SE Wisconsin weekend

[Salzy]

Last weekend I finally had a good chance to get to southest Wisconsin for some herping. I had been telling my buddy for years that I'd make it down there, and I was finally able to do so. A few other folks were going to be meeting up with us for the weekend, so that made it even better to see some more of our herping friends and meet new people. We had a beautiful weekend I thought, since we actually found everything we had planned on. We came across 6 of the 7 WI salamander species (I think if we would have tried, we could have found the mudpuppy ), and we also found 2 garter snake species that were lifers for me...mostly because I've never been in an area that had them.

This was my first excursion with the new Canon T2i, so anything we found made for good practice shots at least.

I arrived to the spot a bit late on Friday to find this central newt, but the guys were willing to hold it for me to at least snap a couple of quick photos. They had also found a tiger salamander and a blue-spotted at this location.


Friday night we had our whole group assembled and headed off to find some spotted salamanders. We hit the pond at a perfect time apparently, because we came across a mess of spring peepers, chorus frogs, 18 blue spotted salamanders, 13 spotted salamanders, and 2 tigers. That's at least what we kept track of accurately...there may have been more.

A little P.triseriata peeking over a log at me


A really pretty spotted salamander with orange spotting



The only amplexed pair of peepers I think any of us found. At least someone's mating calls had paid off that night

[Salzy]

Saturday we headed out in search of red-backed salamanders first and found somewhere around 16 or 18 I believe.


I actually flipped 3 under one stick.


Later on, we ventured out after 4-toed salamanders, and as luck would have it, we were able to flip one next to a pond in the forest. They are such gorgeous salamanders.


5 common garters popped out of the leaves next to the 4-toed stick. A couple of them stuck around for a bit before crawling off.


We also came across a few more blue-spotted salamanders and a dark wood frog in the same area.



We capped off the night with a lifer for me. We stopped by a known Butler's garter snake location, and one of the first pieces of debris we flipped had a pair of them beneath it.


Sunday morning was ridiculously warm...starting off over 60 degrees right away and eventually ending around 84 for the day. It was gorgeous out, so the next spot would hopefully yield some nice pretty plains gartersnakes. It didn't take long to come across our first one. This was my other lifer for the weekend. I don't recall ever finding one of these in the wild. I much prefer these over the T. sirtalis!



A big dark green leopard frog also presented itself for documentation at least.


We rounded out the day by getting some shots of chorus frogs calling mid-day, which was an interesting thing to see and hear.

I had a great weekend and it was so nice to see everyone and herp together right away this year. It was a great time and something I'd love to do again in the near future.

The Crew...Matt H, myself, Carl Koch, Andrew and Sarah Gilpin, and Al Sheldon.

[Andrew Gilpin]

Definitely glad we made the drive up. Nice pics too btw

[Phobetor]

Absolutely Nice Team!!!!I am really jealous

[stanfel2]

very kewl where were u guys at??? I always love seeing reptiles and amphibians in the wild. I have checked out volo bog in volo, IL and never find much I am in wonder lake, IL which is northern IL I live like 10 min away from wisconsin so that is why I ask. Well great pictures and it had to be a blast.

[Salzy]

For part of the weekend, we weren't too far north of you actually. We spent some time west of Racine and were over east of Fort Atkinson slightly. The Kettle Moraine State Forest has some pretty amazing spots for finding amphibians.

[Dragonmoon]

great pics nothing exciting around here to take pics of lol

[stanfel2]

Originally Posted by Salzy

For part of the weekend, we weren't too far north of you actually. We spent some time west of Racine and were over east of Fort Atkinson slightly. The Kettle Moraine State Forest has some pretty amazing spots for finding amphibians.

ok cool ya I mountain bike and me and buddies want to go up to kettle Moraine this year which one were you at the northern one or southern one??? My buddy said there are two haha??? but ya will have to bring camera when I go mountain biking up there. and what part west of racine ya that is like less than a hour from me so would totally be able to get up there some time soon hopefully. But where were most your finds at Im guessing it was at kettle moraine haha.

[dave72]

"The only amplexed pair of peepers I think any of us found. At least someone's mating calls had paid off that night"
thanks for the pics and sorry the mating call thing didn't workout for you lol.

[Salzy]

Originally Posted by stanfel2

ok cool ya I mountain bike and me and buddies want to go up to kettle Moraine this year which one were you at the northern one or southern one??? My buddy said there are two haha??? but ya will have to bring camera when I go mountain biking up there. and what part west of racine ya that is like less than a hour from me so would totally be able to get up there some time soon hopefully. But where were most your finds at Im guessing it was at kettle moraine haha.

There is a Northern Unit and a Southern Unit. You are much closer to the southern unit. There are some really cool areas in there that you should check out.

The are a couple of parks outside of Racine that have good grasslands and marshes. As far as I saw, there are some good trails for you to bike and stop to look for herps.