Last week I had the fortunate opportunity to be traveling near Sushigaijin's favorite snake/amphibian destinations. Thanks to his pinpoint directions, I was able to find the exact location of the much discussed "Snake Road".

Although I failed to find a single snake, I found a host of other things at which to point the camera. It is a fabulously serene location and the bluffs are gorgeous. I can imagine it with herps as mentioned. Perhaps the earthquake of that morning sent them scurrying for cover? Erik, I could only head south on the road as the northbound section was flooded out. I did scurry several times (both towards and river and towards/up the bluffs) off road. Didn't get bit so I guess my eyes weren't that bad :p

Anyway, found this turtle on my way in. I was astonished by the numbers of tiny frogs (about the size of the tip of your finger to the first joint).

All subjects are as-is, where-is.

Tiny frogs have tiny tadpoles.

Puddles were filled with them at places.

Perhaps I'd see more snakes if I wasn't distracted by the birds.

Couldn't resist chasing these two that I've never seen before. The first one, I believe, is a Prothonotary Warbler and the second a blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Very tough to get these though as I only took my 180mm macro (on a full-frame 5D) during the hike. The warbler had me partially up the bluff where I saw my first hummingbird of the year (no pictures unfortunately). The turtle shot in the original post was the only image shot with the 24-105mm lens. Rest with the 180mm.

looking good, glad to see some more herp shots by other people :-D


i was thinking this last trip in KY, a guy said it seems to him either people like birds and not herpetofauna, or like herpetofauna and not birds. so i thought that was because one walks around all day looking up, and the other walks around all day looking down, and you can't do both. seems you like to look up.

Good series Loopey ,love the Warbler :)

Interesting shots. I agree about the warbler, especially considering the focal length.

Dylan - LOL because you're right - I have gotten into the habit of looking up for birds during the last 2 years (since joining here). But really my background is macro work so before I had the opposite problem - always looking down. A hawk could have buzzed my head and I probably wouldn't have noticed nor cared back then :)

Funny because if you looked at all my slides from the 20 years of shooting before digital, you have found less than 20 shots of birds and 20 shots of snakes.

Knight & Mike - thanks. I didn't state before that these two birdies are shown here at some serious crops - expecially the gnatcatcher. The warbler was only about 12' away at this point but still nowhere close enough with a 180mm. It took off from there and came probably 4' from my head as it passed on my left.

Thanks for looking guys.

Nice shots!

Your frogs are cricket frogs, turtle is a red-eared slider, and tadpoles look to be american toads - although fowlers toads occur there also, and are only really distinguished by markings.

Snake road is an amazing place to be - just the quality of the hike is worth the ride down. This time of year the bird-voiced tree frogs are calling, the snakes are moving, and the swamp is coming back to life. Truly one of my most favorite places on earth. Don't feel bad about not seeing any snakes, I spent three springs on the road and didn't see ANYTHING, although I did quite well at other areas in the shawnee national forest. Then I went down at just the right time in fall a few years ago, and no-snake road turned into snake road. It was like a giant waking. I've easily had 75 snake days on that one two mile section of gravel road.

I'll be down there this weekend, I assume I will be camping in devil's backbone. Nice to see someone else's interpretation.

Erik, thanks again for all your helpful info!

I just got back from visiting another world-class locale. I think there will be a few images that you and Dylan in particular may find interesting. A lot of images to weed through and process though. May be Friday...

Loupey,
I am a beginner and am curious as to what you estimate the distance you were from the warbler and flycatcher. These are nice photos!

Hi, bartmaverick - the warbler was perhaps 25' away and the gnatcatcher perhaps a touch farther. The warbler image holds up better because of the lighting. As I stated before, these two are at significant crops. Good enough to share here but too high to have any hopes of printing a high quality image of sufficient size.

A tight frame-filling image (if one is trying to achieve that look) requires much less distance than most people imagine. I'm talking 600mm at 6' for a robin-sized bird with a 1.6x crop dSLR.

Anyway, here's the uncropped version of the warbler shot. Again, keep in mind that it is with a 180mm on a 5D at around 25'.

that is indeed a prothonatary warbler and they are amazing looking aren't they!