#field herping – @anothertiredmonster on Tumblr

Sorry for not posting today, but I was REALLY tired. Here’s my report of yesterday!

So we went to the first park, but it was kind of disappointing. The water line was really down and the bridge over part of it was closed. We did end up rescuing an Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) which was trying to cross the road on our way in! We also spotted a few turtles of indeterminate species, as well as a really neat juvenile American Five-lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) and a massive amount of small toads.

We then went for lunch and headed to the second spot. This was where my dad had seen some snakes before, two Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon), an Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis), and a Rough Green Snake (Opheodrys aestivus). We were hoping to see a snake or two, but not all that assured.

We ended up with a snake count of FIFTEEN!

We first checked a place my dad called the snake hole, a small wooden plank bridge over a creek leading from a lake, where he had seen the two water snakes before. I immediately spotted one peaking out from under the bridge, and then just kept spotting more. There was one small Northern Water Snake, probably a yearling, as well as four adults of varying sizes. We watched as one slithered into a big pile of logs and brush, another swam into the lake, while the other three eventually either swam into brush in the stream or just stayed sunning themselves until we walked away.

On the way down the trail, I saw a snake I couldn’t identify slither into a bush, likely another Northern Water Snake. We then headed down to an area of tidal beach to just walk around. Within a minute of getting to the beach, another Northern Water Snake slithered into a pile of driftwood. He then slowly peeked his head out to look at us and telescoped. I went to take a look after laughing and watched as he calmly slithered away towards the woods. We walked a little further and came upon a tiny hatchling of the same species, definitely from this year, right next to the water. I thought at first he was dead, but then saw his tongue flick when I nudged the sand beside him. We later saw he had slithered on a bit, leaving the same slithery tracks that covered the beach. There easily could have been tracks from hundreds of hatchling sipedon. We saw one more large adult slither into beach detritus before heading back onto the path.

We then saw what I believe was a hatchling Eastern Garter Snake right beyond the path to the beach who ran for the bushes. We made our way out to the old crumbled pier, then back. On the way back, I saw one snake I could’t identify go into the brush, then another Eastern Garter who was just laying there beside the path as we walked by. He was likely a yearling and very fast.

My dad and I both figured the snakes would be gone by the time we made it to the snake, hole, but we were wrong! A smaller Northern Water Snake sunned itself the whole time (likely asleep) on a rock on one side and another adult stayed in the brush on the other side. These could have been the same snakes as before, but I’m going to count them anyway. The sunning snake didn't move an inch, and was posed like something out of a nature magazine.

Finally, we saw one Northern Water Snake swimming through the lake on our way back to the car. We also spotted two beavers, one in each lake, which I think my dad thought was the coolest. I couldn’t get over those snakes though!

Overall, it was a great day! I walked over 12 miles (the Sudowoodo in my Pokewalker was very happy!), and had a great time. I also visited my mom in the hospital and had some great food. I’m totally exhausted today and covered in mosquito bites, but it was very worth it! Hopefully I’ll have time to import and edit the photos I took before my convention next week. I’m definitely doing this again soon and making it a point to go herping when I go down to Louisiana in June!

#herping #field herping #long post #snakes #northern water snake #eastern garter snake #reptiles #nature #field report