The Quest for the Black Swamp Snapper

While I see a quite a few massasauga rattlesnakes every year, I have still yet to see a melanistic one.  Melanism is a genetic trait that causes individuals to express a higher amount of melanin (dark pigment) from the melanocytes in the skin.  Some species, such as garter snakes, hognose snakes and massasauga rattlesnakes for example, are known for individuals who are melanistic, or basically completely black.  Interestingly, the young animals are often normally patterned and they darken as they age.  Usually, one or two dark individual will turn up here and there, but for unknown reasons, some populations have a much higher percentage of melanistic individuals.  For massausagas, NE Ohio is known for this.  I have been lucky enough to see melanistic garter snakes (I blogged about it here previously) and hognoses, but am still searching for my first jet black massasauga.

Eastern Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis, melanistic

Eastern Hognose Snake Heterodon platirhinos

I had yet to actually go to one of the places known for a high number of melanistic saugas, and I just hoped and figured if I continued to spend time in the field and observe the animals one would turn up.  This spring I spent a bunch of time targeting the snakes near their hibernaculums in the spring.  Imagine my great suprise when I finally saw this...

near melanistic Massasauga Rattlesnake Sistrurus catenatus

The chocolate hues of this snake were very striking.

Nick Scobel had mentioned he had seen a fully black melanistic animal from nearby a few days earlier.  I spent some time exploring the close area a few days later and spotted this animal from a few meters away.

Ahh so close.  We are fairly certain this is the same animal that Nick saw, it was likely just dirtier previously.

Now I had the fever.  I heard about a volunteer opportunity at a great fen system in Michigan with 75% melanistic sauga population.  I was able to make it one of the days before I left for Arizona and I was ready for my black swamp snapper.  Of course, my group finds only patterned individuals, while the other groups found only melanistics...

So unfortunately, this quest is not over.  I could have photographed some of the other animals found that day, but my heart wasn't in it without finding them in the field.  There is still some time left, but work is busy, so I have a feeling this goal will be carrying over to 2012.  Alas, how fast the field season passes you by...

BH

Change is good...

I have been trying to update some of the features of Buckeye Herps and Wolverine Herps which have gone neglected for a couple years.  I also am trying to add new content to the blog.  In the meantime, please enjoy a little buzzworm action...

Spring Travels II

The next day I made a trip a little farther away to try and locate a species that had thus far eluded me in Michigan - the spotted turtle. Cid and I headed out bright and early, picked up another companion, David, on the way and we pulled up to the spot midmorning. The fen was already alive with frog calls and it only took 5 minutes before I heard David call out that he had the first spotted turtle of the day. All of the pictures will show the animals in situ in an attempt to showcase this colorful turtles remarkable camouflage ability.

Spotted Turtle Clemmys guttata


David quickly mentioned he had another one as well, and this had a neighboring ribbon snake. Both are photographed as found.



I found the next two, including this juvenile from last year.





Another couple turtle lovers joined us and we found a few more before calling it a day, with a total of 8 turtles.



Some habitat of the fen.


We chatted for a while before moving to the next spot. David and I moved farther away to another fen, but our partners stayed local. Both groups ended up finding a bunch more turtles.

The new fen


It took about 15 minutes this time but I managed to come up on a pair of spotteds mating. The broke apart quickly and dug into the sand.




There were tracks in the marl sand.


A third turtle, not shown here, was later spotted checking us out nearby. We started to move on again. I was hiking a small run with Cid following commands well and staying at my close rear. Like many times before I heard a faint buzzing a little behind me. Unlike all those other times before, this actually was a rattlesnake. The first Massasauga that gave up cover by rattling.

Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake Sistrurus catenatus as found


Straight out of the burrow likely


Cid as always was an angel, and laid down for a nap during the photo shoot. It's hard work being a good field dog.



We split up again and found another small spotted a little bit away.

As found in the run.


