Below is Kathy Fell’s remarkably complete description of
the September 28, 2019 Bio-Blitz conducted by our neighboring VMN chapter to
the south (Southwestern Piedmont). The
event was fun and educational. Despite
Kathy’s preparatory warnings, the chiggers, ticks, and other demons of nature
were either absent or quite benign. Forwarded by Paul Pautler.
Our fall Bio-blitz was a great success! Terry Lovell, Beth and Paul Pautler, and
Shearer Rumsey attended from BRFL.
Attendees from our chapter included Kathy Fell, Ellen and Paul May. Ellen’s husband, Joe also attended as well as
three members of our basic training class: Stephanie Obenour, Dr. Joe May and
Ed Coleman. The blitz was led by Jason Gibson (PHCC) and Dr. Paul Sattler
(Liberty College). We tromped around in the woods and
creeks on Ellen Jessee’s property for 5 hours. It took a couple of
attempts for some of us to get the salamander capture process down, but I think
we all mastered it by the end of the day.
We saw at least 2 snapping turtles in the pond,
from a distance. Painted turtles were
also observed basking on logs in one of the smaller ponds.
We caught one species of lizard:
-
Eastern Fence lizard https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/lizards/eastern-fence-lizard/eastern_fence_lizard.php
We caught five different species of
salamanders:
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Northern Dusky Salamander https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/salamanders/northern-dusky-salamander/northern_dusky_salamander.php
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Seal Salamander https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/salamanders/seal-salamander/seal_salamander.php
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Southern two-lined salamander https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/salamanders/southern-two-lined-salamander/southern_two-lined_salamander.php
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Red Spotted Newt https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/salamanders/red-spotted-newt/red-spotted_newt.php
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Eastern Mud Salamander https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/salamanders/eastern-mud-salamander/eastern_mud_salamander.php
We saw identified three different
species of frogs:
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Green Frog https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/frogsandtoads/northern-green-frog/green_frog.php
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Pickerel
Frog https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/frogsandtoads/pickerel-frog/pickerel_frog.php
-
Spring
peepers were heard calling https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/frogsandtoads/northern-spring-peeper/northern_spring_peeper.php
Paul Sattler grabbed 3 different
species of snakes for us to see:
- Northern Water snake. https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/snakes/northern-watersnake/northern_watersnake.php
We are already discussing our next blitz in the spring of
2020!
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