Flash Back | Christian/Stone County, MO 6-17 thru 6-19-2011

[KingCam]

Due to the extreme heat and dryness this year I really haven't done any field herping to speak of. So I thought I would post something from last year that includes a toad, a pickerel frog and some other amphibians, so it's somewhat on topic, right? :P This is something I had previously only posted on a field herping forum. Anyway, here's the post:

The field herping was limited and scattered to make time to see family, friends, and of course the 3-day music festival we traveled down there for.

Friday on the way down we stopped at a gas station. While Kristin was in the bathroom I went outside and did a quick walk around the building. I found a large plywood sign laying on the ground in the middle of a cut lawn/field. I always hate looking for snakes in front of the general public, and this place was crowded, but we were ready to get back on the road and I simply wasn't going to leave without taking a look.

I'm glad I did!!



The general consensus is that this is a Thamnophis sirtalis, but I haven't decided on the subspecies yet. What do you think? sirtalis or parietalis? Anyone have a good range map for these?

We got in town at 5:00PM, dropped our luggage off at my cousin's house, and went to the show. Day one of the concert was good. REO Speedwagon and Trace Adkins headlined!!


The next morning we woke up a little later than we meant to and headed to a family friend's property in Stone/Christian county. He gave us an extensive tour of the property, while we endured several stories of all the copperhead he'd killed on his property. While this was obviously painful for me to listen to, it gave me hope that we'd find some southern copperheads without too much difficulty. A southern would be a lifer for me, all I've ever found are osage.

Here are a few photos I snapped during the tour








After the tour ended he left us with the Polaris to do as we pleased. By the time we finally were ready to do some hiking/flipping at 10:30AM it was already getting hot. 86 degrees and climbing fast!!

We started at an old barn with lots of lumber and scrap inside. All we found were some inverts, a couple of ringnecks, and a pickerel frog.











By the time we were done poking around the barn it was nearly 11AM and 90 degrees!

We decided it was too hot to be hiking around, as I was getting dizzy and she was getting a bit nauseated. We got back in the Polaris and discussed coming back tomorrow morning before it got hot.

Steve (the landowner) had pointed to a very large slab of limestone in his field during the tour. He made the comment "I bet that's a palace for a big one!" I made a point to drive by this rock on our way out, and boy am I glad I did!!! He wasn't kidding about it being a palace for a big snake. We found this very large P. obsoletus chilling in the shade under a cedar tree right next to the giant slab of limestone.



















She tagged me shortly after I thwarted her escape. I figured she was extra testy due to the high heat and the fact that she was heavily blue. She did calm down after the initial strike, though. (I refer to pretty much all snakes as 'she' unless I actually know the gender).

We spent the rest of the day visiting family and going back to the music festival. I was beat by the time we got back to our beds at 1AM after the show. The high that day was 92 :shock:

I got in bed and it didn't take long before I could hear thunder. "GREAT!!!" I thought, "it'll be nice a cool tomorrow morning!!"

Sunday morning we got out of bed by 6:30AM and made it to the property at 7AM. Steve was still asleep, but he left his barn open so we could use his Polaris again. I can't thank him enough for giving us such a great piece of property to hike and allowing us to use all of his stuff!! Thanks again, Steve!

We got on the Polaris and headed straight towards a creek bed in some damp, rocky, heavily wooded hillsides. Kristin found the first herp of the day, a prairie ringneck snake.




Very close to where Kristin had found her arnyi I saw something quickly disappear into the leaves. With just a little bit of digging I found the first lifer of the trip!! A very small Plethodon albagula. Please excuse the blurry photos. It was hard to get a good shot due to the low lighting within the woods.


Western slimy salamanders? Why the hell aren't they called Western sticky salamanders?! These things secrete a substance very similar to glue. I'm sure that's nothing new to any of you guys, but I was sure shocked by it. The is the first salamander I've found in my adult life. (Do I qualify as an adult yet? ) Not long after I found two more larger albagulas, a toad, and another ringneck.






















At this point it was 8:35AM, and I was starting to wonder why I wasn't finding any copperheads when suddenly I look down the creek bed and see this:


My first Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix!!!





We did some more hiking after this, but it was getting hot fast. All we managed to find before we had to meet my grandma for breakfast was some inverts. Here they are:













Thanks for looking!!!
- Cam

[Namio]

Cam, why didn't you pick up the copperhead? j/k
The eye ball of the ratsnake is a real trip and congrats on your first salamander! Plethodontids are a very cool Family of salamanders!

[Pluke]

Those ringneck snakes are pretty sweet looking, I've never seen one of those before. ..And either these animals were in the right place at the right time.. or you staged some of these pictures. Regardless, they're all great.

I mean just look at that toad.. Was he just sitting there waiting for a passer by to take the perfect shot or what? lol

[KingCam]

Cam, why didn't you pick up the copperhead? j/k
The eye ball of the ratsnake is a real trip and congrats on your first salamander! Plethodontids are a very cool Family of salamanders!

Because I value my ability to use my fingers at full capacity XD The salamanders were definitely a fun find! I never knew the western slimies secreted sticky stuff before this trip. It was literally like some kind of glue.

Those ringneck snakes are pretty sweet looking, I've never seen one of those before. ..And either these animals were in the right place at the right time.. or you staged some of these pictures. Regardless, they're all great.

I mean just look at that toad.. Was he just sitting there waiting for a passer by to take the perfect shot or what? lol

hahaha! the toad may have been posed, I really cannot remember :P I can say for sure that if he was posed he was posed where we found him.


Thanks for the comments, Namio & Pluke

[GrifTheGreat]

Great thread! I know this year has been bad for herping. It's been so hot and dry. We haven't seen nearly as many critters as we usually do!

I love the shot of the American Toad. And the eyes on that black ratsnake are crazy! Sounds like you had a lot of fun.

I wish we had had this section of the forum earlier! I love it. I have been thinking of posting pictures from older adventures too... It seems a shame to miss out on sharing them just because they aren't as recent.

[KingCam]

Great thread! I know this year has been bad for herping. It's been so hot and dry. We haven't seen nearly as many critters as we usually do!

I love the shot of the American Toad. And the eyes on that black ratsnake are crazy! Sounds like you had a lot of fun.

I wish we had had this section of the forum earlier! I love it. I have been thinking of posting pictures from older adventures too... It seems a shame to miss out on sharing them just because they aren't as recent.

Thanks Yeah, even if the herping had been good I'm not hardcore enough to go hiking in 100+ degree weather.

I love finding toads, they are a good luck omen The black snake's eyes look like that because she's getting ready to shed skin. I thought it looked pretty wicked, too :P

Post em up! Way I figure it, people love original photos, don't really matter when they were taken.

I think field herping photos gives a nice break from staring at frogs in glass boxes (however awesome they may be).

Thanks for the comment Can't wait to see your field photos.

[BeckyM]

Copperheads are soooo gross! DX Everything else looked pretty awesome. Looks like you guys had fun. :3

[KingCam]

Copperheads are soooo gross! DX Everything else looked pretty awesome. Looks like you guys had fun. :3

haha, thanks for the comment. I love copperheads, though