Michigan Herp Trips

After a brief warm spell in mid February, things in Michigan have been very cold and quiet. I had a little free time this weekend, so I headed home from school for the weekend. The weather was supposed to be decent and I hoped this would help get the first major amphibian movements underway near my home town in southeast Michigan. On friday afternoon, I headed to a vernal pool at which I surveyed last year to see if I could find any amphibians or signs of them around the pool.

Vernal Pool - Washtenaw County, Michigan

There were no egg masses or spermataphores around the pool, so I knew that no major movement had occured around the pool just yet. I flipped a few logs in the vicinity in hopes of turning up an Ambystomid, but all the logs yielded were Red-backed Salamanders.

Eastern Red-backed Salamander - Plethodon cinereus

It was good to see that at least the common stuff was out and about, saturday's forcast called for heavy rains in the evening, so I liked my chances for salamander movement on saturday night. The next morning, I awoke to sunny skies with temperatures in the mid 50s, so I decided to go take a walk around one of my favorite spots to see if anything was out. Still a little early for Massasaugas, but only a few weeks and they'll be out and about. Even with temperatures just now beginning to warm up here, signs of spring rebirth were already apparent.

Skunk Cabbage

With the decent temperatures, I figured at least garter snakes would be out along the trails basking. Sure enough, I saw four of them in a half hour hike. Here's one trying to be a little sneaky, in situ.

Does this garter snake think its a Copperhead?

Eastern Garter Snake - Thamnophis sirtalis

As saturday night approached, the forecast kept changing. First, the rain was supposed to arrive at 7pm, then 8, and so on. I was out at the vernal pool I showed earlier around 9:30 PM and there was no rain whatsoever. Very discouraged with the uncooperative weather, I headed over to a friend's house nearby to hang out. And then around 12:30 AM, I heard a loud rumble of thunder. I looked outside, and within minutes it was a terrential downpour. I apologized to my friends as I flew out the door and drove threw one of the heaviest spring rainstorms I've ever seen. I arrived at the vernal pool a little after 1 AM and started looking around. Within a few minutes, little critters began appearing on the leaf litter and in the vernal pool.

There's nothing cooler than watching these little guys make their way to their breeding pools. The rediculously heavy rain and lightning didn't even bother me; although it probably wasn't real smart to be out in it. But I didn't care, I was out doing what I love at 2 in the morning. I counted at least 40 spotted salamanders in the vernal pool and migrating towards it, I also saw one lone american toad, and heard a few spring peepers in the distance.

Ambystoma maculatum - Female

Ambystoma maculatum - Male

Since my school is two hours north of my home town in southeast Michigan, I knew amphibian movement would be about a week behind the southeast part of the state. Tonight, a few friend and I headed out to a local area because of warm rains moving through the area. We decided to check a few vernal pools as the rains picked up and found the first few anurans of the year.

Spring Peeper moving about in a Vernal Pool

Spring Peeper - Pseudacris crucifer

After spending a few minutes with the frogs. We continued on to some of the larger vernal pools which are known breeding sites for the salamanders in the area. Around one particular pool, we found two salamanders migrating towards the pool, it was a cool site to see the first few salamanders out in northern michigan.

Spotted Salamander - Ambystoma maculatum

Hybrid Salamander - Ambystoma laterale x jeffersonianum

The southern part of the state was booming, while the northern areas were just now starting to come along. We had a few good nights this past week, so on wednesday night a few friends and I joined up with some members of the Central Michigan Herp Society to see if we could find some early amphibians out and about. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we were greeted with the sweet symphony of frog choruses. It was a good indicator that the night would be relatively productive. We followed the sounds of the frogs to a few small vernal pools and a larger lowland marsh. Three species were calling, but we were only able to locate and oberve two of them.

Wood Frog - Rana sylvatica

Spring Peeper - Pseudacris crucifer

After spending a good amount of time with the frogs, we decided to head to a few of the larger vernal pools in hopes of finding a few salamanders. Its still a little early for good numbers up in the northern part of the state, but my girlfriend did manage to find this little polyploid in one of the pools we checked.

Hybrid Salamander - Ambystoma laterale x jeffersonianum

Then, this weekend I headed home to work as I usually do. The southeast part of the state has been much more active, so I got to go out to one of my favorite spots. My sister decided to come along to see what all the fuss about salamanders, she was pretty excited because she had never seen one. The pool was alive with the sounds of chorus frogs and peepers, and within a few minutes of walking around, we found some good signs that things are pretty well along downstate.

Spotted Salamander Egg Masses

There were only a few around the edges of the pool, so things still weren't completely done in the area. My sister made the first spot of the night on this cool little eastern newt swimming around in the pool. This was one of many seen.

