After the rains of Tropical Storm Lee last week the water level in the Wetlands is back to normal. Prior to the rains the water had been quite low exposing much of the muddy bottom of the pond, great habitat for foraging migrant shorebirds. On September 1, a Solitary Sandpiper dropped in to take advantage of that habitat. Solitary Sandpipers are one of three “most likely to be seen” shorebirds on the list of species here at the Museum, along withRead more
Posts filed in: Herps
Fall
There’s little doubt that fall is here. Warblers and other migrant birds are trickling through, the raccoons, groundhogs, and fox are feeding more heavily, and, as mentioned in a previous post, snakes are moving about more. Here’s just a few more signs of the season before us. And, not necessarily a sign of fall but perhaps a sign of exhaustion towards the summer season… Have we seen this snapper behavior before? That’s all for now.Read more
Copperheads: Part II
Not more than twenty minutes after seeing the first copperhead in Explore the Wild (8/26/11), another call came in from Rachael (Entomology Specialist) that a snake was on the path near the head of the Dinosaur Trail. Rushing off to that location, we discovered a larger Copperhead more accustomed to the presence of humans, it was leisurely crawling across the pavement and headed for the woods. Leave it alone and it will leave you alone. Unfortunately the snake crawled under aRead more
Copperheads: Part I
Prompted by a call over the radio about a Copperhead on the path on the far side of the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop, and after some deliberation as to whether or not I wanted to go all the way out to the site chasing something that could be long gone by the time I arrived, I hitched a ride with Facilities Tech Dale who happened to be headed that way. I was in my office trying to getRead more
Turtle Tracks
The low water in the Wetlands is making it more difficult for the resident turtles to make their way around their old stomping grounds. It also makes it easier to see where they’ve been and where they were going by those who observe such things. Read more
A young Duck and a young Turtle
First, click here, come back, and then we’ll talk about it. Photographer Bill Majoros captured the photo (linked to above) at Duke Gardens here in Durham, NC. The duck is a young male Wood Duck and the turtle looks to be a Red Ear Slider although I’m not positive about the turtle’s ID. According to Bill, he observed this “…wood duck giving this nice little turtle a “free ride” across the duck pond at Duke Gardens.” After asking Biil what happenedRead more
Water needed! Or is it?
The water in the Wetlands is as low as it’s been for more than four years. Normally, most of the Wetland’s stumps and snags are not apparent, being covered by the water. But each day more and more water is lost to evaporation. The low water level is both good and bad. The lower water concentrates tadpoles and fish, making their capture more likely by herons, kingfishers, raccoons and other predators. That’s good for the predators but bad for theRead more
Cope-ing with the situation.
Another good spot by Hannah of Outdoor Summer Camp fame on yet another Wednesday walk-about with the campers (8/3/11). This time it was a very light Cope’s Gray Treefrog in the smartweed in Explore the Wild. As you can see (above and below), these gray treefrogs are highly variable. They are able to change according to the substrate, or object that they happen to be perched upon. I’ve never seen this color change occur as rapidly as an Anole’s colorRead more
Molly and the Snake
While standing in the shade talking with Ranger Sara and Molly (Education Dept.), I noticed the tall grass move just inches from the path. We were in Explore the Wild, and Molly was there collecting water samples. The grass moved again, this time at two locations at once about 18 inches apart. It had to be a snake. It was. It looked like a racer. Apparently, the lure of a snake is too much for Molly. She wanted to catch it.Read more