Herping Georgia, March - May 20, 2015

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

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HerpMan ATL
Posts: 84
Joined: August 30th, 2014, 12:36 pm

Herping Georgia, March - May 20, 2015

Post by HerpMan ATL »

My goal this year was simply to pass my numbers from last year. I found 16 species of snakes and 64 total snakes in 2014. Well Im happy to report Im at 16 species already this year and my total snake number 75. Ive set up some tin and flip sites and those have been pretty productive for Kings, Rats, and several Ring-necks and Worm Snakes. Ive also been able to get out a lot more and nothing beats just spending time in the field. All the herps were found in Georgia with the exception of the Pygmys and Blue-sided Garter, which were both in Florida. I spent a couple days early in April at ANF and St Marks. Had to work hard but found a few snakes after lots of road cruisin. It was kinda cool while I was there and very rainy. Below are a few of my finds.

1st snake of 2015 – March 7th
ImageFirst Snake of the Year. Midland Watersnake(Nerodia sipedon pleuralis) by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

ImageWorm Snake (Carphophis amoenus) by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

a few Kings
ImageEastern Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula) by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

ImageEastern Kingsnake #6 by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

ImageKing by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

King with Racer prey
ImageEastern Kingsnake vs Black Racer by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

Wide angle Garter
ImageGarter Snake in situ by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

Big Rat Snake
ImageBlack Rat Snake in situ by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

ImageRingneck Snake wide angle by cre8foru2009, on Flickr
First snake from ANF Trip. Florida
ImageEastern Garter Snake - Florida version by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

First of three Pygmys – Lifer!
ImageDusky Pigmy Rattlesnake by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

ImageDusky Pygmy Rattlesnake by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

St Marks NWR Florida – Blue-sided Garter – Lifer! Possibly Eastern Garter Hybrid.
ImageBlue-striped Garter Snake by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

Back in Georgia – Beautiful Red-bellied Snake
ImageRed-Bellied Snake by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

ImageEastern Hognose by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

Phinizy Swamp day trip yielded 4 Cottonmouths and numerous Gree Tree Frogs
ImageCottonmouth by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

ImageGreen Treefrog Bliss by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

Another lifer for me. - Timber Rattlesnake
ImageTimber Rattlesnake by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

Brown Snake - Being extremely cute.
ImageBrown Snake by cre8foru2009, on Flickr
ImageEastern BoxTurtle by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

Another Timber – Ive found three this Spring now after a lifetime of none. Admittedly I had not looked for one seriously until last year.
ImageTimber Rattlesnake by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

I have posted photos of several more on my flickr site including some sequence shots of the King vs Racer photo, which was awesome to witness. Been a great year so far.
rtdunham
Posts: 219
Joined: January 11th, 2011, 2:43 pm

Re: Herping Georgia, March - May 20, 2015

Post by rtdunham »

Very nice pictures. And some gorgeous kings. What part of the state are they from?
HerpMan ATL
Posts: 84
Joined: August 30th, 2014, 12:36 pm

Re: Herping Georgia, March - May 20, 2015

Post by HerpMan ATL »

rtdunham wrote:Very nice pictures. And some gorgeous kings. What part of the state are they from?
All found in the Piedmont region around Atlanta except the Cottonmouths which were in Augusta and the Pygmy's and Blue-sided Garter, which were Florida.
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mtratcliffe
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Joined: January 19th, 2014, 4:34 pm
Location: Mt Laurel, NJ

Re: Herping Georgia, March - May 20, 2015

Post by mtratcliffe »

Great finds and photos! How exactly does a Kingsnake go about catching a Racer? That must have been fascinating to stumble upon.
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Noah M
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Location: Gainesville, FL
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Re: Herping Georgia, March - May 20, 2015

Post by Noah M »

The lighting in your pics is excellent. Do you have a flash that you use during the day? Like the worm snake pic - it looks like there is a soft spotlight right on the animal and moss.
HerpMan ATL
Posts: 84
Joined: August 30th, 2014, 12:36 pm

Re: Herping Georgia, March - May 20, 2015

Post by HerpMan ATL »

captainjack0000 wrote:The lighting in your pics is excellent. Do you have a flash that you use during the day? Like the worm snake pic - it looks like there is a soft spotlight right on the animal and moss.
Thanks.... I carry a SB600 flash and it has a little diffuser that snaps on. I don't use it often though. That Worm Snake is natural light, which I prefer. I get mixed results with the flash. Im sure it would be better to bounce the light off something but then thats another thing to carry and my bag is heavy already.
HerpMan ATL
Posts: 84
Joined: August 30th, 2014, 12:36 pm

Re: Herping Georgia, March - May 20, 2015

Post by HerpMan ATL »

mtratcliffe wrote:Great finds and photos! How exactly does a Kingsnake go about catching a Racer? That must have been fascinating to stumble upon.
I flipped the King under a piece of tin. While I'm photographing him I notice a movement in the grass and this Racer crawls right up. I don't think he could see much and he was hungry. He had a messed up eye from a fungus. Anyway, I think he was considering that the King might be a meal for him because he crawled right up to it and they were actually about the same size, the Racer probably being a little longer. Then this happened. This photo shows the motion blur of the initial strike.
ImageEastern King Attack by cre8foru2009, on Flickr

Here is the Racer with the messed up eye. Right before he crawled right up to the King.
ImageBlack Racer by cre8foru2009, on Flickr
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