Okay, so I've lived in the city for about a year. As I've expressed in my other posts, transplanting from California to NYC has not been easy for the amateur field herper. Upon arriving here, I used google earth to find areas that seemed undeveloped. I found a few areas, checked them out and then never found anything but dead Eastern Garters and Red-backed Salamanders. I had hope because I came across a blog post by Frank Indiviglio about species that are still holding on here in the city. But the only snakes I found were 2 dead garters in the Bronx and 2 Ringnecks upstate. That is, until yesterday!
The past two days have been great for herping. I spent Wednesday in Ulster County with a guy I met in the NAFHA group on Facebook. His friend drove us up and we found a lot of things with great variety. Yesterday was my favorite day though. My friend took me to a spot that he frequents that still has Eastern Milks, Eastern Garters and Dekay's within NYC city limits. I flipped 1 Eastern Milk, 1 Eastern Garter and 2 Dekay's, all lifers for me. I brought my 3 year old son along and we had a great time. Between my friend and I, we flipped 10 snakes total in NYC. He flipped 5 garters and 1 large old milk.
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
IMG_7191-1 by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
My son Elijah loves being outside. He's still a little apprehensive around snakes, but he laughs at them and will touch each snake once. He's 3. This was the perfect way to burn off all of his energy yesterday. Glad I got to share such a great day with him and hope these pictures can help him remember these times.
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Dekay's Brown Snake (Storer dekayi) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Dekay's Brown Snake (Storer dekayi) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Here's the big eastern milk my friend flipped. Only photo I took of it. This snake was quickly put back within a minute of being flipped. Really old, beaten up and in shed. Didn't want to stress it out too much.
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Now here are photos from Ulster County, NY. I found a Black Rat Snake, several Northern Water Snakes and 2 Northern Slimy Salamanders. All lifers for me. I've always been fond of Nerodia when seeing them online so those were nice finds. The first water snake I found was really thin and looks like it has mouth rot. The two other guys found some more Black Rats, 1 milk and snapping turtle. I didn't snap photos of everything they found, but I did get some shots of some of their finds.
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Black Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoletus) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Northern Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinous) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Northern Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinous) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
Common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) by Nick Barrientos, on Flickr
And that's it. Thank's for taking the time to read this if you've made it all the way down.
NYC snakes! (And Ulster County)
Moderator: Scott Waters
- shredsteban
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