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Herping in NYC

Posted: April 5th, 2012, 6:15 pm
by Mr.Talltree
Any of you guys ever do any herping in any of the 5 boroughs? I live in San Francisco and have been finding some good stuff within the city limits. Now I'm kind of hooked on urban herping and just wondered if anyone else in other large metropolitan areas was out there doing work in the cities.

Luke-

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: April 5th, 2012, 6:48 pm
by kyle loucks
My favorite Northern Brown Snake spot is within the city limits of Philadelphia...

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: April 5th, 2012, 7:12 pm
by Mr.Talltree
kyle loucks wrote:My favorite Northern Brown Snake spot is within the city limits of Philadelphia...

Awesome--getting snakes in Philly! I've been pulling Ringnecks, Coast Garters, and one fat Pacific Gopher so far. Many more city spots to investigate, though.

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: April 5th, 2012, 7:42 pm
by intermedius
In San Juan, i have seen many Anolis and Coqui's in the city region. Later, I found multiple Coqui's and Treefrogs as well as toads and Anoles. Just miles away, I also saw Arryrthon and Alsophis. Tomorrows my last day here, and will try to find more Coqui frogs. In Brazil, there are many bothrops too.

Herping in NYC

Posted: April 5th, 2012, 7:54 pm
by joconnor
Good question . A lot more than you might think :
-Turtles are the dominant Herp , appear to be in all 5 of the boroughs .
Painted , Snapper , RES , maybe 1 or 2 other, possibly more .

-There are frogs . I posted about 2 weeks about frogs . In theory , there is a new Leopard frog species in NYC .Green , Bull possibly others on SI .
-Red Back Salamanders .
-Lizards probably none , possible Italian wall lizard in certain locations .

Serpents _ Hmm..Brown , garter , possible No water ,probable milk . Possible racer , but unlikely .
Joe

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: April 6th, 2012, 5:45 am
by millside
things i have seen in the bronx.
grey tree frog, snapper,res, and a garter snake.

sorry, I am just not into herping in the city limits. too loud,too stinky,too much garbage and I can't carry my big knife.

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: April 6th, 2012, 6:41 am
by Matt J
I've found a brown snake and a garter snake in very urbanized parts of Baltimore. The brown snake was found out at night on a very busy sidewalk, while I was walking from one bar to the next with some friends. They were not nearly as excited as I, but I'll herp 24 hrs a day :thumb:

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: April 6th, 2012, 8:43 am
by Mr.Talltree
Matt J wrote:I've found a brown snake and a garter snake in very urbanized parts of Baltimore. The brown snake was found out at night on a very busy sidewalk, while I was walking from one bar to the next with some friends. They were not nearly as excited as I, but I'll herp 24 hrs a day :thumb:
I'd be freakin' stoked to find a snake outside a bar in city limits! :crazyeyes:

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: April 6th, 2012, 8:45 am
by Mr.Talltree
millside wrote:things i have seen in the bronx.
grey tree frog, snapper,res, and a garter snake.

sorry, I am just not into herping in the city limits. too loud,too stinky,too much garbage and I can't carry my big knife.
City herping is definitely a different game. Shouldn't you be carrying a big knife if you're in the Bronx anyway? ;)

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: April 6th, 2012, 6:00 pm
by withalligators
I've found tons of browns, a black rat, lots of redbacks, bullfrogs, and green frogs in Bmore. I would add stinkpots to the list of probables in NYC.

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 12:29 pm
by elaphe365
Hey i live in nyc. The only things i see so far are garters, waters, and browns. No eastern milks so far. I would love to go herping in nyc with other people. Let me know whats good.

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: May 10th, 2012, 12:52 pm
by jimoo742
I haven't done it myself, but I'd love a guide for Miami city herping. Some great exotic populations I understand.

