Herping the Ozarks
I recently had the distinct pleasure of sharing a camp with some great guys, who herp. We descended on some land in the Ozarks owned by my fiend Matt. We worked our butts off for what would usually seem meager results, but it is August.
For many hours we put out a large number of minnow traps in hopes of Mudpuppies, Amphiuma and Sirens. Sadly we didn’t get what we after on those traps. For me this was an experience of true high adventure though. It was my first time snorkeling in freshwater, and I have a new appreciation of freshwater fishes and especially crayfish.
I’ll try not to be too boring and only offer a little narration for the pics. The trip encompassed so many funny stories and exciting finds that I won’t capture that magic here. Hopefully the fun will be conveyed through the post, and others will likely chime in on their take of the events.
To those that went, I couldn’t be prouder to have been in your company. Thanks for this adventure, I’m indebted.
I’ll not post in chronological order as I shot with two cameras, and my files are in all kinds of crazy order on my computer as a result. So, I’ll just break them up my way, sorry to those that were there, for this inconvenience to the story.
I’ll start with lizards, since that was the first group of animals I encountered. We saw four species of skink, Northern fence lizards, and hoped for Collareds but didn’t get any. I later realized that after seeing quite a few ground skinks that I didn’t snap any shots of them…
Northern Fence Lizards
Skinks:
Five Lined Skink
Coal Skink
Broadheaded Skink
Toads and frogs were also frequently encountered. I’m kicking myself now, for not shooting the gorgeous Southern Leopard frogs that were in the drainage ditches. They’re really nice compared to the ones near to me. Toads were abundant and are dear to my heart. Chucks were all over, and so were Fowler’s.
Chuck
Narrowmouth Toad
Large adult Narrowmouth, these were found nowhere near water on steep hillsides under cover.
Green Frog metamorph, quite a few were found.
Underwater shot of a Ranid tadpole. (I love the underwater camera!)
The only sallies found were in and around a cave entrance. These are Darksided sallies by way of range. They look a lot like Longtails, I guess because they technically are. The camera was getting foggy so the pics suffered here.
Darksided Salamander
Three toeds boxies were all over and some were seen copulating. I would have thought it would be too late in the year, but I guess love was in the air for the insects so why not turtles too.
Aquatic turtles were also seen on several river systems. The Map turtles were a lot of fun. We even had a few in hand, since these can be so shy.
Common Maps
As seen underwater, I love this camera!
Here’s Pingleton giving this one a closer inspection.
Plastron of the Common Maps.
The ubiquitous Red Eared Sliders were seen too.
Spiny Softshell are about the hardest turtles to get shots of. This shot suffered from their secrecy.
I believe the two turtles on the left to be River Cooters with a Slider on the Right.
So now you’re likely saying where in the *&^% are the snakes? Well I’ll give you a few of our finds now, sorry for the delay!
We found a few Southern Copperheads which were very photogenic, only the second time I’ve been in their range. Their camo is just amazing.
Cottonmouths were common as long as we were near water.
This one looked gravid, as did most of the Cottons we saw.
Juvie Cotton
When I can I like to shoot en situ.
Speaking of en situ, I was able to swim up on a few Midland Water Snakes out basking over the water.
Another one, this was a huge adult.
Their belly have some neat coloration.
Another large adult.
This little Brown was spotted on the crawl. The shot is terrible, but shows just how small they can be.
More Storeria
Staying with the fossorial snakes, since I love them
Awesome Western Worm snake.
The ringnecks don’t do the cool tail thing in Illinois, so this was fun. This snake struck furiously at the camera as well.
This snake was more than a thrill, it was a moment of pure bliss. Andy and I hugged jumped up and down, giggled and went bonkers all around. I think I took a few hundred shots of this snake. The light was amazing for this shoot.
Just for kicks I’m going to throw in some inverts. If you don’t like inverts back out now…
UID moth, it was pretty large. I haven’t seen one before though.
Hornworm cat.
Robberflies.
Odonates were everywhere.
The hoppers were out in force as well.
This one was molting, I was glad to get a shot of this moment.
One of the coolest inverts I saw, this was shot underwater. The water had been clear but the crayfish spooked and stirred up the fine silt.
Spiders, I will spare you all the wildflowers as I feel I may be going long.
I have to include the Wheelbug, these things are vicious predators.
Finally a few shots of the local color from the Ozarks, I wish I would have gotten more of these signs.
If you made it through, thanks for looking.
