Relocating to NYC

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shredsteban
Posts: 199
Joined: April 7th, 2012, 8:53 pm
Location: Riverside, Ca

Relocating to NYC

Post by shredsteban »

Hi everyone, my names Nick Barrientos. I'm 25 and currently live in California. Although, in the beginning of July, I will be relocating to NYC for 10 months for business along with my wife and 2 kids. I'm not a collector and I only photograph my findings. I'm not asking for spots, but I'm wondering how realistic it is to do some herping while I'm there. We won't have a car. So public transportation is my only means of moving around. Also, do I need any specific license or permit to herp? Here in California, we need a valid fishing license. All in all, will I have to give up herping for my time there, or is it possible to get into the field?
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MarcLinsalata
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:50 pm
Location: Los Angeles / New Jersey

Re: Relocating to NYC

Post by MarcLinsalata »

Gonna be tough, Nick, without a car. But you're only about an hour outside of the Pine Barrens so if you can find means to get down there then you have to. Otherwise, take the NJ Transit train down to Trenton and see if some of the Northeast members won't mind picking you up for a trip or two.

Nick is good people............. :thumb:
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shredsteban
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Joined: April 7th, 2012, 8:53 pm
Location: Riverside, Ca

Re: Relocating to NYC

Post by shredsteban »

MarcLinsalata wrote:Gonna be tough, Nick, without a car. But you're only about an hour outside of the Pine Barrens so if you can find means to get down there then you have to. Otherwise, take the NJ Transit train down to Trenton and see if some of the Northeast members won't mind picking you up for a trip or two.

Nick is good people............. :thumb:
Thanks Marc! Good info, I appreciate it. I think if I can get myself into some decent habitat, I should be able to turn something up :)
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NewYorkHerper16
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Re: Relocating to NYC

Post by NewYorkHerper16 »

I live on Long Island, so it's quite a bit different than NYC, but there are some excellent herping oppurtunities in the state! I go to Harriman State Park a lot for herping and it's GREAT there for lots of different species, and I'm almost positive you can take a bus there from NYC. I have seen plenty of NYC buses around that area. The park's got 2 out of NY's 3 venomous snake species, and is very diverse in general.
If you take a train, you could probably get to the LI Pine Barrens too! Long Island is decent for herping, and much better then you could do in the city. It's very hard to find the rare things like hognose snakes and and mud turtles, but there are plenty of more common species that you can find rather easily such as snapping turtles, garter snakes, and water snakes. Also try to find Italian Wall Lizards, a non-native that seem to pop up in random places on the island! They have them in less crowded areas of NYC too, but i've never been to the city so you'd have to do some research on that.

Finally, i do not think you *need* a license to herp here. The only thing i could think of is to have a fishing license that allows you to legally hunt frogs and snapping turtles, but the rest of our herps are non-game animals. I've never been bothered out in the field, so i think youre ok. Just dont have any collecting equipment with you and you should be fine.

I hope you have fun when you're here, NY and the surrounding area provide some really awesome herping!
-Alex
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cbernz
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Re: Relocating to NYC

Post by cbernz »

I've seen the Italian Wall Lizards at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. I'm sure they are at some other parks as well. It might be worth exploring some of the city parks a bit, but I wouldn't expect too much apart from a whole lot of green frogs and red-eared sliders. NYC is pretty crappy for herps, although it has some decent birding. You can get some pretty good stuff not far outside the city, though, but yeah, much of it will be tough to get to without a car. The NJ Pine Barrens are at least 2 hours from NY, and depending where in the city you are based, might be more like 3 hours.

I'd say your best bet would be to try to contact some people who can drive you someplace better, or bite the bullet and rent a car. I live in NJ about an hour west of the city. I might be able to help you out, depending on what you are looking for and when you are around, but like you I have a wife and 2 young kids, so herping is at this point an occasional luxury for me.
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shredsteban
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Joined: April 7th, 2012, 8:53 pm
Location: Riverside, Ca

Re: Relocating to NYC

Post by shredsteban »

NewYorkHerper16 wrote:I live on Long Island, so it's quite a bit different than NYC, but there are some excellent herping oppurtunities in the state! I go to Harriman State Park a lot for herping and it's GREAT there for lots of different species, and I'm almost positive you can take a bus there from NYC. I have seen plenty of NYC buses around that area. The park's got 2 out of NY's 3 venomous snake species, and is very diverse in general.
If you take a train, you could probably get to the LI Pine Barrens too! Long Island is decent for herping, and much better then you could do in the city. It's very hard to find the rare things like hognose snakes and and mud turtles, but there are plenty of more common species that you can find rather easily such as snapping turtles, garter snakes, and water snakes. Also try to find Italian Wall Lizards, a non-native that seem to pop up in random places on the island! They have them in less crowded areas of NYC too, but i've never been to the city so you'd have to do some research on that.

Finally, i do not think you *need* a license to herp here. The only thing i could think of is to have a fishing license that allows you to legally hunt frogs and snapping turtles, but the rest of our herps are non-game animals. I've never been bothered out in the field, so i think youre ok. Just dont have any collecting equipment with you and you should be fine.

I hope you have fun when you're here, NY and the surrounding area provide some really awesome herping!
-Alex
Thanks for the advice! Everything on the East Coast would be a lifer for me. Lizards, geckos and turtles would all be exciting, although, I prefer snakes haha.
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shredsteban
Posts: 199
Joined: April 7th, 2012, 8:53 pm
Location: Riverside, Ca

Re: Relocating to NYC

Post by shredsteban »

cbernz wrote:I've seen the Italian Wall Lizards at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. I'm sure they are at some other parks as well. It might be worth exploring some of the city parks a bit, but I wouldn't expect too much apart from a whole lot of green frogs and red-eared sliders. NYC is pretty crappy for herps, although it has some decent birding. You can get some pretty good stuff not far outside the city, though, but yeah, much of it will be tough to get to without a car. The NJ Pine Barrens are at least 2 hours from NY, and depending where in the city you are based, might be more like 3 hours.

I'd say your best bet would be to try to contact some people who can drive you someplace better, or bite the bullet and rent a car. I live in NJ about an hour west of the city. I might be able to help you out, depending on what you are looking for and when you are around, but like you I have a wife and 2 young kids, so herping is at this point an occasional luxury for me.
Thanks for the advice. I think on my free days, as long as I'm not straining my family too much, I can pull an all day trip to the Pine Barrens or anywhere else that has suitable habitat outside of the city. Like I said, anything would be a lifer. I will be like a kid in a candy shop over there, photographing common species longer than any of you East Coast veterans. I will send you a PM once I move into NYC (we land July 9th) and maybe we can set something up, if schedules permit.
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