On The Trail With Mark

Driving home on Neuman Road, a distance of about 2 miles, (around 8:00pm) I counted 5 snakes. Two were crossing the road and two were already killed by cars and one was lying in the middle of the road when I past by but I was too late to make a rescue before another car behind me killed it Most appeared to be black rat snakes except for one which may have been a large garter snake.

Only a portion of the fungal diversity I have encountered this year. I wish I knew more about identifying these organisms.  2010 has definitely been an optimal year for fungi

Clifton 6 Acre Park

Clifton 8 Acre Park

Yatesford Road Near Hemlock Overlook (above and below)

Below Beaver Creek Road

Beaver Creek Road

Above Wykland Road and Kincheloe

Wolf Run Shoals (below)

Wolf Run Shoals (below)

Right and below

Wykland and Kincheloe Road

Tonight Mike Gregory and I conducted a Night time Creek Walk through Big Rocky Run.  The program was intended to give families a chance to explore, with their kids, a local stream and the animals that live there.     

Mike found this eastern snapping turtle lurking in a shallow pool along the stream. Overall we had a great program. Most of the people got into the stream with us.  In fact the majority of the snakes we saw were spotted by our guests but the job of catching them was left to us.

Below: Northern Water Snake we encountered 5 of them on this trip. Seems like I am a magnet for these animals.

After a long hot day in the 90’s and high humidityand tonight wasn’t much differnt.  What was interesting about tonight was the frequency of snake sitings crossing the roads.  I must have seen at least 4 in the course of two hours time as well as one dead one. In fact I almost hit two of them.  From what I could tell most were Black Rat snakes one I believe was a rather large garter snake. I would be curious to know if tonight was an unusually active night for reptiles. If so what factor(s) are contributing to their increased activity.

Just a thought

Taking the crew through the wetland via the boardwalk trail. If you have not been to Huntley then you are missing out on some spectacular sightings. It’s a great place to observe and photograph a variety of species up close.  In this photo someone has spotted something lurking in the cattails

Discussing with the group the biology and behavior of an Eastern Snapping Turtle 

Snapping Turtle and Eastern Painted basking on a log together. 

 We found a couple of these today. Here I am showing an Eastern Garter Snake to the group 

Red Wing Blackbird

Eastern Snapping Turtle basking

Hooded Merganser and her chicks

Southern Leopard Frog

Today Mike Gregory and I led Herp survey for a group of Virginia Master Naturalist students.   Our program centered around the reptiles and amphibians of Huntley Meadows Park ( the FCPA) emphasizing  practical field experiences in species identification and their habitats.  We did not encounter all of the species that have been documented in the park from previous surveys. We did however find a few common species and possibly two species that were not listed on the park’s species list. Overall it was perfect weather and a great bunch of student naturalist.  Anuran speices: encountered were American Bull Frog, Southern Leopard Frog, Pickerel Frog, Green Frog, American Toad.  Turtles: were Red Ear (not on the park’s list), Lots of Snapping Turtles, Painted, Mud and/or Musk Turltes. Lizards: (identification pending) were five lined and Broad head skinks. Snakes: two species but of the same genus and they were Ribbon and Garter Snakes. Other sitings not related to our target species included a variety of birds. Some of the more interesting of these sightings was the Hooded Merganser, an Oven Bird, Egrets and a Sand Hill Crane. We also heard two Barred Owls calling to one another.

Could this be a hybrid between the long tailed and the three lined salamander(E. longicauda and E. guttolineatta) ?

Checked on the vernal pools in the 8 acre park this afternnon. Alive and well. Observed wood frogs, numerous tad poles and egg masses. Toads were vocal preparing to add their future generations to the pool.  Some nice bloodroot blooms could be found at the western end of the trail too.

Wood Frog in vernal pool

Toad with partially air filled vocal sac ready to call in the females. I wish I could get closer or had a stronger lens!

Bloodroot Bloom

Great specimen caught and released Nov 15, 2009. One of my favorite local amphibinans

Above: Lead Back Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)

(Thamnophis sirtalis) Eastern Garter Snake

(Desmognathus fuscus)Dusky Salamander

Red Back Salamander (Plethodon cinereus)

Two lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata)

Well didn’t exactly find skinks on this sunny October morning but were successful at finding three different species of salamanders and one species of snake.  Pictured are three from the genus plethodon (Red and Lead back sal),one from Euryecea (Two lined salamander) and one Desmonagthus (Dusky Sal). The snake is a Thamnophis sirtalis or Eastern Garter Snake. Overall a productive program.

Photo by John White . Discovered By Tony Bulmer Summer 2009