Post by joeysgreen on Aug 8, 2008 20:21:34 GMT -5
I don't know where to start but I had a completely fabulous time.
The wood turtle pic's; I'll start there
I couldn't find any good habitat pictures, but the background of some of these should give you the idea.
The first that I found was this large hatchling... or small yearling I'm not sure.
This guy was found on a steep, grassy sloap about 15' from the shoreline.
Now the wood turtle wasn't a lifer for me, but still a grand find. I didn't get any photographs of the first time I have seen this species. The next time to this site I found this most amazing snapping turtle. The only other wild specimen I've seen was only about 1-2 years old. This guy was just incredible!
I've heard of the disposition of these guys when pulled from the water but I never imagined that I'd have to dodge a jumping biting machine! I almost lost my nuts--literally!
After a while he calmed down for a better shot.
And a size comparison with my car keys. More for the in-laws that couldn't understand why I was never around during my "visit". With my work on tortoises I think I can guess pretty close that this guy was about 25lbs.
Further down the shoreline next to where I found the other wood turtle was... another wood turtle. Basking in the shallows.
Walking away from the photoshoot.
An ID plastron shot that also shows some habitat.
Now, since they are so numerous and common I'm afraid I might have overlooked the anurans a wee bit. Here's some random shots that turned out okay.
Not bad camoflage eh?
My soft shell turtle site also is home to leopard frogs, wood frogs, green frogs and american toads. Here's a green frog tadpole that was hanging around the boat lauch.
About the tiniest toadlet I've found
Two pic's to show the colour variation of American toad's in one location.
And a toad from the southside of the state
Now I can't mention soft shell turtles without showing off my find. Just a tiny little guy, he was right in town down stream from where I usually search. I snorkeled the stream for a good mile looking for adults, but all I've ever found was the small ones.
This one wasn't so good at hiding after release.
Funny enough, painted turtles have always been super common in my trips to WI. This time I felt like being stumped, but finally found a small one crossing the road. Later on, I snorkeled prime habitat for about 5 hours, scouring Otter lake. Nothing but beautiful wild underwater scenery. Different camera, a post for the future. Well on my walk around the lake afterwards to dry off, I see two painteds laughing at me
Saw an eastern garter too, so the day at the lake wasn't all lost.
Now that I am on to snakes... I really worked for them. Didn't come up empty handed, but I definately felt the summer heat take it's toll. The supposedly common water snake wasn't showing itself anywhere. I did find a few eastern garter snakes though.
I don't know if you all downplay how much you flip to find what you do, but boy did it take a LOT of hiking and flipping to find this pair of lovely lifer redbelly snakes.
As flipped:
Some closer shots.
Most of my time was up in northcentral Wisconsin, aka Lincoln County. I did however, find two days to get down to some glorious herping habitat, specifically, Spring Green. Here, where the desert pokes up from the south into the state, reminds me of the Okanagan in British Columbia. Both areas have herps that are so foreign to the rest of the state/province.
Pretty much everything habituating this area would be a lifer for me. I really wanted to find the timbers and hognose, but the summer heat wasn't going to allow it. What surprised the heck out of me were the lighting fast ziplines through the grass. Now until this time I was a lizard virgin in the field. I had heard that racerunners were fast and pretty much impossible to catch. Nah, most people are slow I had thought... what a whopping reality check it was to see that those zippers were in fact six-lined race runners. I couldn't catch them, but I did manage to sneak up close enough for some decent pictures.
The other lifer of the day was found by following this.
Tada!
I spent all day at the reserve and found an awesome example of grey tree frog's in mating chorus.
This little gafer was too young to join in on the orgy. He met me on the roof of my car before it was time to leave.
Some misc. pictures from my time in WI
That web was about 2.5' long, like a table. The large spider sat in a funnel to the right of the web.
Now this darn spider looked like a bird turd. The most annoying aspect was it's absolutely massive web. It'd block the trail, the road... and then you'd have to tug all this crap out of your hair, off your clothes, your camera ect. Yuck!
This bug was big and scary, but calm and nice.
A muscle taking a walk
Big ass wolf spider
It's hatching egg sac.
Wicked dragon fly... they were common.
Sand hill crane? They were super cool, and also rather common. I got a video of them... they sound like the raptors from Jurassic Park.
The flooding in Spring Green. Cool pic's, but I sure feel sorry for those affected.
On the way home I stopped at a park in Manitoba. Thanks Kev for the directions!
Another hognose spot that didn't reveal them, but I got close this time. Lots of tracks and a skin so fresh I can only imagine that I missed the snake by minutes.
Lifers? Yes, a pair of smooth green snakes!
This was the second. I was astonished to have found this guy in such deep cover, and even more blown away when I was able to grab him out without much fuss.
Now to question the lifelist ediquite. I'd say I found one of these guys
but can't quite do so. What I found was definately a lizard, and most definately a skink. I can only really positively ID it because it is the only lizard native to the area. It was lost in the brush before I could catch it.
lol, and I have to add this
Stopped at a neat, but horridly messy reptile zoo on the way home. These guys were cute and not something found where I'm from
I always love traveling south where the herps are a plenty
Ian
The wood turtle pic's; I'll start there
I couldn't find any good habitat pictures, but the background of some of these should give you the idea.The first that I found was this large hatchling... or small yearling I'm not sure.
