Michigan Herp Trips

As the sun was setting, we were getting ready to head back to the car when suddenly Chris yelled, "Cottonmouth!" Sure enough near a section of palmettos was a colorful juvenile Florida Cottonmouth. It wasn't normal habitat to turn water moccasins up in, but it was the end of the dry season and most of the wet areas in the park were dry, so the Cottonmouths and other aquatic species had to move to areas wherever food could be found. We sat and photographed our first venomous snake of the trip for a few minutes, it was a pretty little viper.

Typical Water Moccasin Stance

Florida Cottonmouth - Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti

Sunset in the Pinelands

As the sun set, we headed out for our second night of road cruising, with four pairs of eyes in the car, we liked our chances for the evening.

Road Cruisin' the Glades

It didn't take long for the first yelling of "SNAKE!" and slamming of the brakes, Rob spotted this HUGE Eastern Garter Snake starting to slither across the road.

Eastern Garter Snake - Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis

Several more Mangrove Water Snakes were found as well...

Sweet looking ventral on this Mangrove!

Mangrove Water Snake - Nerodia clarkii compressicauda

We continued to cruise and finally came across one of the species we were hoping to see, a coral snake mimic.

Scarlet Snake - Cemophora coccinea

After seeing only one of the Everglades' most common venomous species, the low water levels made it difficult to see them crossing the roads lke they would after the rainy season when the glades is filled with water. So we decided to go and look for them along some drainage pipes which still had some water in them, sure enough where there was water, there were moccasins. We ended up seeing a total of six cottonmouths.

Florida Cottonmouth - Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti

We also hiked around Anhinga to look for rat snakes, and we came up with some cool finds. The squirrel tree frogs and southern toads were calling, and they were LOUD. We also happened upon a large gravid Brown Water Snake and a Barred Owl near the parking lot.

Calling Male Squirrel Tree Frog

Squirrel Tree Frog - Hyla squirrela

Brown Water Snake - Nerodia taxispilota

Barred Owl

After striking out on our main goal for the trip the day before; the American Crocodile, we headed back towards the south end of the park to try and get one. We checked out an abandoned building for rat snakes and came across a startling find...

Africanized Bees AKA Killer Bees

There were bees everywhere in the attic space of this building, there had to be tens of thousands of them. We knew that Africanized bees had been found as far north as Fort Lauderdale, and this was the very southern tip of Florida. The sheer numbers of the bees helped us conclude that is was a killer bee nest, it was a little unnerving. It didn't stop the herps from hanging out nearby, House Geckos and Cuban Tree Frogs were all over the building.

Tropical House Gecko - Hemidactylus frenatus

Cuban Tree Frog - Osteopilus septentrionalis

We finally made it to our crocodile locale, and began looking around the marina. There were several adult crocs swimming out in the canal, and then this appeared out of the darkness...

This monster croc came all the way up near the boat launch, it was obvious that fisherman at the marina have fed him in the past. This crocodile was about 14 feet in length, it was an absolute monster. One of most amazing experiences I've ever had with an animal, this thing was so powerful.