Went with Andrew Myers yesterday to the Skegemog Bog near Traverse City in nw. MI. We were hoping for eastern massasaugas, hognose, spotted turtles, or wood turtles. A few other targets for the area include pickerel frogs, four-toed salamanders, and five-lined skinks.
At 9 am it was still only around 45*F. We weren't seeing any herps, so we just did some bird watching until it warmed up. By 10 am we had to part with our sweatshirts. At 11 am, Andy spotted the first snake, a northern ribbon...
After that we found a large pond near a cabin in the woods. We saw about a dozen painted turtles. Then we followed a trail to a marsh, a large platform, and a view of Skegemog Lake. We saw lots of birds, including wood ducks. We also heard a chorus of pickerel frogs. That was a first for me. They were really snoring, which is probably what you all are doing now..haha.
On our way back we located a large chorus of wood frogs in a small pond near the trail...
We also saw a Blanding's turtle at another small pond which Andy tried to get for closer pics, but couldn't quite get ahold of. I snapped this with my telephoto before her quick exit...
We saw a painted turtle and more wood frogs at that location too.
Just before making it back to the parking lot, we found this nice eastern garter snake...
Luckily we saw a couple garters, because it seemed most snakes weren't out, yet. However, I did see a garter and a brown snake at my house this weekend.
In total, we saw or heard five species of frogs, two of snakes, and two of turtles. Unfortunately, we didn't see any salamanders, but Andy did see lots of egg masses in the ponds. By the time we got back to the car around 1 pm, it was 80*F. Hopefully, later in the year we'll have some luck with massasaugas at this location. Next weekend, we plan to go to Ohio for some salamander hunting, possibly with Eddie Sanchez and Mike G.
TC
