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Joshsnakeman View Profile |
A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
August 9th I had planned to meet up with Dan Riley and his family for some herping. The place we were going held the northernmost population of Butler’s Garters Snakes, and, the southernmost population of Mink Frogs in Ontario. It also held Redbelly Snakes, a species I had yet to see this year. We did find some Redbelly Snakes under boards in the morning, but no Butlers garters. We drove around a bit and discovered a nice marsh.
Lots of Mink Frogs were everywhere. Many people confuse Green Frogs with them, but once you see a good number of bonafide Mink Frogs, you’ll never mistake the species again. Even though me missed our main target, I picked up a lifer and finally found some Redbellys.
Two weekends later I got a few days off work and sped down to the north shore of Lake Erie to camp and relax. I did meet up with Dan and Dav for an afternoon. We had moderate success, flipping a number of Five-lined Skinks,
Fowler’s Toads, Northern Ribbon Snakes,
Wolf Spiders,
and more skinks.
as well as the usual suspects. No hognose snakes, oh well it will have to wait till next year. September 2 was warm and sunny. Dav and another herper, Wayne, picked me up to go investigate a suspected population of the Queen Snake, rare in Ontario. Here is Dav photographing a Northern Water Snake.
We were ready to go home, when Dav found a queen snake in the backwaters of the river. Success!
The next week I headed north on my annual fishing trip. Nice scenery there.
I found a large Nerodia eating a Bullfrog.
The next weekend, we woke up nice and early and headed north to a spot that Dav and Dan had a lot of success with. We were hoping it was not too late in the year to find saugas in the upland rocky areas. The habitat was nice this time of year.
The conditions were pretty dry, but with a little work, we managed to turn up 16 species. A lone Redbelly Snake was turned up.
We found 3 Northern Ringnecks, a lifer for me :) .
On day two, a couple Smooth Green Snakes turned up as well.
No saugas, but a productive weekend for sure. September 29 Dan, Dav and I checked an area that has black rat snakes, but none were turned up. Dan and Dav had each found them on seperate trips in the summer. We did find a number of Spotted Salamanders, Blue-spotted Salamanders,
Northern Water Snakes, and Garters.
We will have to return in the spring to find Black Rat Snakes. One spot in particularly, a 10 minute drive from my house, has been particularly productive this fall. I have seen hundreds of snakes, and countless salamanders and frogs there. I met up with Dan and family on September 15. The weather was cool and windy, but I hoped we would be able to flip a few salamanders. His brother flipped a beautiful Spotted Salamander on a dry hillside.
We found some more spotties, some Blue-spotted Salamanders, a Ribbon Snake, and the usuals before heading to a road to try and find some birds. Along the way I spotted a little Gray Tree Frog clinging to the underside of a branch. First of the year for Dan.
September 30 I got my first two Fourtoed Salamanders of the year.
These flowers were growing in one small area.
Occasionally I find newts here, this one was a nice looking adult.
October 8 was probably my most productive day of the year. 51 snakes were found, including a number of Northern Brown Snakes.
This one was consuming an earthworm in the open.
I was fortunate to find an area that had two pairs of snakes mating, including these Northern Ribbon Snakes.
Wood frogs are common in the area, and I found a couple hopping through the leaves.
I turned up a number of these Spring Peepers hopping in the woods.
Some habitat from that day. This road cut is really good for 4 species of snakes.
And a Redback Salamander a few weeks later.
October 22 was our last warm day of the year. We headed down to some marshes near Lake Erie, hoping to turn up a few of the species that inhabit that area. We found lots of garters, Leopard Frogs, and Map Turtles.
Dan and I after the capture:
October 27 I tried once more at the spot 10 minutes from my house. Even though it was cold (about 50 degrees, 10 Celsius), rainy, and windy, a couple ribbon snakes were on the crawl. I did not expect to find anything that day.
Here is a beautiful Red Wood Frog that I almost stepped on.
The last few trees with leaves still on:
A bunch of peepers were hopping around and calling.
I flipped a number of Spotted Salamanders also. A good end to a great year!