I had kept my eyes out for carniverous plants all day, and I finally found a few pitcher plants.

Sarracenia purpurea


I noticed David was photographing something down low in the brush. It took me a while to get over there, and evidently I missed a prolonged courting show. I managed to snag a shot of the two lovebirds before they finally disappeared in the grass.


It was a fitting end to a great day. We also spent some time poking around an ephemeral pond on the hike out, but weren't able to turn up evidence of salamanders.

Cashing in on paid dues

The last couple days have been hotter then hades up here in SE Michigan and today was no exception. I spent the previous night working, which ended up being a blessing in disguise. It served the much needed purpose of ensuring I was awake(actually not asleep yet) at a very early hour. Unfortunately, after around 930 am I really started to crash. It didn't matter, the trip was quickly a success.

This yearling Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake found basking in the early morning glow of 830 am.

Cute enough to kiss, no?

Shortly after, fatigue and general "cloudiness" started to set in. It hit the 90s, and the humidity was off the charts due to the recent storms that have been blowing through. A couple eastern gartersnakes were also found, as well as a few butlers garter snakes. My counterpart and I enjoyed the morning after the early success and took it easy hoping for another Sistrurus.

I was just reliving my first MI massasauga yesterday hoping it would conjure luck, and now here I am enjoying the memory of my second. What do the two have in common?

I worked over night both times before hitting the field. And both times I survived the ride home to tell about it.

Herps, herpes

and the process of writing about them...

I have never been an enthusiastic writer, but I have always enjoyed reading. It is this sense of joy from reading others work that finally convinced me to try and take a stab at it on my own. This will serve as an outlet for a few different projects. First, I have long meant to add species accounts to all the herps on www.buckeyeherps.com and www.wolverineherps.com. I figure I can blog species accounts and this will force me to keep a steady stream of updates. I also plan to add more trips to the trip accounts section, especially my last couple to AZ/SoCal and West Texas. Second, I hope to provide entertaining and useful information that is similar to some of the other blogs and websites that I enjoy. Ohio Birds and Biodiversity by Jim McCormac, Ohio Nature Blog by Tom Arbour and Mike Pingleton's classic Field Herping not-a-blog (with journal updates since 1996) are all extremely instrumental in my undertaking of this endevour.

This will not just be a nature blog though. I plan to speak a little on the other things I enjoy in life, primarily literature, marriage and our new(ish) puppy. Regarding the "herpes" aspect, I most likely will actually stay away from issues pertaining to the day job, emergency medicine. There are numerous issues involved with medical blogging that I hope to avoid. I may throw up a bit here and there, but will mostly leave that to others.

Anyway, photographs are key to a great blog, so I will share you with a couple images from earlier in the year. I will be out looking for these species tomorrow and maybe remembering some old successes will conjure up some much needed luck. I have been paying my dues for the last 3 months without any thing to show for it. In the world of herping, that is often how it goes...

My first Michigan Massasauga rattlesnake, photographed in situ, likely the day it crawled out of its winter refuge. These little rattlesnakes are endangered throughout most of the range, and are a species of special concern in Michigan. They are still somewhat common in the right habitat, but have suffered drastically from habitat fragmentation, destruction of wetlands and urban sprawl. SE MI likely used to harbor a much larger population before the Motor City. They over winter in crawfish burrows in wetlands such as bogs and fens, and prefer to spend the summer months hunting the natural wet prairies nearby. This animal was found in a wooded wetland, just a few feet from a vernal pool. I was not expecting to see one on this day, and had just walked literally within a few inches of it. I bent over to roll a choice log, hoping for a tiger salamander or other ambystomid, and as I scanned the brown earth I noticed this coiled about 10 inches from my hand.


Sistrurus catenatus

It never did move a muscle, and we took some pictures and left it to enjoy the spring sun.

We did get the tiger salamander though, as well as a majestic blue racer.

Ambystoma tigrinum

Coluber constrictor foxi

But more on them later...