Herpedex: All the Herps I Have Seen In The Wild: northern cricket frog

Showing posts with label northern cricket frog. Show all posts

Friday, 4 September 2015

Queen Snakes of Vermilion County, Illinois

Queen Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Date:
September 4th 2015

Species Found:

Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata)
Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon)
Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans)

Background:

I had never seen a Queen Snake but Tristan had seen many over the last few years. We decided to go to a spot in Vermilion County to look for Queen Snakes. He had never seen Queen Snakes there but the habitat was perfect for them.

The Trip:

We drove out to Vermilion County one afternoon and made our way down to the water by walking under a bridge. We walked down a rocky slope and started wading the water. We were both prepared to get wet: me in my shorts and flipflops and Tristan in his old gym shoes. We had been in the water for 2 minutes when Tristan said that he had seen a snake jump off a rock and into the water. He was sure it had been a Queen Snake, so we probed around for it where he had seen it go down, but we couldn't find it. We walked on, flipping some rocks along the shore and also checking the clumps of vegetation in the water. It wasn't long before I found a baby Queen Snake under a flat rock on the shore. This was my first time seeing a Queen Snake so I inspected it thoroughly, observing minute details like the keels on its scales, the pattern on its ventral surface, and even the size of its pupil. Unlike the other water snake species I had seen, this one was very calm and mild tempered. Tristan came over and took a look at it. He said that it had more prominent stripes than the ones he had found in the Chicagoland.

Baby Queen Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Baby Queen Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Baby Queen Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Soon, Tristan found another baby Queen Snake which was a little bigger than the one that I had found. He then found an adult male Queen Snake under a rock that was half in the water. The adult was around 2 foot long and had duller patterns than the babies. It didn't even open its mouth to biter when Tristan picked it up. I concluded that Queen Snakes were just a very calm species.

Queen Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

We also found some Cricket Frogs and a baby Northern Water Snake on the way back but we didn't photograph them. I was just happy that I got to see a species that I had never seen before.

Friday, 28 August 2015

Fall Herping at the Vermilion River Observatory, Illinois

Smooth Earth Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Date:
August 28th 2015

Species Found:

Eastern American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus americanus)
Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum)
Midland Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi wrightorum)
Western Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae elegans)
Red Back Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus)
Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans blanchardi)

Background:

Tristan and I had been given permission to do herp surveys at the Vermilion River Observatory last Spring, so we decided to go back out there to see what we could find in the Fall. One Friday evening after classes, Sam, Tristan, I and a few non-herpers: Lewin and Elliot, went to the VRO to check the cover objects that we had set out last Spring.

The Trip:

The first thing we did was stop by a large pile of tin that we had checked last Spring. Working together, we started moving the huge sheets of tin, one at a time. A few layers deep, we found 3 Ringneck Snakes. Tristan could only grab 2 as the precision of his fingers was compromised by the gloves he was wearing. The third snake escaped deeper into the tin pile, bit we weren't disappointed as we knew that we would find it eventually. After about 10 minutes, we had gone through the whole

tin pile and we had 8 Ringneck Snakes. In the Spring we had found just one in this pile, so finding so many was a pleasant surprise. While we were putting the tin back into its original position, Lewin spotted a snake moving through the grass and immediately jumped and grabbed it by the tail. For someone who had never caught snakes before, his reflexes were surprisingly good. I helped him pull the snake out of the grass and it turned out to be an Eastern Garter Snake, a common species throughout the region.

Ringneck Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

We moved on to the spot where we had found a Blue Racer last time. Sam found a Milk Snake under a piece of wood, which came as a surprise because nobody expected to find that species in this region. Lewin found a Brown Snake under some wood there too but we didn't find that large Blue Racer from last time. We did however find some Blue Racer eggs under a piece of tin in the same area.

Milk Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Next, we went to a patch of woods which had some debris lying around, perfect habitat for many a reptile and amphibian. There, we found a number of American Toads under objects as well as out in the open. In a collapsed shack, I found a Red Back Salamander under a paint can lid. Meanwhile, Tristan ran out of an old broken down trailer saying that there was a raccoon inside hissing at him. I heard the hissing but I didn't think it was a raccoon so I circled around the trailer and looked in through the window at the back. I saw a medium sized animal sitting up on the counter but it definitely was not a raccoon. At first I thought it was a small dog, then a cat, and then it dawned on me that I was looking at a bird. It was a young Turkey Vulture, with its white down feathers still intact. It was the same size as an adult but the colors were nothing like an adult's black plumage. I went into the trailer to get a better look at it and it continued hissing loudly, clicked its beak and jumped off the counter to hide under a table. I managed to get just one crappy photo with my phone before it disappeared from my sight.

Red Back Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Turkey Vulture: PC Yatin Kalki

We continued searching for snakes in the same area. I found another Ringneck but this one had a very different belly pattern from the others we had found. It had 3 rows of black spots instead of just one. Sam found a snake that he thought was another Brown Snake but when Tristan took a look at it, he identified it as a Smooth Earth Snake. We knew that this was definitely a new record for this site but we were unsure of its status in Vermilion County. Later, we found out that the last Smooth Earth documented in the county was back in 1991. We had found the first Vermilion County Smooth Earth in over 20 years!

