Last winter was a long one for my family so we decided to move back to Saskatchewan. My wife and kid left first but I had a few commitments relating to lab work and teaching so I had to wait a couple months to follow them. Unfortunately, it was too early for herps and too warm for on ice activities so I waited for the melt.
As soon as I had time tried to get out. I have a buddy that helps run a banding station and so when I get a chance I head out there for a visit to see what is passing through and do a little herping. This year there were some great folks doing some work on migratory bats that let me tag along.
A silver-haired bat
Lasionycteris noctivagans by N Cairns, on Flickr
Close-up looks at the birds always impress me
Mourning dove
Zenaida macroura by N Cairns, on Flickr
Ruby crowned kinglet
Regulus calendula by N Cairns, on Flickr
Dekay’s brown and garter snakes are extremely common make up the vast majority of the snakes you get to see.
Storeria dekayi by N Cairns, on Flickr
Thamnophis sirtalis by N Cairns, on Flickr
In this area a large proportion of the garter snakes are hyper melanistic leading to a handsome near pure black snake.
Thamnophis sirtalis by N Cairns, on Flickr
Turtles are also common in the area, spotted’s have eluded me but I’ve found Blanding’s to be quite common locally in the shallow beaver made swamps.
Emydoidea blandingii habitat by N Cairns, on Flickr
Emydoidea blandingii by N Cairns, on Flickr
For the last couple years I have helped teach a field herpetology course at a research station near Kingston Ontario. It usually has about 15-20 students of varying levels of knowledge and interest, we teach them the local diversity, instruct a basic research skill sets and go though some relevant literature in the first week then they do self directed projects the second week. This year was great as there were some keen folks this year and we managed to find all the local snake species. It’s fairly hands on instruction so I don’t get to take as many pictures as I’d like but I still get moments.
We hit the beginning of turtles season where the map turtles are still clustered at their over wintering sites.
Graptemys geographica by N Cairns, on Flickr
Graptemys geographica by N Cairns, on Flickr
Painted turtles are the most common species.
Chrysemys picta by N Cairns, on Flickr
Chrysemys picta by N Cairns, on Flickr
Chrysemys picta by N Cairns, on Flickr
This lake is also full of musk turtles
Sternotherus odoratus by N Cairns, on Flickr
Ribbon snakes are very common, stalking the amphibian breeding pools.
Thamnophis sauritus by N Cairns, on Flickr
Thamnophis sauritus by N Cairns, on Flickr
So are the northern watersnakes
Nerodia sipedon by N Cairns, on Flickr
Love me a redbelly
Storeria occipitomaculata by N Cairns, on Flickr
Milk snakes are not common in this area but we usually see a couple over the 2 weeks. Lampropeltis triangulum by N Cairns, on Flickr
This area is likely one of the best places to see a grey [black] ratsnakes in Canada with a number hibernation sites that have been researched extensively.
Pantherophis spiloides by N Cairns, on Flickr
Pantherophis spiloides by N Cairns, on Flickr
Pantherophis spiloides by N Cairns, on Flickr
Toad choruses are a lot of fun to watch:
Anaxyrus americanus by N Cairns, on Flickr
A number of the calling males had these small leeches attached to them. These blood feeders use the vibration of the vocal sac to hone in on their targets. If you think about it, they are perfect for targeting, long, loud trill. Some also have large Desserobdella as well.
Anaxyrus americanus by N Cairns, on Flickr
Anaxyrus americanus with Desserobdella picta(?) by N Cairns, on Flickr
Pickerel frogs
Lithobates palustris by N Cairns, on Flickr
One of the few peepers I’ve seen in the north calling from an elevated perch and as we watched he was picked by one of the few gravid females that were still around this late in the year.
Pseudacris crucifer by N Cairns, on Flickr
A few other cool non-herp species, an eastern mole.
