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FMN CE Hike: Herp Hunt on June 26th

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Article and photos by FMN Barbara Saffir except as noted

Orange turtles, slinky snakes, and shy salamanders were the highlight and delight of FMN’s first-ever continuing education “Herp Hunt” hike on June 26, 2022.

Identifying Fowler’s toad

Pickerel frog, photo Bob Macke

Thirteen enthusiastic FMNers (including some board members) attended the three-hour hike at Hemlock Overlook Regional Park, including FMN event coordinator, Barbara Saffir, who co-led the hike with two experts (and an assistant expert) from the Virginia Herpetological Society.

Caroline Seitz led one group, taking the “high road” through the hilly park, so to speak.  She’s VHS’s education chair.  VHS’s Mark Khosravi, a science teacher who was recently quoted in the Washington Post discussing venomous copperheads, and his assistant led his hikers on the lower trail.  Both groups “herped” upland wooded areas and lower stretches along the Bull Run stream.

Among their discoveries were: SNAKES (a small ring-necked snake, a queen snake that repeatedly posed in the stream, adult and immature

Ring-necked snake

northern watersnakes, and an eastern worm snake); TURTLES (several male and female woodland box turtles, a red-bellied slider turtle, a painted turtle, and broken turtle eggs); FROGS/TOADS (pickerel frog, adult and baby green frogs, baby wood frog, and Fowler’s toads); and SALAMANDERS/SKINKS (a red-spotted newt, a northern two-lined salamander, a long-tailed salamander, and five-lined skinks).

Woodland box turtle

FMNers even learned how to differentiate male from female box turtles and American toads from Fowler’s toads.  A five-lined skink hopped aboard board member Amy Stulman, who handled the opportunity with a smile. Debbie McDonald spied the first herp of the day on Seitz’s hike, a precious woodland box turtle. We learned to report box turtle sightings to VHS online.

https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/turtles/eastern-box-turtle/eastern_box_turtle.php

https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/turtles/eastern-box-turtle/boxturtle-reporting/boxturtle-reportingform.htm

 

Co-leader Caroline Seitz shows us a juvenile Northern Watersnake

Queen snake practically performed for us for a while

Reptiles and Amphibians, A Closer Look, webinar June 8th

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Photo: FMN Barbara Saffir

Wednesday, June 8, 2022
7 pm
Smithsonian Associates Streaming Program
Code 1NV-116
Cost: Members $25; nonmembers $30
Register here.

Join naturalist and salamander enthusiast Matt Felperin, Roving Naturalist with NOVA Parks, for an introduction to the fascinating world of herpetofauna, or “herps.” Otherwise known as reptiles and amphibians, these largely misunderstood animals are admittedly not among the cutest of creatures, and some people just can’t stand looking at a snake.

But on closer examination, says Felperin, you might discover how fascinating (and even adorable) these animals can be. From frogs and salamanders to snakes, lizards, and turtles, discover what kind of cold-blooded critters can be found in the eastern United States. For example, did you know that the mid-Atlantic region hosts the greatest diversity of salamander species in the world? They include the endangered Shenandoah salamander, whose entire range is limited to three mountain slopes within Shenandoah National Park.

Felperin also uncovers some pretty amazing adaptations, such as wood frogs that become “frogcicles” and turtles that breathe out of their backside to survive the winter. And, he says, you may just find a new favorite animal.