Back to subjects I am comfortable with.

[Sushigaijin]

Went out with some other Chicago Herpetological Society members on saturday and tried to round up some herps for photographs. We were specifically looking for kirtlands snakes and spotted salamanders. Our target species eluded us, but the gartersnakes and blue-spotted salamanders were ubiquitous. Spring peepers and chorus frogs were also extremely abundant. My peeper shots need a little loving - a big nasty stick intruded - so they will be finished tomorrow, hopefully. It was really nice to be shooting my summertime prey, gives me warm thoughts of things to come. I didn't even mind being ankle deep in the marsh wearing leaky leather boots, or having to work all night AFTER spending 6 hours trudging through the mud.

Chorus frog, pseudacris triseriata


Blue spotted salamander, ambystoma laterale


Chicago garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis semifasciatus


Portrait

[Copy_Kot]

Very cool Erik! I especially like the Chicago garter snake. What has the temperature been like there? I wondering how much longer I'll have to wait before I start seeing some reptiles and amphibians.

[Sushigaijin]

Thanks copy!

I'm sure that salamanders are out and about where you live...you just have to go looking for them. They are where you find them!! We've had really warm weather here the last few days, but this is the time they emerge anyway. Snakes might take another few weeks before they are really going.

here's the spring peeper I promised!

[Loupey]

Thanks for posting these, Erik! I'm curious, do the chorus frogs and peepers live side-by-side?

In my marshes, I hear calls like that comb grating sound but also calls like squeaks/squeals/whistles coming from the same area. Now I know what to look for.

Our temps jumped to the near 80 today. I'm sure juices are flowing now

[Sushigaijin]

Thanks for posting these, Erik! I'm curious, do the chorus frogs and peepers live side-by-side?

In my marshes, I hear calls like that comb grating sound but also calls like squeaks/squeals/whistles coming from the same area. Now I know what to look for.

Our temps jumped to the near 80 today. I'm sure juices are flowing now

Your welcome, Loupey!

Chorus frogs and peepers DO call side by side, the chorus frogs are the combs, and the peepers "peep." I know i said differently in another post, it took actually hearing them call to straighten that out in my head again. Pretty soon the hylids will be coming out in force, I can't wait for the bird voiced treefrogs in southern Illinois. I'll be down there the third weekend in april, if anyone wants a tour of snake road.

[Bevb]

Erik your images are, as iv said before stunning. They are always so sharp and you must wait ages to get your subjects to get into some of the excellent angles on which you take your pictures, they are all fascinating.
I love frogs and have built a a frog pond in the garden, we had some in there for a while but for the past 15 months we have had no sign of frogs, would having a lot of birds around feeders and the birds using the pond as a bath! put the frogs off returning?

[paulnj]

great images ! I love that peeper, the garter, the salamander and the chorus frog. OH wait, that's all of them

[Sushigaijin]

I'm glad you all like them, I certainly had a great time taking them!

Bev, It could be any number of things that would cause frogs to be absent, without seeing the pond I couldn't even venture a guess. The most common reason why frogs disappear is environmental - poor water supply, food abundance, or soil/pond bottom substrate. Predation could be a factor too, although I would suspect cats and other earthbound mammals before I fingered birds as the culprits. Although, lots of birds might signal a marked decrease in the insects which frogs eat. Frequent disturbance of the pond with bathing birds might put them off as well. Again, it is very hard to even guess. It could even be fish eating the frogs, if fish are present.

[Bevb]

Thanks for your help here Erik, il have to look into this now, the pond doesnt have a pump (its only small), but has plenty of oxygenated plants, but for the food quantity this may be the problem. Anyrate you have certainly given me ideas to eliminate. Thank you.

[Dylan8i]

Nice pics. The Blue spotted is still high on my list of salamanders to see. Although we only have the jefferson and the complex around here.

[big baldo]

Very cool shots!:thumbsup: Its that time of year for all the herps.Im not sure what type of salamanders we have here in Florida, if any!! I'll have to look. Id love to get some shots of em