Florida or Bust!

Bust.

The weather warmed up a bit, but despite 3 days of hard herping and a boat load of driving, I have nothing interesting to show for my efforts. I did take some bird pictures, and used the new binocs. I will try and get those off the camera soon.

The bad herping was offset by great food and company. You can always find a way to have a good time in Florida, one way or another.

No speed bumps this visit...

Snowed In

Had to bail on my Ohio trip due to large amounts of snow. It has allowed me to get a bunch of needed stuff done around the house, and get oh-so-close to finishing all my database entries for 2009. At least Florida is still calling my name in a couple days.

Winter's Icy Grip

Remains very tight. The 10 day forecast is a high of 31 and snow for the days I was planning on spending in southern Ohio. I wondering if it is worth going down still, and if Cid will be up for snowy hiking.

I find myself once again thinking back to warmer times and climates. I didn't have much luck on my trip to San Diego back in November, but anything is better than what we have here now.

I did manage to turn up a few Crotalus ruber at a densite. One was just pissed enough to give us a present.

Don't get to close...

BH

The End is Near

I can smell spring on the horizon. Maybe it is just wishful thinking, but now that we are getting into February I can almost hear the frogs starting to call. Times like this make me really miss southern Ohio. This year has been cold down there as well, but I am sure some of the frogs have been out and probably a few of the ambystomids as well. Lucky for me, I have a few days off at the end of the month that I plan on spending down that way with my brother and Carl. Hopefully, we will have some adventures to write home about....

Then we get nailed with 8 inches of snow. When will it ever end...

Snow doesn't totally exclude the chance of some herps

Another sure sign of spring is Ohio's Annual Amphibian/Reptile Conference series. Everyone interested in these creatures should be sure to check it out. This year, reptiles are the main feature and they have some wonderful speakers lined up. If you get real lucky, the rains coincide with the conference and you find plenty of great salamanders in the Columbus vicinity.

A few years ago my brother and I had a great drive back to Cincinnati.

And at my last conference we turned up one of these outside of Columbus

You can download registration forms here.

On other fronts, I will taking a short trip to Miami at the end of Febuary, I have a work trip planned for Phoenix in June and I have a nice new pair of binoculars I plan to put to the test this spring. Much of my herp energy lately has gone into finally updating my field notes and database from last year. I hope to blog more about that as soon as I finish...

I will try to get back in swing of things as the season continues to perk up.

Browns?!?

I was unfortunately stuck at work Thursday night and once again missed one of the most pathetic victories ever. It looks like we actually managed to establish some kinda running game in the cold and wind and the defense played admirably.

A win is a win, especially during this pathetic season. A win against the Steelers though, the first one many years, that is something special.

Very pleased....

Winter is here

First real snow of the year was falling when I went to bed around midnight. Already a couple inches had accumulated. It could be a rough morning, luckily I don't need to get up for a while.

In Ohio, Carl and I have gone on a few "snowmandering" trips. Some of the stream species such as twolines, duskies, springs and pseudotritons can be turned up with effort. Sometimes it means busting through the ice to dipnet a pool, or prying that frozen rock out of the stream bank. The spoils are small, but at least you get to dust off the boots.

Winter also makes for a great time to scout. Although laying tin would be pretty cold on the hands, you can see through the (lack of) foliage better and catch good looks at rock faces and seepages from afar.

I just can't seem to dig up the energy to do much of either here in Michigan. We don't really have any of the stream salamander species, and there aren't really rock faces to scout. I guess I could get minnow traps out for mudpuppies, but the thought of "ice fishing" doesn't quite get me as excited.

So cheers to southern Ohio with the phenomenal salamander diversity and more temperate climate...

I unfortunately can't find any pictures of the animals found under snow, but to prove we did actually get out once or twice...

Long Live The King