Simcoe County Herps

Made it up to a favourite spot in Simcoe County this other day with a few friends in search of reptiles and and amphibians.  We had some excellent success, and it was just generally an excellent day!

Before I get to the photos, this seems an appropriate time to mention that I have set a date for my upcoming Reptile and Amphibian Photography Workshop!  I'm really excited to try this workshop format - it will be taking place at Scales Nature Park in Orillia.  It includes admission to the nature park, a private tour, an hour of photography instruction and two hours of shooting the live animals with the help of a professional wrangler.  The park houses the most complete collection of native (Ontario) reptiles and amphibians anywhere, and some cool exotics too!  The date is September 25.  Let me know if you're interested!

Ok, enough shameless promotion - on to the photos!

Four-toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum)  See more...

Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum)  See more...

Northern Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)  See more...

And the find of the weekend (not found by me though) - a neonate Massasauga!

Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus)  See more...

That's all for now!

Kyle

Northern Two-lined Salamander

I am waaay behind on photo-sorting as usual!  A couple of weekends ago I made it to Haliburton County with my father in search of one of the few Ontario amphibians I've never seen - the Northern Two-lined Salamander.  I had some good intel on where I might find one (thank you friend!), so I was feeling lucky.

While searching, we did manage to find another amphibian that I had yet to see this year - a Mink Frog!

Mink Frog (Lithobates septentrionalis)  See more...

We also stumbled across some of the most interesting American Toads I've seen, including some very orange ones.

American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus)  See more...

However, in spite of our small frog victories, hours of searching in the rain failed to produce the salamanders.  We decided to throw in the proverbial towel, but as we walked back towards the car we stopped by a promising stream for the third time that day, just in case.  This turned out to be an excellent decision!

Northern Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata)  See more...

A glorious day indeed.

More photos to come soon, I promise!

Kyle

Condensed Workshop

I have been chatting with the good folks at Irvine Creek Organic Farm near Belwood, and I have agreed to do a workshop as a part of their fall workshop series.  It will be a 3-hour "Nature Photography 101" workshop on September 10.  Best of all, admission to the workshop is "pay what you can"!

For more information, visit their website here: Irvine Creek.

Hope to see you there!

Kyle

More Butterflies!

Took a trip down to Long Point on Sunday in search of herps.  Didn't find very many, but did get to continue my butterfly-ing.  Added a few more species to my weekend list, it now looks like this:

Monarch
Viceroy
Red-spotted Purple
Giant Swallowtail
Black Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Common Wood-Nymph
Question Mark
Eastern Comma
Red Admiral
Silver-spotted Skipper
Juvenal's Duskywing
Hummingbird Clearwing

That's a good handful of species, and without a great deal of work or searching!  It's definitely a fine time of year for our little winged friends.

I did manage a few more photos from Sunday.  It was incredibly windy at LP, which makes Lep photography challenging as all of the vegetation is swaying violently.  Nonetheless, got a few I was happy with.

Monarch (Danaus plexippus) See more...

A lovely addition to my butterfly sex collection (2).

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) See more...

Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) See more...

Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma) See more...

Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) See more...

That's all for now, hopefully I track down some of those crafty herps in the near future!

Kyle

Butterflies!

It's a great time of year to get out and find some butterflies!  In a few hours at The Arboretum over the last two days, I have seen the following species:

Monarch
Viceroy
Red-spotted Purple
Giant Swallowtail
Black Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Silver-spotted Skipper
Juvenal's Duskywing
Common Wood-Nymph
Hummingbird Clearwing (not a butterfly, but I say it counts!)

If you're a lepidoptera-aficionado there's no excuse not to be out there!  Below are some photos from today and yesterday - to see others click on "see more" above each pic.

Monarch (Danaus plexippus) See more...

Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) See more...

Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) See more...

(If you've never seen a Giant Swallowtail, go to the Gosling Wildlife Gardens right now, sit in Garden #1 and wait.  Watch for something that resembles a medium-sized bird or light aircraft.)

Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) See more...

Juvenal's Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis) See more...

Common Wood-Nymph (Cercyonis pegala) See more...

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) See more...

Happy lepping!

Kyle