Our second day there was equally as cold but at least sunny. Heading over to heron pond we had more of a turtle day than anything else. Flipping logs in the forest just produced some interesting invertebrates but no amphibians or reptiles.
 |
| Male Bess Beetle |
 |
| Male and female bess beetles |
River cooters and red-earned sliders were plentiful along the large slow moving rivers in the area. They all seamed to be enjoying the sunshine just like we were.
 |
| Red-eared sliders and River Cooters |
Eastern box turtles are well designed for life on land and under water. Hinged plastrons allow them to hide fully into their shell. Unfortunately this is exactly what they do when they get picked up. Waiting half an hour didn't get this adult turtle out of it's shell more than this much.
 |
| Easterern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) |
This is a great defense mechanism against their natural predators but won't do them much good against cars on the road.
 |
| Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) |
Search for the elusive mud snake continued for hours. Other groups reported marbled and mole salamanders but flipping logs only found us more Bess beetles.
Heading to the railroad tracks in hopes of better luck with amphibians we struck out. Our only savior was a fence lizard and a few ground skinks.
 |
| Fence Lizard Underside (Sceloporus undulatus) |
 |
| Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) |
 |
| Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) |
... and the day ended as the trip began with an adorable northern cricket frog- this one in a green phase.
 |
| Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans) |
No comments:
Post a Comment