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: May 14th, 2012, 7:34 pm
by mosyvenomrox
I believe my city find beats all of yours! DBT in queens! The reason I looked was because my brother's flight got delayed because of a lot of DBT's on the runway looking for a place to lay their eggs. A while later I went back to a body of water that was near the airport (not gonna post the airport name but most of you probably heard of the incident). I saw it's head sticking up about 30 feet away. At first I thought "Small snapper" but then it came closer and I waded in just to see it dissappear beneath the surface. :x Was better than nothing though. My favorite find ever in city limits. I might try that spot again before camp when i'm in NY this June.

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: May 15th, 2012, 8:45 am
by brick911
I love seeing reports of the delays with the turtles. Can't say I'd be thrilled if I flew out of there though.

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: August 30th, 2015, 5:07 am
by shredsteban
elaphe365 wrote:Hey i live in nyc. The only things i see so far are garters, waters, and browns. No eastern milks so far. I would love to go herping in nyc with other people. Let me know whats good.

Meant to send a pm. Sorry for bringing this post back up. Trying to delete

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: August 30th, 2015, 7:57 am
by ackee
Box turtles can still be found on Staten Island, a borough of NYC. Painted Turtles and Snapping Turtles are fairly common, as are released Red Eared Sliders.

Garter Snakes, Racers, Dekays and Ringnecks are seen there regularly, the last two often turned up by gardeners. Various frogs and salamanders can be found in Staten Island's 'green belt' of connected parks.

This is all based on my personal observation over the last four years.

Here where I live in semi-urban NJ, 6 miles from Newark airport, I find Dekays and the occasional Garter Snake in my back yard. A recently opened local park, with a large pond surrounded by a running/walking track, has many Painted Turtles and several released exotics, including one big Map Turtle. They are easy to see because the pond has no real margin, so the turtles sun themselves on exposed rocks.

I've often seen turtles in Manhattan's Central Park Lake, Painteds and Red Earned Sliders.

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: September 3rd, 2015, 7:02 am
by ZantiMissKnit
I'm kinda glad this old post got brought back up! I lived within the city limits of Boston, and have a spot that is right on the edge of the city limits, into the next county. Here's a list of what I have found there:

Frogs and Toads:

Eastern American Toad
American Bullfrog
Northern Green Frog
Wood Frog
Spring Peeper
I saw a Northern Leopard Frog there last week, but couldn't get a photo...my husband has the county record for one in NAHERP.

Salamanders:

Blue-spotted Salamander
Spotted Salamander
Northern Two-lined Salamander
Eastern Red-backed Salamander

Snakes:

Northern Ring-necked Snake
Eastern Milksnake
Northern Watersnake
Northern Brownsnake
Eastern Ribbonsnake
Eastern Gartersnake
I've also found what appears to be the shed skin of a juvie Black Racer; I don't want to call it until I actually see one.

Turtles:

Eastern Snapping Turtle
Eastern Painted Turtle
Red-eared Slider
There are rumors of Spotted Turtles there, as well.

As far as in the city, proper, I can walk over to the lagoon off the Charles River and see some RES most of the time, sometimes one or two painteds. I have heard that the Fens has some herps.

Re: Herping in NYC

Posted: September 7th, 2015, 8:35 pm
by cbernz
I spent my early years in Brooklyn, within spitting distance of Prospect Park, one of the biggest expanses of nature left within the city. There were plenty of Painted Turtles and Sliders, Green and Bullfrogs, and that's pretty much all I ever saw for herps. I only saw snakes when we visited family in NJ and MA, and I didn't find my first salamander until we actually moved to Jersey. NYC is a teeming, crammed-together place, composed of layer upon layer upon layer of construction projects and environmental degradation - it's just not really comparable to the sprawling young cities out west that still have remnants of native habitat within city limits.

It is true, however, that they have Lithobates kauffeldi, in fact I think the type specimen came from Staten Island. Also, I have seen Italian Wall Lizards at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. Still never seen a snake in city limits, though I'm sure there are still some vacant lots that have DeKay's snakes.