Roadcruising Riffs: Trampled By Turtles

Thanks to Brian for pointing this out.  Awesome in so many ways.




Trampled By Turtles-Wait So Long.

War Eagle! A journey to Alabama

My brother Brian started his graduate studies in the Guyer (Herp) Lab at Auburn University last fall. Whenever I speak with him, he goes on and on about how awesome Alabama (the state) is.  Since I can't even pick Alabama out on a map (haha), I have remained skeptical.  Why would I want to go visit such a crap hole?  After much persuasion, he finally convinced me to fly down this summer so that my education in Alabama, and it's herps, could begin in earnest.

I had a layover in Atlanta get delayed a bit, so I ended up getting in pretty late.  I met Brian near the camping location in one of the national forests after picking a DOR scarlet snake  off of the road.  This was a bummer, as I am still hoping to find my first one of these.

Brian was happy to see me, proof of how miserable the south must be, and ready to show my some stuff.  Sadly, he had just found a couple Pine Barrens Tree Frogs Hyla andersonii, and he didn't want to fight the swamp go back out there so late.  This was one of my top targets.  It sounded far away though (it wasn't) so I let him convince me to put it off for another night.  In his defense, it was super late, and he had herped all day and looked pretty gassed. We poked around a swamp for a few minutes, and I spotted my first cottonmouth of the trip.

We also photographed this cool pickerel hanging out in the swamp.

As a further testimate to Brian's fatigue, he passed over these 2 DOR southern copperheads without even braking.  They would have been a lifer, but alas no live ones were found throughout the trip.

There were numerous species of frog calling at our campsite.  Cricket frogs, green treefrogs, squirrel tree frogs and bird-voiced treefrogs were all chorusing, but I was only able to locate a green for photos.

The next day Brian and I got up early and explored some long leaf pine hoping for gopher tortoises and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes. We found plenty of tortoise burrows, but no one was home at the time.  I flipped this narrowmouth toad under a shaded log.

And Brian dipnetted some tadpoles out of a pond.  We think this is Hyla gratiosa.

We flipped some scorching hot tin, and explored another area without much luck.  After turning back out on one of the side roads, we saw a lumbering dome shelled turtle crossing the road ahead of us.  Immediately we thought it was a gopher tortoise, but we were even more stoked to realize it was a chicken turtle!

Deirochelys reticularia

We were both very excited about this turtle as it was a new species for both of us.  Next, Brian showed me a nice river where map turtles were common.  The water level and current were way up due to recent rains and most of the snags seemed to be underwater.  We started making the swim up stream, and immediately spotted the king of the river basking.

I went back for my camera and my dry bag so I could photograph him from the water.  He let us get fairly close before dropping into "our" domain.  Oh well, we continued on of course.

We soon spotted our quarry, a couple young male Graptemys ernesti.

While photographing these from the river in the strong current, I accidentally dipped my dry bag into the water.  It was easily emptied out, but it became a "moist" bag.  It kept my camera from being dunked in the river after that, but unfortunately my ancient Nikon D200 couldn't withstand the little moisture in the bag.  The weather-proofing has long since been obsolete thanks to numerous cracks, bumps and bruises over the years.  The screen fogged up, and the sensor died on me shortly there after.  This was rather unfortunate, as Brian captured one of the handsome turtles for pictures.

At this point I was ok with how things stood.  I was pretty bummed my camera died on this awesome trip, but I was due for a new one anyway.  I won't go into my frustrations with Nikon, but I will say I have always had the stance that I would rather risk getting the camera a little wet and muddy for pictures, then leave it back in the car out of fear.  Maybe taking it snorkeling in rivers, "moist" bag or not, is on the extreme end of the spectrum, but I really like in situ turtle pictures.  For me it was worth it.

We checked some traps that Brian had set and turned up our lifer Amphiuma and loggerhead musk turtles.  Now I am missing my camera... Brian also flipped a handsome dusky salamander.