Eastern Newt - Notophthalmus viridescens

Not too long after we saw the newts, I spotted this massive female spotted salamander heading down towards the pond. The odd thing was, there was no rain. So I have no idea what triggered her to move. She was on her way to deposit eggs I'm sure, given how plump she was.

Spotted Salamander - Ambystoma maculatum

We decided to let her crawl on her way and not disturb her so she could do her business. My sister was a little bummed because she wanted to catch a salamander, but I wouldn't let her grab the big female. But a few minutes later, I spotted a very attractive male moving around in the leaf litter near the edge of the pool. I grabbed it so we could grab a few photos and so that my sister could check him out, she was super excited.

My Sister with her first Spotted Salamander

I decided to shoot a few photos of him because his patterning was really nice.

Me photographing the Spotted Salamander

Spotted Salamander - Ambystoma maculatum

It was a fun a week out and about in the field and it won't be long before some of the other Michigan herps will be emerging. To close, here's a shot of the locale my sister and I were checking out. Shot at f/2.8 with a 15 second exposure.

Vernal Pool at Midnight - Washtenaw County, Michigan

The weather had been extremly sporadic here over the past few weeks, but things have continued to move right along in the Wolverine state. I decided a few weekends back to go and check one of my favorite spots near my hometown to see if the salamander activity had finally slowed down. It had been about two and half weeks since the first individuals had moved, so I was hoping to see egg masses within the pool. Sure enough, there were loads of eggs all around the edges of the pool.

Spotted Salamander Egg Mass

There was no evidence of any more salamanders within the water, but I did flip this small individual who was definitely one of last years metamorphs.

Spotted Salamander - Ambystoma maculatum

Later on that week, weather provided a good chance for some of the other amphibian species to really begin breeding activity. A friend and I decided to take a night trip to a local marsh to hopefully observe breeding Wood Frogs. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we were greeted with the sounds of what sounded like hundreds upon hundreds of them. So we followed the sounds of the calls down to the edge of the marsh and saw more than 200 individuals in a small area. They were calling, mating, and laying eggs all at the same time, it was a very cool site indeed.

Wood Frog Egg Masses

Wood Frog - Calling Male

Spring Peeper - Pseudacris crucifer

Wood Frog - Rana sylvatica

Later on in the week, we finally got our first 70 degree days up here. On Thursday afternoon of last week, two friends and I headed out to a new are which isn't from from campus. One of my friends had been out with me several times before, but the other hadn't and had been bugging me to get her out. Of course, she was the one to spot our first snake of the afternoon.

Catherine with the Garter Snake She Found

Eastern Garter Snake - Thamnophis sirtalis

As we continued to walk through the trails, we came across some really nice looking pools which were surrounded with lots of sphagnum. There are some old records of Hemidactylium at this site as recently as the mid 90s, I plan on checking it out to see if there's any around.

Vernal Pool - Isabella County, Michigan

At all the ponds and pools we checked, these seemed to be the most common inhabitant, which isn't surprising at this time of year.

Wood Frog - Rana sylvatica

Near the end of our hike, Catherine spotted this beautiful female Garter out on the move. Probably our coolest find of the day.

Eastern Garter Snake - Thamnophis sirtalis

Brett & Catherine checking out the Big Garter Snake

Ever since I did some volunteer work last spring with salamanders, I've gotten to know a local herpetologist quite well. A week or so again, he gave me a call and asked if I would like to help him out with some Spotted Turtle & Massasauga work over the coming months, of course I obliged. In turn for him allowing me to help with his work, he asked if I would help him finally break his Butler's Garter Snake curse. Seemed like a fair trade, so I agreed. We headed out one morning to the his study site to look for Spotted Turtles, the habitat was absolutely beautiful.

Sedge Marsh - Home of the Spotted Turtle

Pitcher Plants

We also found these two laterale-ish things...

Hybrid Salamanders - Ambystoma laterale x jeffersonianum

After shooting some shots of the sals, we headed towards a specific area at the site which seems to never fail for Butler's. Along the way, we spotted this litte Brown Snake out and about, my first of the year.

Northern Brown Snake - Storeria dekayi

We finally reached our location and fanned out. Within five minutes, I spotted the first of what would end up being 14 Butler's on the day. It was cool to see them out in such numbers, they even were more numerous than the 11 eastern garters we saw.

Butler's Garter Snake - Thamnophis butleri

As the weather continues to warm here in Michigan, more and more things begin to come out on the move. On wednesday morning of this week, I headed out with a few friends to a new site that had the potential for some very interesting species. The habitat on site consists of a tamarack & black spruce bog and there a several seepages on site. The primary goal of the trip was to find the Four-toed Salamander. Its not a protected species in Michigan, but their populations are very scattered throughout the state where suitable habitat is available.

Tamarack & Black Spruce Bog - Northern Michigan

Our first find of the morning was a very attractive Ambystoma that was found under a railroad tie near the edge of the bog.

