May rolled around intriguingly quickly in 2018. But it brought some incredible herping moments with it!
My first herp adventure was right on May 1st, where I went on a search for Ontario's endangered Spotted Turtle with a close friend of mine. Though we didn't find our target this time around, we did see an extremely red-coloured Eastern Garter Snake, and a lovely Snapping Turtle.
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| Eastern Gartersnake |
A few other trips in early May to a couple of local gold mines produced many breeding frog species, and some basking snakes along a creek! The highlights were a particularly pretty American Toad, an in-situ Northern Water Snake, and a handful of endangered Queen Snakes.
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| American Toad |
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| Northern Watersnake |
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| Queensnake |
By the second week of May, I had began working as an intern at Ontario Nature. I was desperately excited because they were hoping to use my herp knowledge and enthusiasm in surveys for species of reptiles and amphibians across Ontario. And it didn't disappoint. Right away, I was off looking for incredible species.
In just the first week of work, I was able to survey for Spotted Turtles, Small-mouth Salamanders, Blue Racers, and Eastern Fox Snakes. And I found multiple of all species. Least to say, I was head over heels. And this first week is really what kick-started my future and current work with Blue Racers today!
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| Spotted Turtle |
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| Northern Red-bellied Snake |
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| Grey Treefrog |
One of my favourite highlights of 2018 was going out with a friend to help them on their research with an amazing species of turtle... The legendary Wood Turtle. These species are extremely endangered in Ontario, and this site is heavily monitored to protect it from poaching and any other damage that may come to the population.
During a survey, we were able to find several individuals, with the help of a Conservation Officer and his gorgeous chocolate lab who was better at finding the turtles than any of us.
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Wood Turtle
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Wood Turtle
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After almost a full month of busy work, I went on a short trip with friends to the island of 'beautiful sun'... Beausoleil. Not only is the sunshine amazing, there are some pretty incredible herps too. We got to see many different species of snakes, frogs, salamanders, and turtles. And it was an amazing time camping with friends.
Some highlights were a young Musk Turtle and over a dozen Eastern Massasaugas.
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| Musk Turtle |
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| Eastern Massasauga |
On a bit of a roll with finding herp 'targets' during my trips, I decided to set out to see a few species I had never seen before, and never thought I would. I went looking for the dusky salamanders of Ontario. They are only known from a few small seeps in the Niagara Gorge.
The terrain was tough, and so was the heat. I struck out on the Northern Dusky Salamanders, but after hours and hours of searching, I got lucky and found one, very dark, Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander! What a thrill!
*disclaimer: looking back, I would not visit and search for these salamanders any more unless doing research or assigned surveys. The habitat is too easily damaged. PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO SEE THEM. They are common in the states across the border, or in Quebec. Go look for them there and lets keep our tiny at-risk populations safe.*
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| Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander |
Back to herp work! Early June in the Frontenac Arch area was full of Rat Snakes, one of my favourite species. Almost all individuals I saw were on the roads, but thankfully they were all alive!
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| Blue Racer |
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