Desmognathus sp. photographed the next day

It was late in the afternoon, and Brian was going to attend a friends BBQ.  We tried finding me a camera at Walmart, without much luck.  I called a Best Buy, 2 hours away and tracked a camera down that I was sorta happy with, a Nikon D7000.  I made the drive with plans to meet Brian at dusk.

I quickly tried to learn the camera and set it up on the way to our meeting point.  A few minutes after setting out on our hike, we found our quarry.  The endemic Alabama Red Hills Salamander Phaeognathus hubrichti.  To say I was excited was an understatement.  The salamanders have a really neat natural history and hang out in their burrows waiting for prey to walk by.  They are rarely, if ever, seen out of their burrows.    You typically just see them like this.

But persistence pays off sometimes, and Brian may thank me someday.  He was a little tired at the time. These salamanders are actually quite large.

I tried to convince him to make a run for Hyla andersonii but he wasn't having it.  We tried some roadcruising without any luck, and I was left wondering what happened to all the copperheads from the night before.

The next day we set out to a spot with more amphibians in mind.  Brian spotted this cooter basking on a log.

Pseudemys sp.  I don't remember our consensus, concinna maybe?

It took us quite a few dips this time of the summer, but the leafpacks produced another really cool salamander, the waterdog.

Necturus sp.

We also scored a loggerhead musk turtle, Sternotherus minor.

Checking the amphiuma traps again yielded a few more loggerhead musk turtles, but no amphiumas today.  No pics for me.

Brian flipped this young cottonmouth under a log.  

Agkistrodon piscivorus

We explored the stream pictured, and Brian found, then lost a red salamander, as well as a lesser siren!

Siren intermedia

Who knew Alabama had such salamander diversity? And we barely scratched the surface...

The aptly named Dwarf Salamander Eurycea "quadridigitata" was tiny.

Desmognathus conanti

Desmognathus sp.

We had a long drive to the coast ahead of us, so we started planning our exodus.  I was desperately trying to figure out a way to fit andersonii into the picture, but Brian was biting.  One reason to go back...

We cruised a bit, and found this heart breaking sight.

Gopher Tortoise

And a "grey" rat.

Brian's job for the summer was helping catch, mark and monitor turtle populations.  I was lucky enough to take along for a couple days of trapping.  We set out on the boat bright and early to catch some turtles, something I had very much been looking forward to!

Some showed evidence of their tough existence in the brackish water.

We quickly pulled a number of our quarry out of a few traps - Pseudemys alabamensis.

Handsome turtles indeed.

Pseudemys floridana were also very numerous.

Sadly, around this time I had a camera malfunction - yes the new camera.  It was completely my fault and it really tore me up.  Ask me about it in person some time.  I want to apologize again to Brian, and thank Brian, Greg and Jim for putting up with me.  I paid for my actions dearly when Greg snorkeled up our one and only Alligator snapping turtle, Macrochelys temminckii.  Reason number two to return...

Insert gator snapper here.

The camera was nursed back to health for some night time festivities, and after an extensive search, we were able to spot a couple chorusing barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa.

Hyla squirrela

The next day was more checking of traps.  We turned up Pseudemys alabamensis, floridana, and concinna.

Floridana, alabamensis, floridana

alabamensis

We tried our hand at snorkeling again without any luck on Macrochelys.  We again turned up a ton of loggerhead musk turtles.  It was interesting boating around this river though.  All the docks had mail boxes and were decorated by their team or motto of choice.  There were numerous "WAR EAGLE" and "ROLL TIDE" signs everywhere you looked and I enjoyed hearing a bit about the history behind the war eagle motto.

Back at the dock, I flipped a log to turn up an eastern glass lizard, Ophisaurus ventralis.