Hybrid Salamander - Ambystoma laterale x jeffersonianum

We found several other Ambystomids and lots of redbacks. We then decided to move to one of the larger seepages on site in order to search for Hemidactylium. The seepage was loaded with sphagnum moss, so we I felt like odds were in our favor.

Spring Fed Seepage - Four-toed Salamander Habitat

Ventral Surface of a Four-toed Salamander

Four-toed Salamander - Hemidactylium scutatum

Then over a weekend, I took my dad out to one of my favorite areas in Michigan. The weather was already in the low 70s by 9:30 AM and it was just a perfect morning for snakes to be out. The wildflowers are really starting to sprout, and I'm sure the trilliums are only a week or so away from blooming.

Spring Beauties

We saw quite a few snakes out warming themselves in the morning sun. We did happen to catch a glimpse of a Butler's, but it was gone down a hole before we could grab it for photos. Here's a few of the common stuff we found...

Eastern Garter Snake - Thamnophis sirtalis

We continued to move along and headed towards some of the better habitat onsite. The area conists of a large fen which is home to a good population of Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes, here's a shot of the habitat.

Fen - Home of the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake

As we made our way through and around the edges of the fen, everything just seemed too perfect for a snake not to be out basking. There just had to bed a massasauga sitting out in this area, I could feel it. About twenty minutes later, I almost walked passed what looked like one of many sticks on the ground of the fen. But after looking closer, I realized it wasn't a stick at all...

Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake in situ

First Massasauga of the year, and an absolute beauty at that! I've never seen one with this kind of brown coloration at this site, let alone anywhere. This snake was a small male that appeared to be about 18 inches or so in length.

Photographing the Eastern Massasauga

Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake - Sistrurus catenatus catenatus

Anytime I'm lucky enough to encounter one of these snakes, I always am reminded how awesome they are. They are so unique and different than any other rattlesnake in regards to their life history and habits, and thats what makes me like them so much. We spent a few minutes photographing this little guy and then let him on his way.

And away he goes...

I had a little bit of spare time on my hands so I took a quick trip this afternoon to see what was out and about. Upon arrival, I came upon this scene right away. There were a few toads in one of the ponds...

There were a few toads in the pond...

There had to be 200-300 American Toads going at it...both of these sites were common.

American Toad - Bufo americanus

After observing the breeding toads, I went to look around to see if I could flip any salamanders. It didn't take long as I flipped this nice looking hybrid under a large railroad tie.

Hybrid Salamander - Ambystoma laterale x jeffersonianum

I also came across this Brown Snake out on the crawl, a first for me at this site.

Northern Brown Snake - Storeria dekayi 

I flipped several more salamanders that looked similar to the previous photo. However, something really cool happened when I flipped a large log next to a vernal pool that had been refilled with the heavy rains we've had here over the weekend. Underneath the log was by far the prettiest Ambystoma of any species I've ever seen. It somewhat reminds me of the real pretty one Anton found over in Wisconsin a few weeks back, but I still think his has this one beat. I feel like this is one of the best herp shots I've ever taken.

Blue-spotted Salamander - Ambystoma laterale

Later on in the week, my girlfriend and I headed back out to see if we could flip a few more salamanders because of the heavy rains that had moved through a few days prior. Lots of hybrid salamanders were seen, including this monster.

This may be the biggest hybrid sal I've ever seen...

Hybrid Salamander - Ambystoma laterale x jeffersonianum

A little later on in the trip, I made my way down towards a vernal pool that I hadn't checked out before. The edges of the pool had some sphagnum moss, so I hoped that four-toed salamanders might be found around the pool. 

Vernal Pool - Clare County, Michigan

 I flipped a few of the larger logs around the edge of the pool and turned up a few of these little critters.

Hybrid Salamander - Ambystoma laterale x jeffersonianum

Northern Green Frog - Rana clamitans melanota

I found a few redbacks and then under one log found a redback and another odd looking salamander next to it...Sure enough it was one of my favorites, a Four-toed Salamander.

Four-toed Salamander - Hemidactylium scutatum

As finals week descended upon Central Michigan's campus this week. After studying hour after hour, one needs a little bit of a release here and there in order to retain their sanity. Some friends and I headed out on a beautiful afternoon to get away from campus and unwind a little bit.

 

We started off by flipping around for some salamanders, quite a few of these guys showed up.

Hybrid Salamander - Ambystoma laterale x jeffersonianum

Wildflowers were out in full bloom all over the area, pretty cool variety as well.

Marsh Marigolds

Trilliums

Trillium

Bluebells

As we moved onward the temperature continued to rise and the snakes began to show up. My friend spotted a nice looking garter soaking up some sun near some pines, this snake never moved as we snapped a few photos.

Eastern Garter Snake - Thamnophis sirtalis

Apparently, snakes are really scary!

