First Third of 2015.... early Year in Review

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Berkeley Boone
Posts: 878
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 4:02 am

First Third of 2015.... early Year in Review

Post by Berkeley Boone »

This is the same post I put in the main forum, but wanted to share it here as well, since the Southeast is my stomping grounds!

2015 has been a fun year so far. You may remember from my last Year-In-Review post, I did only one deliberate herping excursion in 2014. I’ve already done a couple of outings this year. Nothing epic, but as of the beginning of May, I have recorded 77 species of reptiles and amphibians so far.

This is my attempt at a review a third of the way through. Let’s get on with it.

My year began with my in-laws giving us one of their old point-and-shoot cameras. I was grateful, and began tinkering with it immediately.
Turkey Vultures
Image1Cat aur by bwboone, on Flickr
Image2Cathartes aura by bwboone, on Flickr

My friend Justin and I went up to northwest GA to try and find some tiger salamanders he had a tip on. We did not find any tigers on the trip when I went, but the next day he went back and found several, and was able to get a very significant range extension.

This is the habitat that we were walking around in:
Image3Ttiger spot by bwboone, on Flickr
Image4Tiger spota by bwboone, on Flickr

Found these rock piles in the middle of the woods in that area. I have seen the rockpiles left from days past where farmers would clear the fields, or use them as property markers, but these did not strike me as either use. Thoughts?
Image5Rockpiles by bwboone, on Flickr

Image6ple glu by bwboone, on Flickr

My year really started off with a trip to Australia in the end of January. I will do a dedicated post to that trip as soon as I am able. In the meantime, here are a few teaser pics from the Land Down Under.
Image7Banksia serrulata1 by bwboone, on Flickr

Yellow-Bellied Water-Skink
Image8Eulamprus heatwolei in situ by bwboone, on Flickr

Eastern Water Skink
Image9Eulamprus quoyii in situ by bwboone, on Flickr

Image10Harbour bridge and dragon by bwboone, on Flickr

Image11Long and Short of It by bwboone, on Flickr

Image12Phy les in situ by bwboone, on Flickr

Image13Fruit Bats by bwboone, on Flickr

Image14Pteropus conspicillatus by bwboone, on Flickr

Image15Carlia rubrigularis by bwboone, on Flickr

Nun’s orchid bloom that was waiting for me when we got back home:
Image16phaius by bwboone, on Flickr

Peepers, upland chorus frogs and southern leopard frogs, and the set up that I created so my coworker and interns could photograph them.
Image17pse cru by bwboone, on Flickr

Image18pse fer2 by bwboone, on Flickr

Image19ran sph by bwboone, on Flickr

Image20ran sph2 by bwboone, on Flickr

Image21set up by bwboone, on Flickr

Eastern Fairy Shrimp, Eubranchipus holmani, found while searching for the previous frogs. It was really cool to find these. They were only about a half inch in length and have the curious habit of swimming upside down. These shrimp are found pretty much exclusively in temporary, fishless, vernal ponds.
Image22eub hol by bwboone, on Flickr

Image23eub hol1 by bwboone, on Flickr

More upland chorus frogs
Image24pse fer3 by bwboone, on Flickr

Image25 pse fer4 by bwboone, on Flickr

Image26pse fer5 by bwboone, on Flickr

Laeliocattleya orchid bloom
Image27laeliocattleya by bwboone, on Flickr

By now, spring was in full swing here. The temps were creeping up, the flowers were blooming and the sun was out more days than not. And with the sun, comes the critters.
Chickasaw plum, Prunus angustifolia
Image28pru ang by bwboone, on Flickr

Bradford Pear, Pyris calleryana
Image29pyr cal by bwboone, on Flickr

Image30ner sip in situ by bwboone, on Flickr

Image31trilliums by bwboone, on Flickr

Image32trout lily by bwboone, on Flickr

I am fortunate to have views like these on my drive to work each day.
Image33fog by bwboone, on Flickr

Image36field of gold by bwboone, on Flickr

At work we have been doing a weekly mini-series of videos on local wildlife and habitats. During filming for one of those episodes back in the fall, we observed a common musk turtle swimming at the surface of a small pond and eating the seeds of loblolly pine trees that were floating past. It turned out to be an unknown behavior and dietary item, so we were able to get it submitted to Herp Review and it was published back in March. That was pretty exciting!
Here are some links to a couple of those videos that we have produced. Nothing fancy- we go out just when we have time, and we don’t have any real media training or equipment- but we have fun putting them together.