A nasty set of clouds were moving in, but I desperately tried to take advantage of some daylight and drive up a ways to take a shot for Delta Map Turtles.  This was massively unsuccessful.  I returned to basecamp and we took a shot at roadcruising.  We saw a few DORs, but this was mostly a bust as well.  We got back around 11pm.  I showered and packed up in time to take an hour nap.  Around 2 am I woke up to drive to Pensacola for my 6am flight back to the midwest.  Remind me not to do that again.

All in all, it was an amazing trip.  Alabama is truly a special place and I can't wait to return.  I have some unfinished business, and maybe if I stop being an idiot Brian will invite me back.  I am already penciling it in for next summer though!

Michigan Results 2011

I have finally wrapped up Michigan for 2011 as well.  I had mentally thought this was a banner year, but was surprised to see myself fall short in a few categories.  Here were my goals for this year, as well as my Ohio results.

Michigan Goals 2011


1. Oakland County massasaugas at new locals.

Check. I added one new Oakland County local, but struck out at many more.

2. SE Michigan spotted turtle

Epic fail. Luckily, there is always next year...

3. Wood turtle from a new river system

Check.  It looks like I paddled 5 times last year.  3 of them were new rivers, all of which I found at least one turtle.  One trip I paddled a couple new sections of a previous river, but a few counties over.  We scored one turtle.  The last day, I once again paddled the Rifle River.  This river historically had wood turtles, but it is unclear if they are still present.  This was once again a failure.

4. MI spotted salamander.

Laughably, epic fail.
5. MI newt (?!??!)

Laughably, epic fail. This is actually humorous.
6. 200 + record year
(reaching 300 or 400 is possible in Ohio, but I expect it to be difficult in MI due to the much shorter field season and much lower diversity.  I just don't see the same numbers of animals as I did in Ohio)

Epic fail.  Sadly.  I worked hard this year and I thought for sure I would hit 200.  I ended up around the 145 mark!  Makes me wonder how I ever saw 300-400 a year in Ohio.  Looking back, I recorded 0 herps in March due to being in Hawaii.  This hurt.  It also looks like I didn't herp once in August.  Ouch.  I had just returned from Arizona in July to a newly purchased home.  Molly probably would have killed me, but I should have gotten out once or twice...

7. Lay tin.  Check.  I purchased and put out a few car hoods.  None of which have produced a year later. I need to get more aggressive on this front.

8. MI box turtle.  Epic fail.  I never got over to where they are a bit more common, but I keep hoping to stumble across one in the SE.

All in all, not a terrible year.  The wood turtling definitely kept things honorable.

So for 2012.  The goals I have been working on.

1.  Wood turtles from new river systems.
2.  Rifle River wood turtle.
3.  Fox snakes from new counties, specifically Macomb.
4.  SE Michigan Spotted turtle
5.  MI spotted salamander.
6.  MI newt.
7.  Lay more tin.  More tin.
8.  MI Box turtle.
9.  Herp the UP (a western fox, wood turtle, or mink frog would make this even more sweet.)
10. Record a respectable 150+ records for 2012.

2012 is more than half over and I have been working hard on a bunch of these.  Sadly, I have a ways to go.

BH

Ohio 2011 Goals - The results are in!

I made a post two winters ago now discussing goals I had set for myself for 2011 in Ohio and Michigan.  Well I am finally slogging through my data, admittedly during the wrong time of the year, and had finished up the Ohio portion. 

For Ohio 2011.

1. Herp with Carl and Brian a couple solid days this spring.  Check!

2. 50 records. Epic Fail! Although 30+ records was better than my last 2 years combined.

3. Get one of the last remaining animals I have yet to see that occur in Ohio. The ones I have left to see are short-headed garter snake (tried in 2006, 2010), Copperbellied watersnake (tried in 2007), Ouachita Map turtle (tried in 2006) and southern leopard frog. Epic Fail!  I didn't actually try for anything of these, but maybe some day...

