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| 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.
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| Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Musk Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| 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.
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| Bullfrog: PC Yatin Kalki |
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| Bullfrog: PC Yatin Kalki |
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| Bullfrog: PC Yatin Kalki |
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| 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.
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