Our first calligaster this year, maculatum eggs and more!

[Gary2sons]

Our best piece of tin produced this prairie king yesterday. Checked our other AC and only found a few skinks. This tin is located in a grassy field and we had just checked a couple days ago

Only a quick pic before it tried to go down a hole.



Caught it to get more pics



Looked like it had just came up



Almost all our tin had signs of rodents



Couple pics of a deer mouse and I think a young vole





Been a little dry this year so our pond as of yesterday only had 3 masses of spotted salamander eggs. We have only seen about 6 adults recently under tin around the pond. But with the rain today there should be a lot more tomorrow.







Only one found yesterday



Just a few backyard pics from last year

This ribbon snake and earth snake was found together under AC, completely in situ



Found this little ribbon snake in mid July, only way I could get a pic was by holding it!



I brought this next little turtle home to show the grandkids. Poor little guy had lost a leg!



Took these next two pics using the old " Mcdonalds cup for a tripod method"

I need to do that more often!

Gray tree frog





And finally a life lesson learned!

When you are showing your grandkids some cicada under a weeping willow tree NEVER shake a branch to make some of them fly! We were all under the tree when I thought how cool it would be to have some fly and make noise. Bad Idea!





These were the 14 or 17 year cicadas and there were probably several hundred if not thousands in that tree! The noise was deafening when they all flew and I had two screaming grandkids, an upset wife, and a startled herper (me)!

I will know better next time!

Thanks for looking, the season is almost here!

Gary

[SnakeDude]

nice king! we're still waiting on the herps up here, but they should be out in full force by next week. we have a W. terrestrial garter snake "den" around our backyard, so they don't emerge for a while, but when they do, you can't walk through the yard without stepping on one
luv the pics
-Ian

[mikemike]

That PK is gonna be awesome once it sheds! I love the amount of diversity you always post from your guys' property.

[herpfriend]

Nice prairie king. Quite a bit of color for a mid Missouri specimen. With the weather going to be warm for the next two weeks, we may need to do a little herping.

[Gary2sons]

nice king! we're still waiting on the herps up here, but they should be out in full force by next week. we have a W. terrestrial garter snake "den" around our backyard, so they don't emerge for a while, but when they do, you can't walk through the yard without stepping on one
luv the pics
-Ian

Thanks and that must be fun to have a garter snake den in your own backyard!

That PK is gonna be awesome once it sheds! I love the amount of diversity you always post from your guys' property.

Thanks and there is a good chance we will see this same snake later in the year. It was a nice one compared to most adult Missouri calligaster.

Nice prairie king. Quite a bit of color for a mid Missouri specimen. With the weather going to be warm for the next two weeks, we may need to do a little herping.

Yes if this weather stays this warm it could really be an early season.

Gary

[Gary2sons]

Forgot to update on the spotted salamanders.

After a rain last Sunday we failed to find any more egg masses as of Monday evening. I hope they are not done because in normal years we find upwards of a hundred adults with lots of eggs. It has been somewhat dry this Spring and we have only found about 7 adults under AC around the pond so maybe the next rain will do it!

Gary

[KingCam]

That's great! The prairie is very attractive. Now I'm gonna have to go flip some boards XD