Herping Houston 04-17-10
Well, I’m trying to type this blog post from memory because all was lost when I made the transition to the new database and fixed our poorly working wordpress (not that I’ve got it working perfect right now ahhhh!!!!) So here it goes…
This was my first trip out in the field since I moved to Houston and I spent a few good hours on Google Earth before heading out and decided to herp a few areas at George Bush Park. I started off by herping along some blackwater trenches where I found a good number of Nerodia fasciata confluens, and even though I’m not a big Nerodia person, it was nice to at least be finding so many herps on my first trip out.
After the trenches, I decided to herp a pond to very little avail, but I did get to take some nice shots of the good ‘ole Red Eared Slider present at just about every pound in the US at this point. I also saw numerous Rana species as both adults and tadpoles all around the pond.
Finally, I decided to walk back into the woods a little bit and follow some ponds and I hit it huge! First, I found a small 20’x10’ dried up pond that had three different Western Cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus luecostoma) in the same water hole! I, of course, took the opportunity to take some video and photos of the three beauties before placing them back in their hole and moving on. Not 50 feet from that hole I found another Cottonmouth, and not another 100’ from there I found my last Cottonmouth! Awesome odds and I couldn’t have asked for a better outing.
To end the day, I flipped one last rock and happened to turn over another young Broadbanded Water Snake before heading back to the car. All-in-all a great day and a great outlook onto the many years of herping in Houston to come!
Totals on the day:
Nerodia fasciata confluens: 13
Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster: 1 (Lifer!!!)
Agkistrodon piscivorus luecostoma: 5
Rana spp.: Numerous
Red-Eared Sliders: Numerous
