Highlights of 2016 and Goals for 2017

In Ontario, there are 51 species of Reptiles and Amphibians. 4 of these species are exclusively found in "North" Western Ontario on the North Western side of Lake Superior. The other 47 species can be found in Southern Ontario.

I tend to not consider the Northern herp species on my Ontario herp list simply because they are a great distance away from most other species and are a long drive away for me. However I do eventually plan to travel that distance to see them (Western Painted Turtle, Central Newt, Red-sided Gartersnake, Boreal Chorus Frog).

In the mean time I have been trying to complete my Southern Ontario life list. This year has been more than successful in that regard. Although I have yet to fully complete the list, I have now seen 43/47 species.

Here are some of my highlight species from this year:

Northern Two-lined Salamander

Northern Two-lined Salamander in habitat

Eastern Spiny Softshell turtle - Endangered

Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle - Endangered
Eastern Hognose Snake - Threatened
Smallmouth Salamadner - Endangerede
Fowler's Toad - Endangered
Queensnake - Endangered

Lake Erie Watersnake - Endangered
Eastern Foxsnake - Threatened/Endangered
Gray Ratsnake - Threatened/Endangered

Gray Ratsnake scaling a tree
Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake - Threatened/Endangered

There were many more herp species seen and really all of them were highlights. But these were probably my overall favourite that I was able to capture on camera.

Now, for next years goals. Besides taking better pictures of all species I have already seen I will be striving to complete my life list for Southern Ontario. As I said before, I only have 4 species left to go. These species are the Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander, Northern Dusky Salamander, Wood Turtle, and Blue Racer. All of these animals are listed as endangered in Ontario and have very very small populations with extremely limited range in Ontario.

Finding the location of these animals' populations is a very challenging task to do and once you know a general location, actually finding an individual is an even bigger challenge. Luckily for me, I know locations for each of these herps and with that information and lots of effort I will be hoping to see all 4 by the end of 2017.

I came close with the Blue racer this year, finding 6 or 7 sheds and a DOR racer (which was actually more disappointing than not seeing one at all):

Blue Racer DOR - Endangered

Blue Racer DOR - Endangered

Stay tuned for next spring when I will be writing more blog posts about all herps and my quest for these big 4!

Until then,


Ryan Wolfe

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