We also found a few Ribbons out and about. We found two ends of the spectrum, one of the larger adults I've seen, and a little neonate.

Northern Ribbon Snake - Thamnophis sauritus septentrionalis

As we were about to leave the area, I spotted this big girl soaking up some sun near the parking area.

Eastern Garter Snake - Thamnophis sirtalis

On our way back to campus, we stopped at a park along a river which provides some good habitat for a few turtle species.

Common Map Turtle - Graptemys geographica

Map turtles are extremely skiddish and are incredibly difficult to get close to, this was the best shot of one I could manage. As we headed home, we decided to drive some backroads to see if anything was out on the move with the warm weather, it didn't take long to get our answer.

 

Snake on the road!

Eastern Garter Snake on the Road at Midday 

I decided that the warm sun was worth a short outing to one of my favorite areas. This large barn is one of my favorite sights within the area.

Wildflowers were very abundant around the edges of the fen, I couldn't help but get a little camera crazy, this beautiful patch of marsh marigolds got me going.

Swamp Buttercups

Trilliums

While walking along the trail, I noticed this large turtle just laying near the edge of a fen. Seemed like an odd place for her to be, but this was my closest encounter with a Blanding's Turtle this year, so I was quite happy.

Blanding's Turtle - Emydoidea blandingii

Some redbuds along the edge of the creek that runs through the area were in full bloom.

 

I was blown away at this huge patch of Marsh Marigolds. My distraction was short lived however, just up the path, I bumped into the area's notorious inhabitant right in the middle of the trail soaking up some sun.

Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake - Sistrurus catenatus

This snake was very fired up and did not want to sit around and be photographed, so I let it on its way and could only manage a few half decent photos. A few days later, I headed out with my dad to a well known area in Oakland County, the weather was a little iffy but nonetheless we found some cool stuff.

We found lots of hybrid salamanders under logs near low wet areas.

Hybrid Salamander - Ambystoma laterale x jeffersonianum

I flipped these three little Four-toed Salamanders under the same log. This is the first time I've seen this species at this site, so it was a cool find for me.

Four-toed Salamanders - Hemidactylium scutatum

Spring Peeper - Pseudacris crucifer

We received some heavy thunderstorms a few nights back, and with the warm rains came the beginning of Gray Treefrog breeding activity. I packed up and cruised a few reliable roads within five minutes of my house and found several crossing roads towards breeding areas.

 

They are such cool little frogs!

Its also very cool when I get the chance to find treefrogs because it always amazes me how variable their coloration is.

Common Gray Treefrog - Hyla versicolor

The following morning, I decided to go check how the heavy rains had affected a good area for turtles.

Things got off to a good start as I spotted this pair sharing some basking space...

Blanding's Turtle & Painted Turtle out for an afternoon bask...

Not to far from them, I spotted another Blanding's swimming around the shallow pond.

This little turtle was particularly cooperative for some photos, for whatever reason he just would not go back into the water.

 

Midland Painted Turtle - Chrysemys picta marginata

I headed out to one of my favorite areas and bumped into a fellow midwestie for the first time. It was Bill (fishmich) and he was out and about at an area I frequent. We exchanged words for a few minutes and then took a short hike throughout the area. We saw a few garter snakes, one of which may have been a Butler's, and a few snapping turtles. It was cool to meet you Bill and I hope we can cross paths once again. After that I headed north to an area I hadn't been to before. Right off the bat I noticed a pair of Sandhill Cranes moving about nearby, so I thought I would try and grab a few shots of them.

 

 

Upon closer inspection I discovered the pair had recently become parents...

They had a total of two younglings that they were looking after, I spent a good half hour just watching them pick their way through the area. As I was leaving the area, the most unexpected thing happened. I came across an animal that I have been looking for an extremely long time in the Wolverine state. I've seen them in Ohio and Illinois, but never within my home state. I noticed in just coming on to the edge of the road as I drove by.

My first box turtle in Michigan!!! This is a turtle that has given me fits for a long time, and I finally get one when I wasn't even looking for it. Sometimes it's better to be a lucky herper, than a good herper.

 

Eastern Box Turtle - Terrapene carolina carolina

 The spring season in Michigan is my favorite time of the year, and the spring of 2009 did not disappoint. I got to see some of my favorite species at a few new sites, and was also able to encounter some at my most regular spots. But once again, it was a great beginning to the 2009 field season.

Species Observed:

• Spring Peeper
• Western Chorus Frog
• Wood Frog
• Northern Green Frog
• Common Gray Treefrog
• Red-backed Salamander
• Four-toed Salamander
• Hybrid Salamander
• Spotted Salamander
• Midland Painted Turtle
• Blanding's Turtle
• Common Map Turtle
• Eastern Box Turtle
• Eastern Garter Snake
• Northern Ribbon Snake
• Butler's Garter Snake
• Northern Brown Snake
• Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake

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