This guy was found on a steep, grassy sloap about 15' from the shoreline.
Now the wood turtle wasn't a lifer for me, but still a grand find. I didn't get any photographs of the first time I have seen this species. The next time to this site I found this most amazing snapping turtle. The only other wild specimen I've seen was only about 1-2 years old. This guy was just incredible!
I've heard of the disposition of these guys when pulled from the water but I never imagined that I'd have to dodge a jumping biting machine! I almost lost my nuts--literally!
After a while he calmed down for a better shot.
And a size comparison with my car keys. More for the in-laws that couldn't understand why I was never around during my "visit". With my work on tortoises I think I can guess pretty close that this guy was about 25lbs.
Further down the shoreline next to where I found the other wood turtle was... another wood turtle. Basking in the shallows.
Walking away from the photoshoot.
An ID plastron shot that also shows some habitat.
Now, since they are so numerous and common I'm afraid I might have overlooked the anurans a wee bit. Here's some random shots that turned out okay.
Not bad camoflage eh?
My soft shell turtle site also is home to leopard frogs, wood frogs, green frogs and american toads. Here's a green frog tadpole that was hanging around the boat lauch.
About the tiniest toadlet I've found
Two pic's to show the colour variation of American toad's in one location.
And a toad from the southside of the state
Now I can't mention soft shell turtles without showing off my find. Just a tiny little guy, he was right in town down stream from where I usually search. I snorkeled the stream for a good mile looking for adults, but all I've ever found was the small ones.
This one wasn't so good at hiding after release.
Funny enough, painted turtles have always been super common in my trips to WI. This time I felt like being stumped, but finally found a small one crossing the road. Later on, I snorkeled prime habitat for about 5 hours, scouring Otter lake. Nothing but beautiful wild underwater scenery. Different camera, a post for the future. Well on my walk around the lake afterwards to dry off, I see two painteds laughing at me
Saw an eastern garter too, so the day at the lake wasn't all lost.
Now that I am on to snakes... I really worked for them. Didn't come up empty handed, but I definately felt the summer heat take it's toll. The supposedly common water snake wasn't showing itself anywhere. I did find a few eastern garter snakes though.
I don't know if you all downplay how much you flip to find what you do, but boy did it take a LOT of hiking and flipping to find this pair of lovely lifer redbelly snakes.
As flipped:
Some closer shots.
Most of my time was up in northcentral Wisconsin, aka Lincoln County. I did however, find two days to get down to some glorious herping habitat, specifically, Spring Green. Here, where the desert pokes up from the south into the state, reminds me of the Okanagan in British Columbia. Both areas have herps that are so foreign to the rest of the state/province.
Pretty much everything habituating this area would be a lifer for me. I really wanted to find the timbers and hognose, but the summer heat wasn't going to allow it. What surprised the heck out of me were the lighting fast ziplines through the grass. Now until this time I was a lizard virgin in the field. I had heard that racerunners were fast and pretty much impossible to catch. Nah, most people are slow I had thought... what a whopping reality check it was to see that those zippers were in fact six-lined race runners. I couldn't catch them, but I did manage to sneak up close enough for some decent pictures.
The other lifer of the day was found by following this.
Tada!
I spent all day at the reserve and found an awesome example of grey tree frog's in mating chorus.
This little gafer was too young to join in on the orgy. He met me on the roof of my car before it was time to leave.
Some misc. pictures from my time in WI
That web was about 2.5' long, like a table. The large spider sat in a funnel to the right of the web.
Now this darn spider looked like a bird turd. The most annoying aspect was it's absolutely massive web. It'd block the trail, the road... and then you'd have to tug all this crap out of your hair, off your clothes, your camera ect. Yuck!
This bug was big and scary, but calm and nice.
A muscle taking a walk
Big ass wolf spider
It's hatching egg sac.
Wicked dragon fly... they were common.
Sand hill crane? They were super cool, and also rather common. I got a video of them... they sound like the raptors from Jurassic Park.
The flooding in Spring Green. Cool pic's, but I sure feel sorry for those affected.
On the way home I stopped at a park in Manitoba. Thanks Kev for the directions!
Another hognose spot that didn't reveal them, but I got close this time. Lots of tracks and a skin so fresh I can only imagine that I missed the snake by minutes.
Lifers? Yes, a pair of smooth green snakes!
This was the second. I was astonished to have found this guy in such deep cover, and even more blown away when I was able to grab him out without much fuss.
Now to question the lifelist ediquite. I'd say I found one of these guys
but can't quite do so. What I found was definately a lizard, and most definately a skink. I can only really positively ID it because it is the only lizard native to the area. It was lost in the brush before I could catch it.
lol, and I have to add this
Stopped at a neat, but horridly messy reptile zoo on the way home. These guys were cute and not something found where I'm from
I always love traveling south where the herps are a plenty
Ian
