Fall 2015 (mostly Georgia and some Florida) (same as main)

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noah k.
Posts: 231
Joined: November 3rd, 2011, 5:27 pm

Fall 2015 (mostly Georgia and some Florida) (same as main)

Post by noah k. »

Rushing this a little bit in interest of being able to post 2016 photos when they start flowing here soon, but due to being back in school Fall was spent mostly close to home with a few trips to Florida on the weekends.

Most weekends I found myself in the sandhills with Daniel chasing my white whale the Pine Snake. Of course, we never found a Pine Snake but the by catch down there is never a disappointment. Our first trip down there for the Fall was still in mid August, and because of that it got hot quick but we still had some luck.

Cottonmouth as found.

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Rough Green Snake

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Gopher Tortoise with a gun shot wound. He seemed to be doing ok considering.

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The first of many Hognoses to come, cruised at dusk.

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Staged feeding photos.

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I also spent a couple nights walking around a local swamp in North Georgia hoping to get a county record Mud Snake. No Mud Snakes were seen, but Cottonmouths aren't very common in this part of Georgia and this spot proved to be reliable for them. I'll be back here frequently in spring.

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Habitat

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We spent a rainy Saturday in the sandhills flipping, which generally is unproductive here outside of spring but we had a decent day. I had never seen a Corn Snake in the sandhills before today but we managed to flip two at a site Daniel and I made targeting Mole Kings.

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The sun came out a little in the afternoon and brought a few snakes out on the road.

Racer

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Monster Cotton

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As I said earlier, in most parts of North Georgia Cottonmouths are a good find so I was stoked to find a new road that produces gorgeous dark individuals.

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Copperhead from the same road.

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Red Salamander from nearby.

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Daniel and I took a trip to the mountains with Alan Cressler that same weekend.

Red Salamander

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Watersnake

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Cave Salamander

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Eastern Milk, these are one of my favorite snakes to look for.

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Around mid September it started to cool off more so we started slamming the sandhills hoping for a Pine.

We had crazy luck with Eastern Hognoses, we found 5 in less than 24 hours.

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2 was actually found at night, coiled in grass.

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3 was gorgeous

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5

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Robb cruised up this little Southern just down the road from us.

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One of my favorite places in the sandhills.

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One week I spent teaching 6th graders a basic herpetology class in the mountains, which gave me a chance to herp up there some more.

Rat insitu.

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Red-spotted Newt Efts were all over the road day and night.

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Nice Northern Copperhead

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Big Bullfrog from a mountain stream.

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Young Garter Snake

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I ended up photographing quite a few common species. Here's an especially Northern looking Water Snake.

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Red-bellied Snake

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And back to the sandhills. Flipping produced several Coachwhips and cruising produced several more. This was one of my best days in the sandhills, and Daniel and I ended with 5 Coachwhips, 2 Southern Hogs, and 2 Eastern Hogs.

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This Eastern was found chasing a toad across the road. (this was our staged attempt at salvaging his meal)

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Eastern Hognose

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Both Southerns were hatchlings.

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We spent another weekend in the east Georgia sandhills, new territory for me.

This Cotton right at dusk was the first snake of the trip.

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We found a pair of hatchling Spiny Softshells along the Savannah River.

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We found this gorgeous Eastern King on the road.

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Cottonmouth as found.

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Brown Watersnake

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Timber Rattlesnake

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Slender Glass Lizard

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Here are a few photos from back towards home.

Marbled Salamander

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Eastern Narrowmouth

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Gorgeous neonate Cottonmouth

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It started to cool off back home, to the point I could no longer find snakes on the road at night. This hatchling Corn Snake was my last nightcruise at home.

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I had days off for college visits so I spent them in Florida and south Georgia with my dad visiting colleges and herping our way around.

We stopped in the sandhills to find a simus real quick since my dad hadn't seen one yet this year. We found one in short order, one pass on my best road.

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Then it was off to Tallahassee for the next two days, where we herped ANF in our free time. Herps were pretty limited but it was fun as always.

Chicken Turtle

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Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake

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Clipped Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

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Florida Red-bellied Snake

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American Alligator

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Back to Georgia, people have been looking for Queen Snakes in the sandhills for years. While out with Zach Veal one day we finally found one, as lame as it may sound this was likely the best critter we turned up there all year.

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Good looking Coachwhip.

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Sunset from the area.

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I found myself back in east Georgia in late October hunting for a county record simus. No such simus was found but we saw plenty of good stuff.

Habitat from the neighborhood.

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Little Timber found AOR at 64 degrees at night.

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Garter found later that same night.

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Sunrise the next morning.

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Good looking little Eastern Hog found on his way to church on Sunday morning. The sand people were baffled at the people laying in the road harassing their fellow church goer with cameras.

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We found quite a few cottonmouths on the road that day, 3 in one stop. We kept turning around after photographing one just to see another making its way onto the road.

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This guy was impressive, I passed it off as a fallen tree branch from far away. He was pushing 5ft.

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Rough Green

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Coachwhip

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Halloween weekend saw us heading to South Georgia/North Florida to meet up with Josh Young for roadcruising and salamandering.

We photographed a Coral Josh found.

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Roadcruising for snakes was generally unproductive.

Gray Rat

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Dusky Pygmy

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Garter

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Cotton

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However, we struck gold when this gorgeous gravid female Frosted Flatwoods Salamander lumbered onto the road during a shower late one night in north Florida. This was one of the highlights of my year, and an excellent way to wrap up the fall.

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And to wrap up the post, a few odds and ends from back home.

Ground Skink

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Four-toed Salamander

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Red Salamander

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Slimy Salamander

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And when these guys started crossing the road I knew winter was well on its way.

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User avatar
Kyle from Carolina
Posts: 221
Joined: May 3rd, 2012, 8:12 pm
Location: western MA and NC

Re: Fall 2015 (mostly Georgia and some Florida) (same as mai

Post by Kyle from Carolina »

Sweet finds. That hog in the road in front of the church is cool. It looks like most of the hognose around your area are patterned, except for that one. Do you see many of the black-phase?
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jack4rogers
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Joined: May 18th, 2015, 5:35 pm
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
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Re: Fall 2015 (mostly Georgia and some Florida) (same as mai

Post by jack4rogers »

Holy cow, you had an awesome year!!
That Frosted Flatwoods Sal is absolutely gorgeous! Way up there on my target list for this year now!
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Noah M
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Joined: November 3rd, 2012, 7:00 pm
Location: Gainesville, FL
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Re: Fall 2015 (mostly Georgia and some Florida) (same as mai

Post by Noah M »

Good stuff man!
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