Jason Poston – Field Herpetology

A friend Will and I meet up down in Northern WV for a little herping to see what we could find in an area I have been to a few times in the past. I was wanting to check the area for Green Salamanders and Timbers but neither of those targets were aquired. Insted we did find a few things here an there that I have not found in this area yet.

1 Northern Water Snake
1 Ringneck Snake
4 Mtn Duskys Salamanders
3 Seal Salamanders
2 Northern Reds Salamander
1 Redback Salamander

Ringneck:

Mtn. Duskys:

Seals:

Reds:

Views:

Headed down to SC with my daughter to visit my family. While I was there I got to get out and do some herping for a little bit here an there. Had some good luck. Most the target species I was aiming for I did not find as time was limited and the places were to far to work with during out stay. We were therr from May 31st – June 8th. Part of the week we went camping down near charleston, SC.

June 1st
Florence County
Out with my father for a few hours hitting a few landings and road crusing some areas.

1 marbled salamander
3 Southern Leapoard?
a few sliders
2 ground skinks,
1 5lined skink
1 copperhead
1 yellow rat
1 timber
1 dor racer
1 box turtle

Marbled Salamander:

Southern Leapoard:

Timber/Canebrake

Copperhead:

Rat Snake:

DOR Racer:

June 2nd
Clarendon County
Went out for an hour.

5+ 5lined skinks
2 ground skinks
2 narrowmouth Toads *Lifer
1 Pine Woods Frog
3 unided frogs jumping though the weeds. probably cricket
1 yellow-bellied slider

Pine Woods Frog

Narrowmouth Toad:

June 3rd – 6th
Charleston County
Things around the camp area.

1 Alligator
10+ Sliders
5+ Anoles
20+ Unided Tadpoles
Unided Frog (hopped away to fast)
A few Skinks
1 King Snake

Unided Tadpoles (Wood probably)

Eastern King Snake:

June 7th
Clarendon County
Went out with my friend Matt to a few spots.
Matt picked up ad DOR King and a AOR Glass Lizard on the way over.

Other than that we got
2 DOR rats
4 marbled sallys resently transformed
1 Narrow mouth toad
6 Water Dogs *Lifer
5 Dwarf Salamanders *Lifer
1 Green Tree Frog
2 Broadhead Skinks
5+ 5lined Skinks
5+ Racerunners
1 Racer

Marbled Salamanders:

Dwarf Waterdog and Dwarf Salamander:

Narrowmouth Toad:

Skinks and Glass Lizard

Eastern King Snake:

I hit a few spots around Allegheny and Westmorelands County this weekend from Friday to Sunday. Not a bad weekend for the most part. Went to some new spots found some new populations Queen Snake and Ravine Salamaner, Not far from others but always a good thing to see them in a new area I have not before.

Friday
Allegheny County
2  Garter Snakes
1 Ringneck Snake

Garters:

Ringneck:

Saturday
Allegheny County
10+ N Water Snakes
1 Queen Snake
1 Garter Snake
2 Ravine Salamanders

Northern Water:

Queen Snake:

Ravine Salamanders:

Sunday
Westmoreland County
1 Rat Snake
1 N. Water Snake
1 Garter Snake
TMTC Northern and Mountain Duskies
1 Spring Salamander
2 Two-lined Salamaners
1 Green Frog
5 Unided frogs

Funny thing about the Rat snake is he was right at the beginning of the trail and even when I was taking photos Noone that pasted even saw him. HE was RIGHT THERE. I come back after 2 hours an he is still there. Then the Little Norther water snake (probably the nicest looking juvie i have seen was right on the path and like 20 people walked by and didn’t even see him, not even when I was taking a photo, then one guy noticed it and showed his daughters and they were really cool about it. I did take him off the path so he wouldn’t be trampled or rode over by a bike.

Rat Snake:

Northern Water:

Garter:

Bug Eyed Mountain Dusky

Two Lineds

Spring Salamander Egg Mass:

Was a little on the cool side so i mainly scouted out some new areas, but most places turned up to be private so I stopped by my local Queen spot on the way home.

1 Queen Snake
5+ Northern Water Snakes

Temps 55f
Cloudy and Windy.

Went out for about 2 hrs today and had a nice little hike with the little bit of nice weather we had today.

Temp 65f
Partly Coudy

1 Queen Snake
6 N. Water Snakes
1 N. Slimy
1 Snapping Turtle
2 American Toads
tmtc A. Toad Tadpoles
3 Bull Frog Calls
10+ Bull Frog Tadpoles
and 3 Northern Orioles

Queen Snake:

Northern Water:

American Toad:

Snapping turtle:

Went out for a little while today to check if any Ravines were moving in two close by spots. The 1st spot I did not have any luck. The 2nds spot I found 2 Ravines and 2 Slimys. The areas was really wet from the rain last night. Also went and checked out along the creek and saw a good bit of Northern Waters, 1 Queen, and 1 Garter Snake that was in a tree, this is the 2nd time I have seen a Garter snake in a tree in that location. Not sure how common it is for them to be in a tree eaither.

Totals:
2 – Ravine Salamanders
2 – Slimy Salamanders
1 – Queen Snake
1 – Garter Snake
10+ Northern Water Snakes
1 unided frog.

Ravines:

What Ravines Eat-Carpenter Ants, Sow Bugs, and Harvest Mites

Slimys:

A Big one:

Queen Snake:

Garter Snake:

John and myself went up North for a trip to find some massasaugas. Location is not discolsed nor the people we meet up with. This was a great trip. 10 mins in to the walk John found the 1st one then one of the other guys found one shortly after that. All in all a good day to get to see two of these great snakes.

We also saw a few other things though out the day.

2-massasaugas
7-garters
8-redbacks
32-mt dusky’s
11-two lines
1-wood frog

Saguas:

Wood Frog:

5-6-08

8:30am – 2pm

John and I went down to Fayette County, PA on Tuesday to see what we could find moving in that area. We got a good bit of finds some nice stuff and some of the ol’ regular finds. We didn’t hit our main target that was copperheads but we did get a Northern Red Salamander and a few Spring Salamanders.

Inventory:
2-Two-lined Salamander
6-Newts
tmtc newt egg masses
2-Spring Salamander
1-N. red Salamander
7-N dusky Salamander
19-Mt dusky Salamander
6-Seal Salamander
11-Redback Salamander
3-Slimy Salamander
1-snapping turtle
green frogs (tmtc)
tmtc-wood frog tadpole
tmtc-American toad tadpoles and egg strands

Newt:

Spring Salamander:

Northern Red Salamander:

Slimy Salamanders:

Seal Salamanders:

Snapping Turtle:

Tadpoles: Wood frog – Green Frog

Green Frog: