2003 was a great year with a few lifers and some new hotspots discovered. Here's my (PATHETIC) list for Alberta herping:



A few Wandering garters



And during my month in Eastern Ontario I discovered:



TURTLES



Painted turtles - I saw ton's on logs in roadside ponds, and caught one in the lake.



Snapping turtles - Too many DOR's, but a few live ones, including a neonate.



FROGS



Bull frogs - TMTC



Wood frogs - A few



Green frogs - TMTC



American Toads - TMTC



Leopard frogs - TMTC



Spring peeper - 1



Strangely enough, I didn't find ONE mink frog this year! Last year they were everywhere! Can anyone explain this?



SALAMANDERS



Red-backed salamanders - TMTC both red and lead phase.



Blue-spotted salamanders - 2 including one MONSTER that was at least 6 inches long.



Red-eft: 1 found under a log at a top-secret spot



LIZARDS/SNAKES



Five-lined skink - Lifer! I was very surprised to see a juvenile skink running along the rocks near a river at my top-secret spot. For some reason I believed they were only found in south western Ontario, but this location was about 1 hour north of Kingston.



Eastern garter snake - Only a few this year, but one from my top-secret spot was green! It was far-out! This snake had a lime green belly, and lime-green sides, a dark green head and body. This was the closest I've come to finding a smooth green snake



Northern water snakes - TMTC. I found some beauties in a crevice on an island at Mackie lake. I never get bored of catching these guys.



Red-belly snake - Lifer! I had been trying (unsuccessfully) to find something other than a garter snake or water snake in Ontario for three years before I found this guy. The red on this snake was amazing. And it just so happened that I didn't have my camera with me to photograph it. I will probably post some photo's of other herps later, but I'm to tired now. Thanks for reading.



James



P.S. I took this photo of a hatching black ratsnake at Indian river reptile zoo.

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