Venomous Snakes:
https://www.facebook.com/CharlieElliott ... =3&theater

Prescribed Fires:
https://www.facebook.com/CharlieElliott ... =3&theater

Rainy Day Creatures:
https://www.facebook.com/CharlieElliott ... =3&theater

Back to the pictures. An anole in the yard that displayed up and down the top of the fence. My daughter found this just delightful.
Image34 ano car fence by bwboone, on Flickr

Five-lined skink at the back door of my office
Image35 eum fas back door by bwboone, on Flickr

Image37rho fla by bwboone, on Flickr

I had to go to southwest GA for a work event, and in the down time, I was able to get out on the roads and in the woods. Nothing beats being outside in the spring time!
Eastern Bluestar, Amsonia tabernamontana
Image38amsonia tabernaemontana by bwboone, on Flickr

Gopherweed, Baptisia lanceolata
Image39baptisia lanceolata by bwboone, on Flickr

Birdfoot Violet, Viola pedata
Image40vio ped spread by bwboone, on Flickr

Image41viola pedata by bwboone, on Flickr

Image42bracken by bwboone, on Flickr

This was a fun discovery. I was heading back up a hill from a bottomland area and found this ancient old stump with some diagonal slashes cut into it, and the rusted away remnants of the drip collectors for the sap. The area on the tree was known as a catface.
Image43cat face by bwboone, on Flickr

(I wish I had some pics of the catfaces and the ceramic collecting tubs in action, but I don’t. If you are interested in seeing them on living trees and the sap being collected, just google those terms.)

After that, I spent a little time walking around the pond that was at the house where we were staying. Found this dragonfly that had just emerged, and was waiting for its wings to dry and harden.
Image44emerging by bwboone, on Flickr

Another dragonfly, a female Calico pennant, Celithemis elisa, cold and wet from the morning.
Image45celithemis elisa female by bwboone, on Flickr

Image46reflection by bwboone, on Flickr

Image49paper wasps by bwboone, on Flickr

Image48col con by bwboone, on Flickr

Image49eum lat by bwboone, on Flickr

As we were literally driving out of the driveway heading back to the office, I looked out of the window of my truck and saw this sight:
Image50het pla in situ by bwboone, on Flickr

We were on a pretty steep slope, and I was pulling a trailer, so we had to keep moving or risk sliding back and getting stuck. I was hopeful that they had not been disturbed and bolted for cover. After getting to the top of the hill, I was able to park the truck, and my interns and I ran back to find the pair still asleep. It appeared that they had finished mating not long before, and were now napping in the sunshine. Alas, this poor pair of snakes promptly, and violently, died….:
Image51het pla dead pair by bwboone, on Flickr

….so we began referring to them as Romeo and Juliet.
Image52het pla romeo juliet1 by bwboone, on Flickr

Image53het pla wide by bwboone, on Flickr

We let them sit quietly for a few minutes, and miraculously, they regained life!
Image54het pla resurrect by bwboone, on Flickr

Image55skies by bwboone, on Flickr

Painted Buckeye, Aesculus sylvatica
Image56aesculus sylvatica by bwboone, on Flickr

We have had a remarkably cool and rainy spring. The amphibians have enjoyed it immensely, however, and I have been able to spend more time with a variety of species.
Image57eur cir by bwboone, on Flickr

Image58hyl chr by bwboone, on Flickr

Image59hyl chr camo by bwboone, on Flickr

Image60hyl cin by bwboone, on Flickr

Image61hyl gra by bwboone, on Flickr

Image62rana palustris by bwboone, on Flickr

Image63rana palustris waterfall by bwboone, on Flickr

Image64rana palustris2 by bwboone, on Flickr

Image65bufo tads by bwboone, on Flickr

Corn snake that I rescued from a glue trap and released behind the building he was found in:
Image66ela gut by bwboone, on Flickr

Northern water snake, creekside
Image67ner sip in situ by bwboone, on Flickr

Fowler’s toad, also enjoying a walk in the woods
Image68buf fow by bwboone, on Flickr

Image69buf fow1 by bwboone, on Flickr

I went with my good buddies Matt and Justin, and Matt’s wife, down to the Okefenokee swamp on one of our annual spring trips. It did not disappoint. I’ll do a full post with all the finds from this trip, but here are a few teaser pictures until I can make that happen.
Image70cro hor atr by bwboone, on Flickr

Image71ner ery head in situ by bwboone, on Flickr

Image72eum fas in situ by bwboone, on Flickr

Image73B52 Fly from Hell by bwboone, on Flickr

Image74oph ven car by bwboone, on Flickr

And finally, an emergent female Great Blue Skimmer, Libellula vibrans, from one of my backyard tubs.
Image75libellula vibrans female by bwboone, on Flickr

This brings us up to date. It has been a good year so far, and I am looking forward to seeing what else I find as it gets warmer.
I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for viewing.
--Berkeley
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BillMcGighan
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Location: Unicoi, TN

Re: First Third of 2015.... early Year in Review

Post by BillMcGighan »

And I was going to say that I saw a ducky and a horsey for this year.......


