Herping (Reptiles and Amphibians)

Elizabeth Osborne

18 May 2013
6:10 PM

On May 18th, 2013, the Naturalist Certification Class visited three locations to look for reptiles and amphibians. We started out at Middle Run Valley Natural Area in Newark, moved to Lums Pond State Park near the C&D Canal, and finished at Blackbird State Forest, on the border of New Castle and Kent counties.

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Middle Run Valley Natural Area
Weather: sprinkling and overcast

We went downhill to the springhouse to look for salamanders. Long-tailed salamanders migrate to springs between August and October to mate. Both females and males hibernate in the spring.
 The eggs take a month to hatch. When the larvae are born, they flow out with the stream.

What we found in the springhouse was not a salamander, however, but an Eastern rat snake (Pantheropis alleghanensis). You can just see its tail in the light of the lantern in this picture. It was trying to escape into a hole while Professor White tried to get it to stay.

Also in the springhouse was the nest of an Eastern phoebe (Sayornis phoebe). These birds build their nests in protected areas--under eaves or bridges, perhaps, or in a springhouse like this one.

We split up to search for salamanders under rotting logs and piles of leaf mulch. We found several!

The Red back salamander (Plethodon cinereus) actually comes in two colors, or morphs. The one we found is the "lead-backed" red back salamander--totally black. And, according to wikipedia, the red version can be black with red stripes, totally red, yellow, orange, or white.

Red back salamander

Red back salamander

We also found a juvenile Long-Tail Salamander. These salamanders migrate to springs between August and October. Females and males hibernate in the springs. The eggs take a month to hatch. The larvae flow out with the stream water.

Long-tail salamander

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II

Lums Pond State Park

Bear, DE

7:30 PM

While Middle Run Preserve is in the hilly Piedmont area of Delaware, Lums Pond is the beginning of the flatter coast plain that makes up the southern two-thirds of the state. The pond is not a natural formation, but was created when St. Georges Creek was dammed for a sawmill.

Here is a very rough map of the areas we visited at Lums Pond.

Lums Pond office and nature center

We started at the pond near the Nature Center's Sensory Loop. Professor White went into the pond and found a painted turtle (Chrysemys picta). Clinging to the turtle was a small freshwater leech.

We walked down the Swamp Forest Trail to the bridge that crosses the pond. Around the pond, we could hear different frogs calling. A green tree frog (lithobates clamitans) sounded like a banjo string being plucked (this is what they look like).

Painted turtle

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From Lums Pond, we traveled south to Blackbird State Forest. We put on waders and went into the pond to see what we could net.

Parking the van at Blackbird State Forest, we found this Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris).

Pickerel frog

Pickerel frogs have rectangular spots, while Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) have circles.

One of the class members found a Copes Grey Tree Frog (Hyla chrysoselis); he heard it calling from a tree nearby. Someone also found a Northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon), although I didn't get to see it. Animals heard included a Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans) and a Southern Leopard frog  (Lithobates sphenocephalus).

Cranefly larva

Species List:

Reptiles:

Eastern rat snake

Amphibians:

Red back salamander

Pickerel frog

Northern green frog

Copes grey tree frog

Marbled salamander

Southern leopard frog

Northern cricket frog

Eastern spadefoot toad

Northern water snake

Birds: 

Eastern phoebe

Insects:

Cranefly larva