Unusual Ringneck Belly Pattern: PC Tristan Schramer

Smooth Earth Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

We then took some time to photograph the animals we had seen. A Ringneck we had found was in the process of shedding its skin and we got the whole process in a series of shots. After we had taken detailed photos of our finds, we decided to walk through the woods to see if we could find any other interesting stuff. We found a few Wood Frogs and a Cricket Frog but that was about it.

Ringneck Snake Shedding Skin: PC Tristan Schramer

Wood Frog: PC Yatin Kalki

We hadn't seen the Black Rat Snake that we were hoping to find at this site but we did make a lot of very cool finds. This will definitely not be our last trip to the VRO this Fall, so hopefully we find it some time in the future.

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Spring Herping in Ford County, Illinois

Plains Leopard Frog: PC Tristan Schramer

Date:
May 3rd and 5th 2015

Species Found:

Plains Leopard Frog (Lithobates blairi)
Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon)
Plains Garter Snake (Thamnophis radix)
Eastern American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus americanus)
Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans blanchardi)
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)

The Trip:

While Tristan was doing some research about Kirtland's Snakes in Illinois, he came across a post by a guy named Conner who had found dozens of these rare snakes in a small lake in a suburban area. We reached out to Conner and he was more than happy to show us where he had found them. On the 3rd we met Conner in Ford county along with another accomplished herper named Mike. On that day we didn't find any Kirtland's Snakes but we did see why they occurred in that habitat. The lake was bordered by soft soil riddled with crayfish burrows and large rocks on top - perfect Kirtland's Snake habitat. While we were there, we caught a Plains Leopard Frog and saw a few Northern Water Snakes which we didn't manage to catch. I had seen my first Plains Leopard Frog the previous day at Mercer, but we hadn't caught that one. This time, I could really examine it and see what made it different from other Leopard Frog Species. The Plains had a shorter snout, circular spots on the back and stripe interruptions near the thighs.

Kirtland's Snake Habitat:PC Tristan Schramer

Plains Leopard Frog: PC Tristan Schramer

Conner was really eager to have us in his neck of the woods so he offered to drive us up some other time to look again. On the 5th, we took him up on his offer. Conner and his twin brother Culton me and Tristan up and took us to the lake once again. And once again we stuck out at finding Kirtland's Snakes. To salvage what we could of the day, Conner took us to a few more snake spots he knew around his house. The first place we went to was a pile of debris beside a railroad track. Conner had found Plains Garter Snakes here and I had seen PLENTY of those before, passing by them almost everyday on campus, but I was curious to see how these snakes differed from the ones I was used to. Under an old tire Tristan found a small Plains Garter Snake with a big attitude. The snake immediately bit him on the hand and musked everywhere. This was so unlike the members of the species I had encountered before. I had caught close to 100 individual Plains Garter Snakes on campus and not a single one had ever even opened its mouth to bite. I thought that this bitey Garter was just an outlier until we found the next snake under a piece of tin. This one was bigger than the previous one and it all the same things, plus it pooped all over Tristan's hand. I came to the conclusion that either something has really pissed these snakes off, or the campus Garters are all softies. Sadly, we didn't get any photos of those angry Garters.

The next place Conner took us was a field by a lake where he had found Eastern Garters and Fox Snakes. We were welcomed by the happy trills of Eastern American Toads calling for mates. The majority of the calls were coming from this little puddle that had been made by a tractor's tires. We counted 6 calling toads just from the car. We got out to get a better look and surprisingly a good number of the toads kept calling. It was really cool to see the toads calling literally 2 inches away from us.

American Toad: PC Tristan Schramer

We walked through the field and found a few Cricket Frogs hopping around. Some had streaks of bright green and others of rust.

Cricket Frog: PC Tristan Schramer

At the corner of the field, there was a pile of shingles - a great place to find snakes. Sure enough, a few layers in we found a large 3 foot Eastern Garter Snake. "That's the biggest damn Garter I've ever seen!" exclaimed Conner as he proceeded to examine the large female. Less than 10 seconds later, I pulled an even LARGER Eastern Garter from a few layers deeper. This one looked about 3 and a half foot long, which surprised us all because the biggest Garter we had seen before these 2 was a little over 2 foot long. This snake musked, pooped and tried to bite me. The musk of the Eastern Garter was a lot stronger and more offensive than that of the Plains Garter. We found a family of mice a little deeper in the shingle pile but that was about it.

Eastern Garter Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Me holding both Eastern Garters: PC Tristan Schramer

Eastern Garters: PC Tristan Schramer

After we released the big Garters, we decided to call it a day. I didn't see any new or rare species on this trip but I did see a different side to the species I was used to seeing.

