It has been about a year since I was last able to get out and go look for snakes so this last weekend I went out to the panhandle of FL to explore a new area, Torreya State Park. I was glad that I did. I found over 40 species of herp and caught several lifers. It was a great trip. Here are the photos from it.
The first find of the trip was not something that is often found and certainly not one that I have seen before. It is a juvenile ornate chorus frog. Pseudacris ornata.
This was quickly followed by several other species of frogs including this Pseudacris ocularis
and an oak toad
The habitat was an amazing carnivorous plant bog. There were plenty of pitcher plants and sundews around. Here is a photo of a parrot pitcher plant flower and some of the sundews.
Being from the peninsular part of FL it was strange to see hills. This habitat resembled the Appalachians more than the rest of FL.
After setting up camp, I struck gold- errr, I mean copper- when this guy was found under a log.
Also under the logs was a huge abundance of salamanders including these guys.
Desmognathus apalachicola- and an exceptional one too!
Desmognathus auriculatus
Eurycea cirrigera
Pseudotriton ruber
Ambystoma opacum
and several more that I did not stop to photograph.
This guy was pretty cool. A little Storeria occipitomaculata.
While heading back to our camp, this guy was found on the road. We moved him to the safety of a nearby tree where he posed nicely for photos. Opheodrys aestivus.
And of course these guys are ubiquitous and was stumbled across on the side of a trail.
Because I was at a very primitive camp site, there were now showers so I hiked down to the river to clean my self up and found an awesome little Graptemys barbouri. I did not get a shot of him but this was the area where he was found.
The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and taking in the awesome scenery. On the way back I also stopped in St. Marks wildlife refuge for a little bit.
It was a fantastic trip.
The first find of the trip was not something that is often found and certainly not one that I have seen before. It is a juvenile ornate chorus frog. Pseudacris ornata.
This was quickly followed by several other species of frogs including this Pseudacris ocularis
and an oak toad
The habitat was an amazing carnivorous plant bog. There were plenty of pitcher plants and sundews around. Here is a photo of a parrot pitcher plant flower and some of the sundews.
Being from the peninsular part of FL it was strange to see hills. This habitat resembled the Appalachians more than the rest of FL.
After setting up camp, I struck gold- errr, I mean copper- when this guy was found under a log.
Also under the logs was a huge abundance of salamanders including these guys.
Desmognathus apalachicola- and an exceptional one too!
Desmognathus auriculatus
Eurycea cirrigera
Pseudotriton ruber
Ambystoma opacum
and several more that I did not stop to photograph.
This guy was pretty cool. A little Storeria occipitomaculata.
While heading back to our camp, this guy was found on the road. We moved him to the safety of a nearby tree where he posed nicely for photos. Opheodrys aestivus.
And of course these guys are ubiquitous and was stumbled across on the side of a trail.
Because I was at a very primitive camp site, there were now showers so I hiked down to the river to clean my self up and found an awesome little Graptemys barbouri. I did not get a shot of him but this was the area where he was found.
The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and taking in the awesome scenery. On the way back I also stopped in St. Marks wildlife refuge for a little bit.
It was a fantastic trip.
