The past few weeks in Northern MN.....

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Chris Smith
Posts: 2291
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:13 pm
Location: Minnesota

The past few weeks in Northern MN.....

Post by Chris Smith »

Hey all, I have been up in Northern Minnesota working on my graduate research project. It has been fun but has also extremely stressful. Days are long (~12-15hrs) and it seems like equipment breaks everyday (GPS, digital hygrometer, Jeep, etc...). Deer ticks are everywhere and mosquitos will carry you away if you backpack isn't heavy enough!! Here are a few photos from the past few weeks.

Here is the approx. location of the research sites-
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The drive in can be interesting....
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You have to keep an eye out for moose, wolves and bears.... oh my!!
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One of the treatments showing the edge of a drift fence array-
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Bucket shots-
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Green frog on ATV trail-
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Striped phase (AKA Smith's phase) wood frog- :lol: Seriously, has anyone else seen striped wood frogs? They seem to be common in one area.
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Control site-
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I catch mostly American toads, but we also catch wood frogs, green frogs, redback sals, blue-spotted sals, and several species of small mammal.

American toad, Anaxyrus americanus
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With mark (Visual implant elastomer)
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Redback sal, Plethodon cinereus
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P. cinereus with mark
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Blue-spotted sal, Ambystoma laterale
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An interesting small mammal that is encountered a lot-

Star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata-
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Juvenile woodcock, Scolopax minor-
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Nest of baby snowshoe hares, Lepus americanus-
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Interesting fungus-
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Leaf with parasites?
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A world within a bottle-
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Thanks for looking!
Chris
John Kilner III
Posts: 39
Joined: June 11th, 2010, 8:49 am
Location: Minnesota

Re: The past few weeks in Northern MN.....

Post by John Kilner III »

Awesome views Chris......those moles are a trip. Happy Herpin!
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gbin
Posts: 2292
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 4:28 pm

Re: The past few weeks in Northern MN.....

Post by gbin »

Chris, you're making me homesick! (I'm originally from MN, and spent some years in college in northern WI as well.) I loved the entire show, but especially the claw-marks-on-bark shot, which is so cool that I would mat and frame it and hang it on the wall if it were mine. :thumb:

Gerry
Paul White
Posts: 2288
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:52 pm
Location: Amarillo, Texas

Re: The past few weeks in Northern MN.....

Post by Paul White »

I miss seeing an occasional bear. Always sort of made my heart jump into my throat a bit but they're neat animals.
Good luck, show us some neat northern herping
nickj1199
Posts: 236
Joined: June 15th, 2010, 10:36 am
Location: seminole county, fl

Re: The past few weeks in Northern MN.....

Post by nickj1199 »

here in florida theres tons of bears. theres a momma and a cub i saw in my back yard. and a few days ago i saw a bobcat. in the picture the cubs behind the bush.
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nephrurus
Posts: 50
Joined: June 23rd, 2010, 10:45 pm
Location: Perth Australia
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Re: The past few weeks in Northern MN.....

Post by nephrurus »

That star-nosed mole looks amazing! Looks like you're working in a pretty interesting area. What's your project on?

-H
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