Well, here it is folks – the last part in the series I started 8 or 9 months ago (until the prequels, or the Disney funded sequels). It’s been a whirlwind spring and summer: I’ve finished up classes, defended my thesis, graduated and am now getting ready to depart from my decade-long home (Florida) to be a missionary in Western N.C. (weird, huh?) But, I’ve got a few weeks left of herping before I do, and I had about 25 gigs of pictures as well, so that means it’s time for a post. We’ll go back to January; we were chipping away at getting the sample sizes we needed for our work with Mangrove Saltmarsh Snakes (Nerodia clarkii compressicauda), so that brought us to the far ends of southern Florida quite a few times.
Some of our lab space in the Keys:
Dr. Chesnes, my colleague in clarkii research; and Hannah, our undergraduate assistant.
Doing caudal measurements:
Venter:
Although she was a great help on the project, Hannah wasn’t a snake lover when she started, so she was a little bit leery handling them.
In habitat in the upper Keys:
We also got to do some surveying for clarkii in some of the southeastern FL state parks; including Bill Bags – No clarkii sighted there, but this turtle. Any ID ideas?
And other clarkii from other areas. While going to look for these we had some car trouble – You see, I’m not the most mechanically inclined person ever, but like to learn new things, so I started changing my own oil. Evidently hand-tightening the oil pan bolt isn’t the correct way to do it; and I found this out about halfway across the state when I heard a terrible crash and saw black smoke pouring out the back of my car. A few hours later and a tow truck driver that was nice enough to bring us the part, and we were back on the road. We were luckily redeemed later that night in some coastal marshes:
The clarkii catch kept on coming at our Herpetological Society’s annual Burm Bash; we were based out of ENP, but made some trips outside the park.
This girl had some lovely copper blotches:
The herpers:
Caleb, the youngest of the group was the star of the evening, finding more clarkii than any of us:
Ready for hours of morphometric measurements:
Interestingly, many of the clarkii were arboreal this particular evening. Amazingly, they were often in poses that would take me hours of posing to get them in. Sometime in situ pictures are better:
Some Florida Watersnake/Mangrove Watersnake hybrids:
And from the Park proper:
Soon thereafter in May, I went to join up for the Spring SE NAFHA trip in Apalachicola NF. On the way up, I stayed at a state park and saw some Southern Toads breeding on the edges of a river – it was really interesting to see them in a big, deepwater habitat (although in a shallow microhabitat within the larger habitat.)
The highlight of the trip for me (in terms of finds) were some undescribed Necturus; which I unfortunately neglected to get a good picture of.
Of course, we saw clarkii:
In addition to the Necturus, another lifer from the weekend was this Brownchin Racer:
Jake and Dan photo’ing it:
It was good seeing everyone there – the highlight for many was seeing this Kingsnake that some of the Kentucky regiment turned up:
I also got to spend some time at home in CT over Memorial Day weekend. I didn’t do much herping, but a little bit:
My wife, Beka, and I on the hunt:
It hailed while we were there, and it was the biggest, most violent hail storm I’ve ever seen. My tent:
These were water lilies before the hail tore them up:
I also got a chance to TA a class in Freshwater Ecology over the summer – right up my alley considering my graduate thesis work, etc. I spent a lot of time photographing the aquatic fauna from the class and it got me into doing fish-tank shots on other occasions
Some of the class sifting through a bar seine:
Seining:
A Leopard frog showing the mustache and soul patch:
Spooked barkers:
Barker getting ready to chorus:
Gambusia holbrooki
Peninsular Newt:
A great fishless wetland for Hylids -
Narrowmouth Tadpoles:
Pinewoods Treefrog:
(I think) Squirrel Treefrog:
A long-awaited lifer for me: the Narrow-striped Dwarf Siren:
Anax junius
Barking Treefrog:
Green Frog tadpoles
I’ve also done a lot of road driving in the dry prairies of the middle of the state this year – sometimes boring, sometimes beautiful.
A ten-pointer in velvet:
Venison and poultry:
I saw a couple of Chicken Turtles while driving:
Habitat where it crossed:
Second one:
At one point nearby, we were cruising after a long day of nothing, and saw a huge slide on the road. A few minutes and a flying leap through the air later, we had the largest Coachwhip I’ve ever seen at 8 ft, 4 inches.
My regular herping buds Dermot and Lloyd with the beast
I also decided to get out and search for sea turtles given this is my last foreseeable summer in Florida. When I was out I ran into another tour group that had found one:
The group’s lights weren’t nearly as bright as they appear – long exposure.
And off into the abyss after a successful deposit.
I also made my way north of Lake Okeechoee (well north – Gainesville area) for some herping with some friends (including a brief reassemblage of Team Aquatica). Didn’t find much the first trip, but had some good friends with us:
The following weekend’s fortunes were kinder to me.
And more clarkii – we’ve been trying to get 10-20 specimens from every SF county for our morphometric study, so there’s been lots of finds. They’re such a diverse species. Check out issue #18 of Herp Nation (when it comes out) for some more info/pictures of them.
Dr. Chesnes and Bill Gibson (From Motorized Kayak in St. Lucie, check them out if you’re in the Treasure Coast area and looking for an outing)
We also had a really interesting night one evening, you can read the extended (read: hilarious) story here: http://fieldventures.wordpress.com/2014 ... o-florida/
But some of the finds from that eve:
And some etc.
And I’ll leave you with a picture of my faithful dog, Corbett, begging to be taken herping:
Thanks for viewing all, I look forward to more adventures.
-Josh
