Hey all, I thought I'd share a little bit about a herping trip that I took this past weekend to the Gulf Coast. It was a fantastic trip and we found TONS of herps! Of course, the highlight was an afternoon of absolutely perfect conditions that resulted in a mass migration of Gulf Coast box turtles the likes of which I've never seen.
I couldn't even tell you how many turtles we found, as I lost count. It started out with GPS marking and gathering information about each individual. Near the end, we were just frantically stopping and hurrying them across roads. It was near 50...2 to 1, male to female...no juveniles. The area was only about 10 square miles. We were on the road for a grand total of about 1 hour.
If anyone hasn't had the pleasure of seeing a TRUE Gulf Coast Box turtle...they are impressive! They are huge and robust. The features of the males are especially exaggerated, making them appear as some sort of prehistoric monster. Long and ganglely legs, long necks, large heads, massive beaks, white/blue heads, white/pink eyes, bumpy shells with outward and upward flaring margins, and as flat as a slider. Driving up upon the first male...I thought that it was a gopher tortoise. They are huge! Also, every single box turtle we saw had some sort of fire damage to the shell. Some were burnt down to the bone. Most were entirely black, ashy, and rough. Only one young male had retained most of his shell pattern...black with faint yellow smudges.
Gulf Coast Box turtles are highly tied to water, and some have even described seeing them foraging for food under the water. Many of the turtles that we found (near cypress and mangrove swamps) had punctures in their shells that looked very much like alligator teeth.
The absolute best thing about this experience was the fact that the locals are so proud of their box turtles. People around this very primitive town speak fondly of the turtles, and it was wonderful to watch cars slowly maneuvering around the large turtles ambling across roads. Also, they were quick to make sure that we weren't taking any home.
My herping buddy is a professional herp photographer. His shots are proprietary, but he agreed to give me a few of the "throw aways". I'll post them when I get them. We only photographed the first male and first female, as conditions outdoors were tornadic and State law prohibited us from taking any back to camp for photo sessions. Wildlife officials were everywhere. This is a herper hotspot, and the officials will bust a u-turn with "sqeakey wheel quickness" when they see two guys with snake hooks.
Thanks for reading.
