Hey guys, I've seen some really great stuff from the ANF trip! It looks like you guys had fun and I wish I could have been both there and where I was at the same time! Anyways, I got to spend the weekend of April 26th in the gorgeous Red Hills region of the eastern Florida panhandle with the Orianne Society on their 4th Places You've Never Herped Event. Let me start off by thanking my good friends at The Orianne Society for hosting these events and doing great conservation work! Also, let me thank the people that come and make these events so much fun! If you're interested in becoming a member and checking out their work, here's a link! Another big thanks to the people at Tall Timbers for hosting the event on their newly acquired land! I'll post a link to their website below too.
http://www.oriannesociety.org/
https://www.talltimbers.org/index.html
As usual, the excitement of a trip to one of the herp meccas of the United States had me squirming in my desk during the weeks leading up to the trip. Having been to Apalachicola in December, I had a basic idea of what to expect habitat wise. This time, however, it was late April! Everything was "waking up", if that term can even be applied to Florida. We arrived in Monticello Florida, the small town in which we would be staying, at about 4AM on Saturday morning. Knowing good and well we were scheduled to meet early the next morning at the site, I tried to get some sleep which was very hard to do knowing that critters were moving. I woke up to an incredibly misty morning, which seems to be a regular occurrence in this part of the state. We pulled into the plantation right on time, and right away I knew it was going to be a good day. The early morning sun began to burn off the fog that engulfed the ancient live oaks that bordered the sand road into the site. The road to the meeting site was fairly long, but filled with life. Over the course of the trip I would see several species of treefrogs on the road, along with toads and other frogs.
The crew (some of it) on Saturday morning.
After reuniting with some of my long distance friends, I got to see some of their finds from the previous night, and I snapped some quick iPhone shots.
This mud snake was found by James, I believe.
And a gorgeous scarlet king, found by the SC crew I think.
By the time the fog had burned off, we had split up into several teams. My family and I chose to accompany Dirk's team (feat. Kim Sash and Pierson Hill) to check aquatic traps and do some upland herping. The caravan soon rolled up on a scenic, fish free wetland depression, where aquatic traps had been set the day before.
Although gorgeous, this pond was littered with landmines in the form of fire ant "rafts", biting water bugs (I experienced these first hand), alligators, and cottomouths. The latter two were more exciting than harmful to most on the trip.
Here's an example of a fire ant raft.
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And the first of many cottomouths this trip was a large and attractive individual I spotted around one of said ponds.
I also found this young garter snake under a partially submerged log here. Although one of my main targets was a ribbon snake, quite an embarrassing "white whale" of mine, none were to be found.
Two lifers were found in these ponds, both of which were seen and regrettably unphotographed multiple times throughout the weekend. The greater siren and two-toed amphiuma were both found in the traps that were set.
Nick found a gorgeous glass lizard here.
This stop was one of my favorites throughout the weekend, but there were many more ahead so we continued our "tour" of the area. The next stop was another wetland surrounded by nice upland habitat, followed by even higher and drier habitat.
Tons of racers were found here, I took a quick voucher of the first and left the rest alone.
Also a few more cottomouths and the first water snakes were found in the wetlands, along with mud turtles and some interesting fish pulled up in the traps.
Nick photographing a cottonmouth.
Cool fish found in a trap.
After checking traps, we headed to the upland areas surrounding it. Here's a quick habitat shot.
Oops, I slipped a pretty little snake I found there into that last shot. Sorry for the eyesore.
A few more of the little turd.
I found some awesome lifers later in the trip, but not much beats a gorgeous little scarlet king in my convoluted mind.
Several pinewoods snakes were flipped. One of these stinkers would've been my lifer had I been nearby when they were found. Oh well, I got to smell that legendary musk.
Bill photographing the one he flipped.
The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful if I recall correctly, but there was a great sunset and I walked a garter outside of a stumphole near the base camp where we were having dinner.
Once the sun set, the night herping began. It was a little cool for nightcruising, but Josh Young was kind enough to show us one of his spots nearby where we were able to track down multiple mud and swamp snakes in a wetland, both lifers for me. I also got to see both sirens and amphiumas in their natural habitat instead of traps.
The next morning we hit the ponds again to check traps. My brother got quite a surprise when he pulled this little dinosaur up in a trap.
Matt Moore with the gator.
I pulled up a neat pig frog in a trap with a greater siren.
A panorama of the whole pond area.
After checking traps we once more moved to another wetland where we went knee deep into some excellent cottonmouth habitat. It took us a while to find one, but after the first they came one after another. At one point we were within feet of 5 individuals. All photos are in situ.
Dirk Stevenson photographing one.
After cottonfest, we once again headed to the uplands to end the day. No spectacular finds, but a few nice ends to the trip.
Overall it was a fun trip as usual with the Orianne Society, and I departed from my old and new friends with a heavy heart. I hope you enjoyed my view of the weekend, and I'm sorry it was kind of short winded and possibly scrambled due to the time between the event and me writing this. There were many other cool finds and stories to be told and unfortunately I cannot possibly remember them all, so if others do feel free to add photos and/or stories!
What went down on the east side of the rivers.
Moderator: Scott Waters
Re: What went down on the east side of the rivers.
I've grown quite fond of glass lizards, and that eastern is amazing. Looks like a big, old, male.
Congrats on a nice post. I usually expect awesesome stuff from you and I was not disappointed!
Congrats on a nice post. I usually expect awesesome stuff from you and I was not disappointed!
- Josh Holbrook
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Re: What went down on the east side of the rivers.
Good stuff. I admire upland herps, but there's nothing like the life aquatic.
Re: What went down on the east side of the rivers.
wow !!!! fantastic job that was a really nice looking post !!
- BillMcGighan
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Re: What went down on the east side of the rivers.
Good stuff, Noah.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing.
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Re: What went down on the east side of the rivers.
Great photos with an equally great narrative. Some very evocative shots. Nothing like the north Florida early morning fog!
The big turquoise glass lizards are a mystery to me--I have found a few over the years that were eye-popping in their size and beauty but I've never found a glass lizard that was in-between. In other words, I find the typical looking eastern glass lizards by the carload and then every once in a great while, one of those giant things that is spangled in turquoise (and that often have bright yellow bellies too) but no transitional animals.
The big turquoise glass lizards are a mystery to me--I have found a few over the years that were eye-popping in their size and beauty but I've never found a glass lizard that was in-between. In other words, I find the typical looking eastern glass lizards by the carload and then every once in a great while, one of those giant things that is spangled in turquoise (and that often have bright yellow bellies too) but no transitional animals.
Re: What went down on the east side of the rivers.
Thanks everyone! More photos from this spring to come soon!