Saturday, 25 October 2014

Fall Herping in Vermilion County, Illinois

Juvenile Blue Racer: PC Yatin Kalki

Date:
October 25th 2014

Species Found

Red Back Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Northern Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus)
Southern Two Lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera)
Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus)
Northern Spring Peeper (Pseudacris c. crucifer)
Western Chorus Frog (Pseudacris triseriata)
Blue Racer (Coluber constrictor foxii)
Four Toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum)
Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans blanchardi)

Background:

It was getting colder and we thought the snake season was just about over. We decided to concentrate more on salamanders as they have higher tolerance to the cold. Tristan found 'Doug' on Flickr who had found a variety of salamander species in a neighboring county. He reached out to Doug and it turned out that Doug worked at the University of Illinois in the chemistry department. Doug agreed to take me, Tristan and Megan out to Vermilion County and show us some of the salamander spots.

The Trip:

Doug first took us to a place where he had found Marbled Salamanders before. We had no luck there though. Then, we all branched out from that spot, herping in different directions, just to see what we might find. I found several slugs, earthworms, centipedes and wolf spiders but no herps. After what seemed like an hour, Tristan yelled that he had found something. He was really far away so his voice was really faint. I walked some distance just following his voice and when I finally found him, he showed me two small Red Back Salamanders that he had in his hand. They were dark colored with a reddish stripe running down their back. They looked quite similar to the Zigzag Salamanders we had seen at Snake Road.

Red Back Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Red Back Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

We then moved on to another location: a hillside with a lot of rocks to flip. There we found at least 100 more Red Back Salamanders. Some of the Red Backs didn't have the stripe running down their back. These were apparently called Lead Backs but they were the same species as the Red Backs. They were just a different phase. The Red/Lead Backs ranged in size from 5 cm to 8 cm.

Red Back Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

Lead Back Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

Red Back Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

Both phases: PC Tristan Schramer

We also found some Red Back neonates (babies). They were barely 2 cm long.

Red Back Salamander Neonate: PC Tristan Schramer

Everyone was getting kind of bored of finding only one species over and over. I saw a large flat rock that was kind of breaking off in slates. I flipped it and found 6 Red Backs and one large black salamander that looked differently proportioned than the other ones I had been seeing. I picked it up and called everyone over. Tristan identified it as a Slimy Salamander. It was 10-12 cm long and had small white dots all over it. It left a sticky residue all over my hands, I guess that's where it gets its name from. The Slimy was a first for everyone and I was really proud that I was the one who found it. While Tristan was photographing it, I found 2 more Slimy Salamanders near the same slate rocks.

Slimy Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

Slimy Salamander: PC Yatin Kalki

Slimy Salamanders: PC Yatin Kalki

The next species we found was the Southern Two Lined Salamander and guess who found it? Me :)

It was about as big as the Red Backs but looked really different. It was golden yellow with 2 lines running down its back. Its underside was bright yellow. I was holding it in my hand as I climbed down the hill toward everyone else and when I got down the salamander wasn't moving and its body was limp. I thought it had died of shock and I felt guilty as hell. I set it down on a rock to examine it and out of nowhere it jumped up and made a dash for a pile of leaves. It was playing dead the whole time!

Southern Two Lined Salamander: PC Tristan Schramer

We also found some frogs. A Wood Frog and a Spring Peeper. The Wood Frog has a dark eye mask and a yellowish underbelly. It can tolerate freezing temperature and over the Winter it freezes completely only to thaw in the Spring. The Spring Peeper looks like a tree frog with large toe pads and a cross on its back.

Wood Frog: PC Tristan Schramer

Wood Frog: PC Yatin Kalki

Spring Peeper: PC Yatin Kalki

Spring Peeper: PC Tristan Schramer

Next we went to a snake hibernaculum where Doug had found Black Rat Snakes before. I started looking in the cracks between rocks and flipping the loose ones. Tristan walked up a sunny hill and literally less than 10 seconds later, he came down with a juvenile Blue Racer Snake. I had seen the Black Racer but the Blue was new to me. Racers are some of my favorite snakes so I was super excited. Then, Megan went up the hill and 10 seconds later, she came down holding an adult Blue Racer. The adult was around 4 ft long while the juvenile was maybe 3 ft. I was amazed at how easily they had found the snakes so I decided to go up the hill. Unfortunately I didn't find anything but I had a really fun time handling the other two. These light blue scales of these snakes were iridescent in the sunlight.

Juvenile Blue Racer: PC Yatin Kalki

Juvenile Blue Racer: PC Yatin Kalki

Adult Blue Racer: PC Yatin Kalki

At one point the larger Blue Racer got into a feisty mood and started striking at me. It also started vibrating its tail in the leaf litter to simulate the rattle of a rattlesnake.

When we were releasing the Racers on the hill, I heard something moving through the leaves a few meters away from me. It was another Blue Racer with a whiter color than the other 2. I picked it up by its tail and this one was even feistier than the other one. It got me on the wrist but it didn't break the skin. I had enough pictures of Blue Racers so I let this one go without photographing it.

We next went to a place where the State Threatened Four Toed Salamander is found. It was an artificial wetland created to water cattle. As soon as we got there Megan found a Western Chorus Frog, which was a new species for me. We went on flipping rocks and logs and found various Red Backs and Southern Two Lineds. Finally, Megan found the spot where we found about 10 Four Toed Salamanders. They were identified by their spotted underbelly and constriction at the base of the tail. Since they were a threatened species, all of us were excited about them.