[b][u]Ontario Totals 2007:[/b][/u] (note: tadpoles and other larval form not included in totals) Lifers in italics. [i]Snakes[/i] 270 Eastern Garter Snake 64 Northern Brown Snake 42 Northern Ribbon Snake 29 Lake Erie Water Snake 24 Northern Water Snake 6 Eastern Fox Snake 4 Northern Redbelly Snake 3 [i]Smooth Green Snake[/i] 3 Blue Racer 3 [i]Northern Ringneck Snake[/i] 2 [i]Queen Snake[/i] 2 Eastern Milk Snake [i]Turtles[/i] 236 Midland Painted Turtle 53 Common Snapping Turtle 12 Common Map Turtle 3 [i]Eastern Spiny Softshell[/i] 1 [i]Blanding’s Turtle[/i] 1 [i]Red-eared Slider[/i] [i]Lizards[/i] 35 Five-lined Skink [i]Frogs and Toads[/i] 1005 Green Frog 577 Northern Leopard Frog 155 American Toad 109 [i]Mink Frog[/i] 104 Bull Frog 60 Wood Frog 45 Spring Peeper 29 Grey Tree Frog 8 Fowler’s Toad 5 Western Chorus Frog 1 [i]Pickerel Frog[/i] [i]Salamanders and Newts[/i] 182 Blue-Spotted Salamander 151 Eastern Redback Salamander (37 leadback phase) 51 Spotted Salamander 6 Jefferson’s Salamander *possibly hybrids 3 Smallmouth Salamander *possible hybrids 3 Eastern Newt 2 Fourtoed Salamander It was good to meet all these herpers/birders this year, many who helped me find target animals or showed me their spots: Dav N., Dan R., Dan’s parents, Andrew R., Wayne K., Warren, Jeff H., David D., Megan R., James B., Sarah Jane S., Stew S., Steve M., and many others. |
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| 11/04/07 01:05pm |
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TIMSNAKR View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1500831 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
Really Impressed! Especially that you managed to keep count of all those frogs! Great Pics Tim |
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| 11/04/07 01:50pm |
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Whitie View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1500831 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
I love how you do all the work and we get to enjoy the pics!! lol Once again Josh, GREAT JOB!!! |
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| 11/04/07 02:56pm |
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Joshsnakeman View Profile |
Message To: Whitie In reference to Message Id: 1500974 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
Tim we got to do some herping next year. Any species you want to find in particular? |
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| 11/04/07 11:56pm |
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Gecko boy12 View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1500831 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 11/05/07 09:59pm |
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Joshsnakeman View Profile |
Message To: Gecko boy12 In reference to Message Id: 1502988 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
Here is me releasing one:
And Warren crept up to a freshwater drum and caught it with his bare hands.
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| 11/05/07 11:43pm |
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Snakes guy View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1503153 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
2712 reptiles and amphibians total lol Nice catch |
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| 11/06/07 10:17pm |
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Joshsnakeman View Profile |
Message To: Snakes guy In reference to Message Id: 1504408 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 11/06/07 11:34pm |
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TIMSNAKR View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1504518 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
Honestly I have kind of given up herping for now and only do it when I have a chance to find something new. Tim |
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| 11/07/07 06:54pm |
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Yellowhammer View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1500831 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 11/08/07 04:18pm |
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TIMSNAKR View Profile |
Message To: Yellowhammer In reference to Message Id: 1506447 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
Tim |
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| 11/08/07 04:28pm |
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Joshsnakeman View Profile |
Message To: TIMSNAKR In reference to Message Id: 1506460 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 11/09/07 03:34pm |
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Saleenadam View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1507520 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 11/13/07 11:41pm |
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TIMSNAKR View Profile |
Message To: Saleenadam In reference to Message Id: 1513333 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
Tim |
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| 11/14/07 10:13pm |
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Saleenadam View Profile |
Message To: TIMSNAKR In reference to Message Id: 1514362 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 11/15/07 12:15am |
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Joshsnakeman View Profile |
Message To: Saleenadam In reference to Message Id: 1514508 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
Quote: Excellent posts and pictures. I’m curious though on how you keep track of what you see while in the field do you carry around a spiral or what do you use? For instance, with frogs and toads I pretty much don’t even try to keep count anymore because I see so many and I never know if i’m seeing the same one multiple times. I’ve been thinking lately about taking better notes and have been looking into ways to track sightings by GPS for even better data and trying to get an idea on other options.
With most days, I keep track in my head. If we start finding a lot of stuff, then I write it down in my mini notebook I carry around in my pack. Some days it can be hard to count frogs, for instance I know I might have seen between 60 and 80 green frogs, so I usually go halfway with 70. When I get home I plug it into a spreadsheet with nicely calculated the totals for me. So if I want to know what percent of the frogs I saw in July were leopard frogs, it is easy to find. GPS can be an awesome way to keep track of where you found what, and also to find again those herping spots in the middle of nowhere. It can be time consuming to GPS everything, I know one herper who GPSs almost everything he finds, and it takes about 5 minutes to do. Josh |
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| 11/16/07 07:09pm |
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Cpx_20o5 View Profile |
Message To: Joshsnakeman In reference to Message Id: 1516368 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 11/17/07 04:06pm |
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MOZIAK66 View Profile |
Message To: Cpx_20o5 In reference to Message Id: 1517272 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 12/06/07 11:30am |
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MOZIAK66 View Profile |
Message To: MOZIAK66 In reference to Message Id: 1537578 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 12/06/07 11:31am |
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MOZIAK66 View Profile |
Message To: MOZIAK66 In reference to Message Id: 1537578 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 12/06/07 11:31am |
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Fquick19 View Profile |
Message To: MOZIAK66 In reference to Message Id: 1537581 A chronology of herping in Ontario: part 2
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| 03/27/08 11:44pm |
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