Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis)
Cruised this Glossy Crayfish Snake one night (Regina rigida)
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
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
Sceloporus undulatus
"
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.......
BINGO!!
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.
Cruised this one on my hunting lease one evening in September....
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
Pseudotriton montanus
some finds from the past few weeks.......
Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae)?, SE Mississippi
Tantilla coronata SE Mississippi
copperhead, Miss
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
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
Canebrake, dodging the paparazzi
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