Justin
I recently had the distinct pleasure of sharing a camp with some great guys, who herp. We descended on some land in the Ozarks owned by my fiend Matt. We worked our butts off for what would usually seem meager results, but it is August.
For many hours we put out a large number of minnow traps in hopes of Mudpuppies, Amphiuma and Sirens. Sadly we didn’t get what we after on those traps. For me this was an experience of true high adventure though. It was my first time snorkeling in freshwater, and I have a new appreciation of freshwater fishes and especially crayfish.
I’ll try not to be too boring and only offer a little narration for the pics. The trip encompassed so many funny stories and exciting finds that I won’t capture that magic here. Hopefully the fun will be conveyed through the post, and others will likely chime in on their take of the events.
To those that went, I couldn’t be prouder to have been in your company. Thanks for this adventure, I’m indebted.
I’ll not post in chronological order as I shot with two cameras, and my files are in all kinds of crazy order on my computer as a result. So, I’ll just break them up my way, sorry to those that were there, for this inconvenience to the story.
I’ll start with lizards, since that was the first group of animals I encountered. We saw four species of skink, Northern fence lizards, and hoped for Collareds but didn’t get any. I later realized that after seeing quite a few ground skinks that I didn’t snap any shots of them…
Northern Fence Lizards
Skinks:
Five Lined Skink
Coal Skink
Broadheaded Skink
Toads and frogs were also frequently encountered. I’m kicking myself now, for not shooting the gorgeous Southern Leopard frogs that were in the drainage ditches. They’re really nice compared to the ones near to me. Toads were abundant and are dear to my heart. Chucks were all over, and so were Fowler’s.
Chuck
Narrowmouth Toad
Large adult Narrowmouth, these were found nowhere near water on steep hillsides under cover.
Green Frog metamorph, quite a few were found.
Underwater shot of a Ranid tadpole. (I love the underwater camera!)
The only sallies found were in and around a cave entrance. These are Darksided sallies by way of range. They look a lot like Longtails, I guess because they technically are. The camera was getting foggy so the pics suffered here.
Darksided Salamander
Three toeds boxies were all over and some were seen copulating. I would have thought it would be too late in the year, but I guess love was in the air for the insects so why not turtles too.
Aquatic turtles were also seen on several river systems. The Map turtles were a lot of fun. We even had a few in hand, since these can be so shy.
Common Maps
As seen underwater, I love this camera!
Here’s Pingleton giving this one a closer inspection.
Plastron of the Common Maps.
The ubiquitous Red Eared Sliders were seen too.
Spiny Softshell are about the hardest turtles to get shots of. This shot suffered from their secrecy.
I believe the two turtles on the left to be River Cooters with a Slider on the Right.
So now you’re likely saying where in the *&^% are the snakes? Well I’ll give you a few of our finds now, sorry for the delay!
We found a few Southern Copperheads which were very photogenic, only the second time I’ve been in their range. Their camo is just amazing.
Cottonmouths were common as long as we were near water.
This one looked gravid, as did most of the Cottons we saw.
Juvie Cotton
When I can I like to shoot en situ.
Speaking of en situ, I was able to swim up on a few Midland Water Snakes out basking over the water.
Another one, this was a huge adult.
Their belly have some neat coloration.
Another large adult.
This little Brown was spotted on the crawl. The shot is terrible, but shows just how small they can be.
More Storeria
Staying with the fossorial snakes, since I love them
Awesome Western Worm snake.
The ringnecks don’t do the cool tail thing in Illinois, so this was fun. This snake struck furiously at the camera as well.
This snake was more than a thrill, it was a moment of pure bliss. Andy and I hugged jumped up and down, giggled and went bonkers all around. I think I took a few hundred shots of this snake. The light was amazing for this shoot.
Just for kicks I’m going to throw in some inverts. If you don’t like inverts back out now…
UID moth, it was pretty large. I haven’t seen one before though.
Hornworm cat.
Robberflies.
Odonates were everywhere.
The hoppers were out in force as well.
This one was molting, I was glad to get a shot of this moment.
One of the coolest inverts I saw, this was shot underwater. The water had been clear but the crayfish spooked and stirred up the fine silt.
Spiders, I will spare you all the wildflowers as I feel I may be going long.
I have to include the Wheelbug, these things are vicious predators.
Finally a few shots of the local color from the Ozarks, I wish I would have gotten more of these signs.
If you made it through, thanks for looking.
Justin
Last edited:
