North Carolina

On my fall reading week this year I decided to take advantage of my free time to drive south to North Carolina to visit my family and do some herping. I know that this post isn't about Ontario herps but it brings in some much appreciated diversity! As most serious herpers and herpetologists know, herping while traveling is one of the most amazing and fun things you can do. You get to see new habitats and ecosystems of wherever you go and you get to observe new and unique herpetofauna within them!

During my stay in NC I was only able to see a few herp species due to the time restriction of 3 days and flood damage from Hurricane Matthew that had just swept past.

My first day herping started out with these species in the Croatan National Forest:


Green Anole

Green Anole

Cottonmouth

Cottonmouth

Cottonmouth

Cottonmouth

Cottonmouth

Cottonmouth

American Alligator

Ground Skink

Ground Skink

Ground Skink

Southern Cricket Frog

Southern Cricket Frog

Southern Cricket Frog

Southern Cricket Frog

On day two I traveled out to Hyde County specifically in search of Pygmy Rattlesnakes:


Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnake

Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnake

Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnake

Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnake

Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnake

Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnake


but of course I searched for more herps and found a couple other species in the county:


Southern Leopard Frog

DOR Eastern Mud Turtle?
Rough Earth Snake

Rough Earth Snake

Rough Earth Snake


For the last day I met up with some fellow herpers down in the sandhills region of NC. My hopes were high with ambitions to see something crazy like a coachwhip, pine snake, or southern hognose but really I would have been happy with any lifer (I still couldn't believe I hadn't seen a black racer by this point! and I never did...). Instead I only found one snake after spending the whole day searching and it was one that I can find regularly back home in Ontario; the Eastern Hognose Snake. Still, with it being one of my favourite species, it was a great find:


Eastern Hognose

Eastern Hognose


And it put on a hoggy rear fang threat display which I had never previously gotten to witness:


Eastern Hognose

Eastern Hognose

Eastern Hognose

Eastern Hognose
Other species I found throughout my time in NC that I didn't photograph:
- Common Snapping Turtle
- Yellowbelly Slider
- Five-lined/Broad Headed Skink?
- Northern Cricket Frog

All in all I had a great trip. but I will most definitely need to revisit North Carolina sometime in the near future!

Cheers for now,

Ryan Wolfe

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Early Emergence

Image
2018 started off with some intense weather fluctuations. By mid February we were seeing nights where the temperature would remain positive 5 degrees Celsius or more in the Hamilton-Wentworth Region. And some of these nights had large amounts of rainfall. Although it was only February, I knew that this weather would bring out some early rising amphibians. Particularly the Ambystomid species (mole salamanders). So on February 19th, when the weather was just right, myself and my friend Billy Olds grabbed our flashlights and went out into the night to look for amphibians. When we first arrived on location I was pretty confident that we would find at least 1 or 2 salamanders. But as we walked through the forest across an abundance of ice and snow and past vernal pools that were still completely frozen, that confidence started to diminish. We had even checked the pool where I often see Ambystoma maculatum (Spotted Salamanders) and Ambystma jeffersonianum x laterale (Jefferson x Blue-spot...
Read more

A Trip to the Sunshine State - Part 2

Image
During the middle of our stay we herped Central Florida for a day and then went down to the Everglades to look for reptiles and amphibians there. Unfortunately we had some very cold weather and didn't find as many species as expected in the glades.  Here's what we found: Blue Tail Mole Skink Blue Tail Mole Skink Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad Florida Sand Skink Southern Black Racer Florida Cottonmouth Everglades Racer Peninsula Cooter Add caption We also had some neat bird observations - here are a few I was able to capture on camera Gallinule Add caption And then back to herps... American Alligator American Crocodile Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake - juvenile recently hit but still alive on the road American Alligator - juvenile American Alligator - juvenile Chicken Turtle Eastern Gartersnake R. Wolfe
Read more

February Findings

Image
When the sun comes out and the daily high is 14 or 15C for two days in a row, animals start to come up to enjoy the warmth, despite what month it is. And that's just what happened on February 27th and 28th. I had some free time and the weather was perfect, so I went out to a new location I had heard great things about to go for a hike, enjoy the warm sun, and hopefully see some reptiles and amphibians. I was not disappointed. Unfortunately, the first animal I came across was a deceased Thamnophis sirtalis (Eastern Gartersnake) that appeared to have frozen to death at the base of a tree. Thamophis sirtalis - Eastern Gartersnake. February 27th. But all of the animals to follow were very much alive, even though they were cold and lethargic. I managed to find my first Plethodon cinereus (Eastern Red-backed Salamanders) of the year. And at the same time found my first Hemidactylium scutatum (Four-toed Salamander) of the year, which also marks my first Four-toed Salamander I...
Read more