My Michigan data for 2011 is wrapping up pretty nicely though.  It was a very good year in the field for me in Michigan and on a couple travels. I hope to be done with it soon.  My Michigan and Ohio 2012 data are looking pretty miserable.  The weather and work has made this season fairly difficult.  I still have August and September to try and salvage some of the paddling stuff, I just need people to paddle with...  Maybe I shouldn't be wasting time in the summer on field notes?

Who wants to come up and paddle Michigan?

BH

Michigan Cougars!

A couple of summers ago I was exploring some areas of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in NW Michigan.  I was surprised to notice signs in a few of the parking areas mentioning the presence of cougars in the area.  I couldn't help but think, "Really, cougars here?"  Upon further investigation, I was fascinated to find out that every year or two there are a trickle of cougar sightings in Michigan, although most of them seem to occur in the Upper Peninsula.

A few days ago a remarkable photograph showed up in a number of news stories.

This big cat was photographed via trail cam on private property in Marquette County, Michigan.  The photo was released by the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy.  Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.  If you look into the issue more, it turns out there a few organizations that keep track of cougar sightings in Michigan, and there are a number of trail cam pics, tracks, hair samples, etc which have all been identified as cougars!

The DNR website states they were all extirpated at the turn of the century in the 1900s, but it does acknowledge sightings and provides a place to report any possible sightings.  Cougars are currently listed as Endangered in Michigan.  They even have a Michigan Cougar FAQ page.

You can also visit www.savethecougar.org for an updated account of Michigan cougar sightings.  Many are up north, and some have pictures, but I was shocked to see a number of "sightings" from southern counties like Macomb, Clinton, Oakland and Washtenaw.  I find a few of these hard to swallow a bit...

I love when our outdoors areas really feel wild.  I might be in the minority, but having native cougars and wolves in Michigan is pretty darn cool.

BH

Roadcruising Riffs 17: Gary Clark Jr. - Bright Lights

Sand Prairies of Illinois

Eastern Illinois is blessed with a remnant sand prairie that is a relic of forgotten days.  It seems that as glaciers melted a large flood event occured that also led to the formation of the Kankakee River.  As flood waters receded, large deposits of sand were deposited forming sand prairies.  Many western species of plants and animals call these now disjointed islands home.


I was in Chicago for a conference in early May and decided to try and take another pilgrimage to visit these sand prairies along the banks of the Kankakee River in eastern Illinois and western Indiana.  I had visited once before, I think back in 2005 or 2006 and was relatively unsuccessful.  I hoped maybe this trip would be different.


I was driving to some of the first locations early in the morning, and just starting to enter good habitat, when I saw a serpentine shape working its way across the road.

Western Slender Glass Lizard -  Ophisaurus attenuatus attenuatus

It wasn't a snake, but it was even cooler.  I hadn't seen a glass lizard in 7 or 8 years and was real happy to come across this one.  This is one of the sand prairie specialists.


I spent most of the day searching for trash and abandoned debris to search for snakes.  Despite temperatures in the mid70s, low80s and a partly cloudy sky the day remained pretty slow.  Six-lined Racerunners Aspidosaurus sexlineatus viridis were scurrying about the grasses, although I didn't bother to photograph any.


Later in the morning, I finally started to have some success, flipping some ugly blue racers and milk snakes.  Michigan's representatives of both species are much prettier.

"Blue" Racer Coluber constrictor foxi

The day continued to creep on without my main target being acquired.  I sorted through plenty of junk and tried to walk some more appropriate habitat without any luck.  Finally, in the late afternoon I decided to turn down one other road that appeared the same as all the rest.  I found a place to explore, and quickly turned up my fourth or fifth racer of the day.  The site was no different than all the others, and even had less junk to explore.  I walked up on a board though, and flipped it to find my goal for the day.

Bull Snake Pituophis catenifer sayi

This was a very large individual and not at all cooperative for photos.  I found one other board near a shack, and in short order, I had my second bullsnake of the day!

It was a great end to a slow day.  I happily called it quits and started to head back to the windy city.  Bullsnakes rock!


BH