Herping Near Home

     In the afternoon of June 17th, I had some free time since it was the last day of school, and we had a half day.  I decided to go to a spot near home to look for snakes with my friend.  It was a little bit cooler that day and we had already caught an Eastern Garter Snake in the woods behind our house, so we figured it would be a pretty good day for snakes.  We arrived at the trail leading to the spot we were heading to, so we began down.  About twenty seconds in, and thirty feet down the trail, my friend spotted a juvenile Eastern Milk Snake making his way across the path.  He was tiny, about six inches long, and beautifully colored.  I spent a lot of time photographing this guy because the only other one I caught two years ago, I was unable to photograph.  After a long time photographing and just hanging out with the snake, we let him go right where he was headed towards in the grass.  Once we got to the main spot, the last thing that we flipped uncovered a large Eastern Garter Snake.  He very quickly disappeared into the grass, so we put the board down and headed home.

Eastern Milk Snake

Eastern Milk Snake

Eastern Milk Snake

Eastern Milk Snake

 

Herping Belleplain State Forest, NJ

     On June 6th and June 20th, my family and I went to Belleplain State Forest, NJ to both herp and bird.  The first trip rewarded us with three huge, nearly six foot long, Black Rat Snakes.  Also, right around the nature center, we saw two Five-lined Skinks.  Lastly, we found one Eastern Mud Turtle crossing the road.

Black Rat Snake

Black Rat Snake

Black Rat Snake

Black Rat Snake

Eastern Mud Turtle

 

 



     On the second trip, we found a Southern Leopard Frog and a Fowler's Toad around one pond behind the nature center.  We also found likely the same two Five-lined Skinks around the nature center, and one Ring-necked Snake under a brick behind the nature center.

Southern Leopard Frog

Ring-necked Snake





Birding the Pole Farm

     On May 30th and June 9th, my mom and I went to the Pole Farm in New Jersey.  We went in hopes to get the reported Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Grasshopper Sparrows, and Blue Grosbeak.  We did very well, and between the two trips we got all of our target birds.  The Bobolinks were the first specie of the four that we came across.  Some were being very cooperative and landing in the high grass very close to the trail.  The Meadowlarks were also very numerous, but not coming close at all.  The Grasshopper Sparrows were a nice treat, and likely breeding in the area that we found them.  However, we only observed one pair.  Lastly, the Blue Grosbeak just happened to land in one dead tree as we were coming out and then quickly flew back into the grasses.

Field Sparrow with Meal

Grasshopper Sparrow

Bobolink

Bobolink



Birding the PA Mountains

     Over the weekend of May 15th through the 17th, my family and I went out to Juniata County, PA for my cousin's college graduation.  While we had a lot of left over time before and after the graduation, we birded a short section of a nearby park that wrapped around Raystown Lake in Huntington County.  My mom and I went hiking up the first trail we came across and very shortly got our lifer Cerulean Warbler on the edge of a power line cut.  While watching the Cerulean Warbler, we also heard a Ruffed Grouse drumming in the distance.  After hiking a bit farther up the trail and seeing a few more warbler species, we decided to head home.
     The last day before we left, we went to a different section of the same park.  After crossing a few Eastern Box Turtles off of the road, we heard another Cerulean Warbler singing.  Just a few minutes later, he came down a little bit lower to be visible.  After spending a few minutes with him, we drove down the path a little bit further until I heard a Prairie Warbler singing.  I got out of the car to see if he was in the open, and I heard a Golden-winged Warbler.  This was a lifer and a major nemesis bird.  Waiting a few minutes for him to come out in the open, he finally did.  However he was staying high up and far away.  We watched him for a little while and then we went home.

Eastern Box Turtle

Eastern Box Turtle

 



Cerulean Warbler

Cerulean Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler