A Productive Day with My Son

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mtratcliffe
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A Productive Day with My Son

Post by mtratcliffe »

Lately on Sundays, I've been taking my kid (almost 14 months old) out with me in the afternoon to give my wife a few hours of peace and quiet so that she can get some stuff done around the house. Yesterday, I decided to check out a park I hadn't yet been to, and I ended up having quite the productive day. Between that park and one I stopped at on the way home, I turned up one Six-lined Racerunner, four Little Brown Skinks (one vouchered), two SE Five-lined Skinks (one vouchered), an Alligator, a Gopher Tortoise, six Peninsula Cooters, a Southern Black Racer, and a Southern Toad. We also heard some Cricket Frogs calling, one Squirrel Treefrog rain call, and a Pig Frog calling from under a bridge. I'd say that's a nice diverse haul, especially considering that I couldn't just wander out into the deep part of the woods with my son in the stroller. Or peer over every railing segment on the boardwalk in the cypress swamp as I was chasing him up and down on.

In addition to the herps, we also saw a good selection of dragonflies and butterflies. It's also been quite warm and humid in the daytime lately, almost to the point where it feels like summer weather. While it may have kept some snakes hidden away, everything else was quite active. I've got to squeeze in the herping that I can before it gets too hot!

All photos are posted in sequential order.

Some kind of Lubber Grasshopper?

ImageDSCN6802 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Male Great Blue Skimmer (ignore the file name)

ImageDSCN6803 - Possible Male Eastern Pondhawk by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Six-lined Racerunner - first of the year

ImageDSCN6808 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Female Great Blue Skimmer (saw lots of these)

ImageDSCN6812 - Female Great Blue Skimmer by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Southern Toad I flipped under a log

ImageDSCN6813 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

ImageDSCN6815 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

My first-ever photo of a Little Brown Skink - it was chasing another one around these palmettos

ImageDSCN6817 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

My son entertained himself with this leaf and pinecone for a good ten minutes

ImageDSCN6820 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Queen Butterfly

ImageDSCN6821 - Queen by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Female Monarch Butterfly

ImageDSCN6825 - Monarch Female by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Gopher!

ImageDSCN6830 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

ImageDSCN6831 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

The remaining photos are from a park along a stretch of the Hillsborough River that I like to kayak

Cruising the Boardwalk

ImageDSCN6837 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Peninsula Cooters - there might even be a fourth near the right edge of the photo

ImageDSCN6839 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Gator

ImageDSCN6842 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Male Southeastern Five-lined that made its home in a rotting log in the cypress swamp. I usually have a lot of success finding them in habitats adjacent to swamps.

ImageDSCN6844 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

ImageDSCN6846 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Another Female Great Blue Skimmer

ImageDSCN6847 - Female Geat Blue Skimmer by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Peninsula Cooter grazing in duckweed

ImageDSCN6848 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

Unknown species of fish - probably non-native

ImageDSCN6852 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

To wrap things up, here's my favorite find of the day. I don't know if anyone else does this, but I always keep an eye out for snakes in really obvious basking spots, even though they are almost never there. Well, I was pulling out of the park entrace, leaving for home, when I drive by a wooden fence line and see something large laying on top of one of the horizontal sections. To my surprise, laying there out in the open, was a large Southern Black Racer catching some sun. I couldn't believe how easy of a find this was, and I immediately pulled over onto the shoulder, turned the car off, locked the doors (kid in the carseat, after all) and cautiously approached the snake. It was the calmest Racer I've ever seen, and it let me take a few good photos, the last of which marked the end of my camera's battery. Luckily, I got the shots I wanted, and no sooner than the battery died, the Racer turned around and slithered away into the woods.

ImageDSCN6853 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

ImageDSCN6856 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

The final shot

ImageDSCN6857 by zeonicweapon, on Flickr

With that encounter, I was able to photograph a live Black Racer for only the second time. Every other one either got away from me or was a DOR. With that, I wrapped up what I consider a very successful day of herping, and I'm glad I was able to share it with my son, even if he had no idea what was going on and was cranky from time to time.
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Noah M
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Re: A Productive Day with My Son

Post by Noah M »

This is great, and the commentary about the son is nice too. You're becoming quite the story teller.
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soulsurvivor
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Re: A Productive Day with My Son

Post by soulsurvivor »

Love the racer pics! Looks like it was a fun outing.

~Bree
Tamara D. McConnell
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Re: A Productive Day with My Son

Post by Tamara D. McConnell »

Looks like a great day!
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Josh Young
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Re: A Productive Day with My Son

Post by Josh Young »

Your unknown fish is a blue tilapia.
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BillMcGighan
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Re: A Productive Day with My Son

Post by BillMcGighan »

Good script and pics = a very nice post.

The racer is a really good opportunity!

The best to me (and my wife) is the
My son entertained himself with this leaf and pinecone for a good ten minutes
moment. Development at that age is so important for later on. Everything is new and must be studied by any senses available.
(The fact that he looks a lot like our youngest grandchild didn't hurt)

Looks like you have a keeper there! :) :)
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mtratcliffe
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Re: A Productive Day with My Son

Post by mtratcliffe »

BillMcGighan wrote:Good script and pics = a very nice post.

The racer is a really good opportunity!

The best to me (and my wife) is the
My son entertained himself with this leaf and pinecone for a good ten minutes
moment. Development at that age is so important for later on. Everything is new and must be studied by any senses available.
(The fact that he looks a lot like our youngest grandchild didn't hurt)

Looks like you have a keeper there! :) :)
Bill, I'm glad my son and his pinecone interest could bring a smile to both of your faces! He definitely is a keeper, and hopefully I can make a herper out of him someday.

Josh - thanks for the ID. I did not realize that they grew that large.
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Josh Young
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Re: A Productive Day with My Son

Post by Josh Young »

Blue tilapia get rather large, I think up to 20 inches and can weigh up to around 10 pounds at the extremes, but are usually around 12 inches and weigh a few pounds at max in SoFla. I use to see a lot of large ones with regularity in the canals in SoFla, and have caught quite a few that were meal worthy.
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JakeScott
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Re: A Productive Day with My Son

Post by JakeScott »

Great post. Getting out with the youngins is key.

-Jake
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: A Productive Day with My Son

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Wonderful! You're doing the right thing there!
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