The first American Toad (Bufo americanus) and Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) of the season made their appearances on March 9 here at the Museum. I thought that I spied a snapper poke its pointy snout out of the water the day before (3/8) but couldn’t be sure. There’s no doubt about the one below. Something new everyday!Read more
Posts tagged: #Common Snapping Turtle
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
Snapper at Large
Last week a very large Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) was seen in the Black Bear Compound, and again the next day, at the Red Wolf Exhibit. Was the snapper attempting to expand its knowledge of mammalian behavior? No, I think it was probably off looking for a place to lay eggs or even a new pond to colonize. Both excursions had the turtle running into barriers, a fence the first day and the heat the next. The turtle in theseRead more
Battling Behemoths
It’s spring and the snapping turtles are feeling the urge. I’m not sure if these two snappers ever connected, whether they actually got together and mated, but one of them was seen hauled out on a rock later the same day. For a somewhat blow-by-blow description of what mating snapping turtles go through to reproduce, click here.Read more
More Signs of Spring!
The turtles were out in force on the logs, rocks, and any other surface that lends itself to basking yesterday (3/17/11). The first Common Snapping Turtles of the season were spotted yesterday as well. The American Toad that I heard in Catch the Wind last Thursday (3/3/11) was busy in the U-shaped pond next to the Ornithopter. And, several times during the past week or so I’ve witnessed the Red-shouldered Hawks mating. There’s a lot of aerial display, loud screechingRead more
Some Early September Sights
As you well know (if you’ve been following this blog) caterpillars tend to show up more frequently from late summer into fall. It’s not so much that there are more of them, but that the larger species are maturing, their frass more visible on the ground beneath the trees and shrubs that they’re feeding on, and many of them are hustling across the paths on their way to finding a safe place to pupate over the coming winter. Here’s a fewRead more
Treefrogs Unite, Snappers Attempt to
On July 16th as Ranger Kristin and I walked through Explore the Wild, a tiny, grayish frog hopped out onto the pavement. The tiny frog was a Cope’s Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis). The little frog (about 15 mm) had only recently morphed from a tadpole after having been deposited in the Wetlands as an egg, along with hundreds (maybe thousands) of others like it, a few months earlier. This was the first young treefrog of the season. A second “fresh”Read more
Flowers, Butterflies, Odes, Birds, Snappers, and the Fox
Dame’s Rocket and Blackberry are in bloom. Butterflies find the early blooming blackberries rather tempting. More species of dragonflies and damselflies have been emerging recently. A first-of-the-season Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina) was seen on 29 April as was a new species for the Museum, a Prince Baskettail (Epitheca princeps). I had thought that I spied one of these Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) relatives last year, but couldn’t be certain. The sighting on the 29th confirmed it. On April 23, I witnessed the matingRead more
Snappers bask and Water Snake appears
Green and Gray Treefrogs continue to call from the Wetlands and other locations around the Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind loop. The brief, lamb-like calls of Narrowmouth Toads have been heard at both the Wetlands and the pond at Flap the Wings in Catch the Wind. Good luck finding one of these tiny toads; they spend most of their time hidden under leaves or logs, and even when calling during the breeding season they are difficult to locate.Read more