I love the mix of organisms; makes for a most interesting post.

We'll be watching for the Australia post.
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Josh Holbrook
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Re: First Third of 2015.... early Year in Review

Post by Josh Holbrook »

Great stuff - I love the pair of heterodons.

Is that 77 species including Aussie herps?
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soulsurvivor
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Re: First Third of 2015.... early Year in Review

Post by soulsurvivor »

You have some really beautiful photos. Herps in habitat shots are really cool. And I love the bats in flight!

~Bree
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Berkeley Boone
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Joined: June 8th, 2010, 4:02 am

Re: First Third of 2015.... early Year in Review

Post by Berkeley Boone »

Thanks Bill, Josh and Bree.
BillMcGighan wrote:And I was going to say that I saw a ducky and a horsey for this year.......

I love the mix of organisms; makes for a most interesting post.
Ha ha! :D I've included both of those animals in my previous posts as well. They totally count! Thanks, I like to include it all. I figure it makes for a better overall viewing experience if the person can see everything that is around, and not just one thing (herps, flowers, people...)

I thought you might like those hogs, Josh. Yes, the 77 is including the Aussie herps. I think it was 10-12 lizard species, a snake and a turtle species. Details to come....

Thanks for the very kind words, Bree. I like those in-habitat shots too (as you can tell!). The bats were just amazing. Thousands of them, all screaming and squawking as they left the tree, but once they were in flight they were totally silent. They were big too, perhaps a 4.5 foot wingspan! More on that later....

--Berkeley
Carl D. May
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Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 4:17 am

Re: First Third of 2015.... early Year in Review

Post by Carl D. May »

Wonderful! You managed to capture the essence of Spring in the southeast perfectly...plus, the tragedy of hognose love!
Do you have the citation or link for your musk turtle observation? Would like to see it.
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Noah M
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Re: First Third of 2015.... early Year in Review

Post by Noah M »

This was great. Enough story to keep things interesting, more than just herp photos, and great pictures as well!
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Berkeley Boone
Posts: 878
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 4:02 am

Re: First Third of 2015.... early Year in Review

Post by Berkeley Boone »

Thank you, Carl and Noah. Glad you enjoyed the post!

I'll have to see if I can figure out the formal citation. It is in the most recent copy of the Herpetological Review (Mar 2015). Here is the write up for the Stinky-pot:

STERNOTHERUS ODORATUS (Common Musk Turtle). FORAGING AND DIET.
Common musk turtles are known omnivores, eating a variety of both live and dead animal prey, from
beetles to tadpoles and fish, as well as algae and fleshy-leaved plants and fruits (Ernst, C.H. and J.E.
Lovich. 2009. Turtles of the United States and Canada, 2nd edition. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore,
MD 827 pp.). Seeds of many [Pinus] species rank high among the foods eaten by game birds, rabbits,
squirrels and chipmunks, as well as by coyote and black bear (Petrides, G.A.. 1986. A Field Guide to
Trees and Shrubs, 2nd edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA 464 pp.). To the best of our
knowledge, herein we document the first example of a common musk turtle consuming seeds from a pine
tree.
On 21 October 2014 at 1448 h we observed a young adult common musk turtle of unknown sex
swimming at the surface of a small pond on Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, 6.7 km S of Mansfield, Jasper
County, Georgia USA (N 33° 27’ 31.28”; W 83° 43’ 23.76”; WGS 84). The turtle began to
actively chase after and consume the drifting loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) seeds that were floating at the
surface. The turtle approached from below each seed, grabbed it with its jaws, and swallowed it after
wresting from the papery samara that allowed the seed to float. The turtle then slowly sank down toward
the pond bottom where it appeared to crush the seed before swallowing. This behavior was observed on
approximately a dozen seeds over the course of three or four minutes.

BERKELEY W. BOONE, AMBER MOONEY, and JAMES MURDOCK, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, 543 Elliott Trail, Mansfield, Georgia, 30055 USA (e-mail: [email protected]).


I've got a couple of less-than-stellar pics (we were using a video camera that day, and I did not have my normal camera, so I have only been able to get stills from the video), but I will see if I can get them posted if you are interested in seeing them.
--Berkeley
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