Herpedex: All the Herps I Have Seen In The Wild: April 2015

Sunday 26 April 2015

Marsh Herping in Vermilion County, Illinois

Northern Water Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Date:
April 26th 2015

Species Found:

Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon)
Four Toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum)

The Trip:

Noah had worked with a salamander researcher named Abby in the past and she had done a lot of work with Four Toed Salamanders. We had been talking about going to look for Four Toed Salamander nests with Abby for a while so Noah finally reached out to her. Noah, Tristan and I decided to go to Abby's research site in Vermilion County along with Abby, her dog and another salamander guy named Lance. We got to the marsh, which consisted of water with a maximum depth of 1 foot and bright green plant clumps popping up out of the mud.

Marsh Habitat: PC Tristan Schramer

Four Toed Salamanders nest under clumps of moss in the marsh. We started looking around in the marsh for clumps of moss. While I waded through the water, I heard a rustling to my right. There was a large, dark Northern Water Snake on a clump of dry grass. I wasn't expecting to see a snake so it took a while for me to process what I was seeing. I lunged towards the snake to grab it but it slid into the water and disappeared. 10 seconds later, I saw it surface but it swam away really fast when I tried to grab it again. Ankle deep in mud and dodging plants, I couldn't keep up with the snake, so I gave up and went to search for another snake. I walked around for about 5 minutes before I saw my next snake, a Water Snake that was smaller than the previous one. It slid into the water as soon as it saw me but this time I jumped directly on it and grabbed a clump of algae and mud where I saw it go down. I pulled my hand out of the water and the snake was squirming among the algae and decaying vegetation in my hand. It promptly bit me 4 times as I untangled it from the debris. Once I had a firm hold on it, I called out "Water Snake!" so that everyone else could come see it. At the same time, Abby called out "Found a nest!". I walked over to the nest and everyone took turns inspecting both the snake and the salamander nest. The snake had calmed down by the time other people started handling it so nobody else had the honor of getting bit. Meanwhile, my hand was still bleeding from the 8 puncture wounds injected with anti-coagulant. Water snakes have an anti-coagulant in their saliva which prevents blood from clotting. This is a predatory adaptation rather than a defense mechanism. Large prey animals will lose blood, making it easier for the snake to swallow them. I took the snake to dry land so we could photograph it.

Northern Water Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Northern Water Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Northern Water Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Northern Water Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Northern Water Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Northern Water Snake Ventrals: PC Tristan Schramer

While everyone was photographing the snake, I went to take closer look at the salamander nest. I had to peel back the moss to actually see the eggs. They varied greatly in size but they all hung off the end of the moss, over the water. This is so that the larvae can drop into the water when they are ready. The female salamander usually guards the eggs till they develop. I found her hiding in a small hole a few inches away from the eggs. Looking at her small body, it was hard to imagine how all those eggs had come out of it. I later found out that the eggs come out very small and subsequently swell up by absorbing moisture.

Four Toed Salamander Nest: PC Tristan Schramer

We released all the animals and decided to head back. I had seen both Four Toed Salamanders and Water Snakes before but this trip was unique. Seeing the salamander nest really showed me how much effort the female puts into keeping her young safe. The next time I see a Four Toed Salamander I'll be reminded of those eggs in the moss. The Northern Water Snake was a new subspecies for me. I had caught a Midland Water Snake in Southern Illinois last fall, but this was a completely different experience. The Midland had been very docile because of the cold temperature but this Northern really showed me what Water Snakes are capable of, leaving 8 puncture wounds in my skin. The subspecies differ in that the Northern has wider dark bands on its back while the Midland has wider light bands. Their ranges also don't overlap too much. Regardless, seeing a snake was a treat. We had come to find salamander nests so the snake was an added bonus.

Saturday 18 April 2015

Urban Herping in Champaign County, Illinois

Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer

Date:
April 18th 2015

Species Found:

American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)

The Trip:

It was a nice, sunny day but Tristan, Sam and I had no way to get to any forest preserves as nobody with a car was free. A professor, Dr. Kanter had seen a lot of wildlife in the urban areas that we had never thought to look in. I reached out to him and he pointed us in the right direction. With a mixture of walking and public transport, we got to a large, man-made reservoir in the middle of the city. Dr. Kanter had found Softshell Turtles and Snapping Turtles there, two species that I had never seen.

As soon as we got there, we walked along the banks of the pond, looking for wildlife in the shallows. The edges of the water were filled with pollution but Tristan somehow managed to spot the frame of a large Bullfrog among the debris. It was mostly submerged in the water and wasn't moving so we thought it might be dead. Tristan picked it up by the torso and it started flailing, proving to us that it was very much alive. We put it into a net and continued scanning the shallows for life. Sam picked a medium sized turtle out of the water and yelled "little Snapper!". He brought it over and Tristan identified it as a Musk Turtle, not a Snapping Turtle. The Musk Turtle was a first time species for all 3 of us so we were all pretty psyched.

Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer

As I went to put the Musk Turtle in the net, the Bullfrog jumped out, through my legs and into the water. I was a little angry at myself for letting it escape before we could even get any pictures, but we had been seeing tons of Bullfrogs and I knew that we could just catch another. Sam and I went out looking for more animals while Tristan photographed the Musk Turtle. We saw a few more turtles basking on the banks but they all ran into the water as we approached them. We did manage to catch 3 more Bullfrogs but none were as big as the first one that had escaped.

Bullfrog: PC Yatin Kalki

Bullfrog: PC Yatin Kalki

Bullfrog: PC Yatin Kalki

Bullfrog: PC Tristan Schramer

I was happy that I got a new addition to my American Herp List, the Musk Turtle, which put it at 50 species. Later that day, I sent photos of our finds to Dr. Kanter. I was thrilled when he told me that the Musk Turtle was a new find in Champaign County. I told him that I would send the record to the appropriate herpetologists.

Friday 17 April 2015

April Herping in Vermilion County, IL

Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Date:
April 11th and April 17th 2015

Species Found:

Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Four Toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum)
Silvery Salamander (Ambystoma platineum)
Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)

The Trip:

Last Fall we had been to a snake hibernaculum and found some large Blue Racers. We expected the snakes to emerge sometime now so we made a trip there one sunny evening. Sam, who was new to herping, came with us and was psyched up and ready to find some large snakes. We got there and were unhappy to find a group of people sitting on the railroad tracks above the hibernaculum, smoking and drinking. All our hopes of finding large snakes disappeared as we knew that these people would have spooked any snakes that had been out basking. Either way, we started looking under objects like logs, rocks and railroad ties for anything. We found some Redback salamanders under rocks but that was about all we could find.

Redback Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

We decided to leave the hibernaculum and go to a nearby spot to where we had found Four Toed Salamanders before. Sam had never seen any salamanders before so he was excited to see anything. We got there and started flipping the rocks we had found them under last time. Unfortunately we didn't find any there. Tristan found a dead Box Turtle's shell and it was cool to see the bone patterns on the inside. About 5 minutes Tristan found a small Four Toed Salamander under a piece of wood. We showed it to Sam and explained how Four Toed Salamanders have a speckled belly and a constriction at the base of the tail. Sam and I found about 5 more Four Toed Salamanders but all of them were juveniles only 3-4 cm long. The adults were probably in the ponds breeding. As we photographed our specimens it got dark and we started to hear the hoots of Barred Owls. After we released the salamanders, we walked back to the car by the light of our headlamps, somewhat satisfied with what we had found.

Four Toed Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

Four Toed Salamanders: PC Tristan Schramer

About a week later, Tristan and I decided to go back to the hibernaculum with Megan. This time we weren't greeted by the rowdy yelling of drunk people, but by the sound of the flowing creeks, broken only by the croaking of frogs. This was a good sign.

We had heard of Black Rat Snake sightings all throughout the Midwest, and this was after all a Black Rat Snake hibernaculum so we were hopeful that we would find one. About 2 minutes in, someone found some Redback Salamanders. We had seen tons of these so we didn't waste any time taking photos. 5 minutes in, Tristan shouted "Black Rat!" and pulled a medium sized black snake out from under some leaves. I was super excited until I actually saw the snake. It was limp and its face was discolored. It dawned on us all that the snake was dead and had been for at least a few days. Nothing drops your spirits more than finding a cool new snake only to find out that it is dead. It was hard to determine the cause of death but it had surely died sometime after we had last been there.

Dead Black Rat Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

We were discouraged by the dead snake but we kept on looking for snakes. I climbed up a hillside which had a lot of debris like metal pieces, wooden planks and ceramic tiles strewn on it. After about 10 minutes, I found a small Ringneck Snake under a ceramic tile. It was only a juvenile but still a first time species for Megan, Tristan and me. Ringneck Snakes are called so because of the bright colored ring pattern around their neck. They have a dull colored back and a bright colored belly. We found 4 more Ringneck Snakes on that hillside. With all of the snakes in front of us, it was very easy to see just how much the belly patterns varied. Some had 3 lines of dots running down their bodies, some had just the 2 sides and others had no dots on the belly at all.

5 Ringneck Snakes: PC Yatin Kalki

Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

2 Types of Belly Patterns: PC Tristan Schramer

Plain Belly Pattern: PC Tristan Schramer

Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

On the other side of the hill I found 9 more Ringneck Snakes but I didn't catch them as we already had 5 to photograph. Under a large flat rock, I found 2 Ringneck Snakes and a medium sized salamander. At first I thought it was a Mole Salamander because of its large head. Then, I thought it was a Blue-spotted Salamander because of the blue speckles on its side. Tristan later identified it as a juvenile Silvery Salamander. We had found a Silvery Salamander in this county last month but apparently nobody had found any in this area. We decided to tell the qualified herpetologists about this particular find.

Silvery Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

After we got photos and released all the animals, we decided to head back. Though we didn't get any live Black Rat Snakes, I was still pretty satisfied with our finds. The Ringneck Snake was a new addition to my American Herp List which now stood at 49 species.