Scalopus aquaticus by N Cairns, on Flickr
One of my favorite fish the central mudminnow
Umbra limi by N Cairns, on Flickr
Immediately after the class I packed the last of my stuff and headed west to south western Saskatchewan. As usual our hot water tank was dying (hard water) so I spent a day or two trying to get parts. Spending all that time in the basement lets me get reacquainted with the resident population of tiger salamanders that live down there.
Ambystoma mavortium by N Cairns, on Flickr
In May the prairie starts to flush with life, the ducks and other birds come back, the herbivores put on weight and the predators thrive on the young and dumb.
Anas discors by N Cairns, on Flickr
Lepus townsendii by N Cairns, on Flickr
Canis latrans by N Cairns, on Flickr
Buteo swainsoni by N Cairns, on Flickr
The end of May and beginning of June signal two of my favorite things: spadefoot season and Missouri River fishing trips.
I really like spadefoots and survey for them during and after large rain events (part of a more in depth research project I’ll be starting next spring) this year had a number of major rain falls where I observed adults active but as usual only three days of calling.
There were good numbers of gravid females:
Spea bombifrons by N Cairns, on Flickr
And a variety of males
Spea bombifrons by N Cairns, on Flickr
Including this real stunner:
Spea bombifrons by N Cairns, on Flickr
These warm rainy nights are also good for plains garter snakes out feeding on earthworms and road killed frogs.
Thamnophis radix by N Cairns, on Flickr
The fishing trip was short this year, only one night and the fishing wasn’t great but the snakes were out in force in particular the racers. It started well with a young of last year hoggie just across the Montana line.
Heterodon nasicus by N Cairns, on Flickr
This Woodhouse’s toad was a constant at our campsite night or day.
Anaxyrus woodhousii by N Cairns, on Flickr
As I mentioned racers made up the bulk of our observations:
Coluber constrictor by N Cairns, on Flickr
Coluber constrictor by N Cairns, on Flickr
And it wouldn’t be a Montana trip with out a big bull snake laying across the road.
Pituophis catenifer sayi by N Cairns, on Flickr
Pituophis catenifer sayi by N Cairns, on Flickr
Back home some of the locals were starting to get active as well
Pituophis catenifer sayi by N Cairns, on Flickr
Phrynosoma hernandesi by N Cairns, on Flickr
Antilocapra americana by N Cairns, on Flickr
Summer here is typified by one species, the greater short-horned lizard
Phrynosoma hernandesi by N Cairns, on Flickr
Thanks for looking,
Best,
Nick
part 2 (http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... =2&t=23940)
Summer recap part one (little late)
Moderator: Scott Waters
Re: Summer recap part one (little late)
Is that a melanistic musk turtle...? Awesome melanistic gartersnake Do you have a full body and belly shot by any chance? Man melanistic sure have been surfacing lately... Here's another found this year that I saw posted on flickr
Wandering Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans vagrans) by Gavin Beck, on Flickr
Wandering Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans vagrans) by Gavin Beck, on Flickr
Re: Summer recap part one (little late)
A lot cool shots here I like theses the most...
Anaxyrus americanus with Desserobdella picta(?) by N Cairns, on Flickr
Canis latrans by N Cairns, on Flickr
Thamnophis radix by N Cairns, on Flickr
Anaxyrus americanus with Desserobdella picta(?) by N Cairns, on Flickr
Canis latrans by N Cairns, on Flickr
Thamnophis radix by N Cairns, on Flickr
Re: Summer recap part one (little late)
Thanks Porter, I appreciate that.
It seemed to be a pretty normal musk turtle but I really like the neonates
Here are a few other garters from the same population. About 40% of them are melanistic in that area.
Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis (hypermelanistic) by N Cairns, on Flickr
Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis (hypermelanistic) by N Cairns, on Flickr
It seemed to be a pretty normal musk turtle but I really like the neonates
Here are a few other garters from the same population. About 40% of them are melanistic in that area.
Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis (hypermelanistic) by N Cairns, on Flickr
Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis (hypermelanistic) by N Cairns, on Flickr