It’s photo dump week!
For this week’s post, I decided to comb through my photo album of wayyy too many field pictures and share some of my favorites. This week, we were trapping and caught Blanding’s, painted, and snapping turtles.
I loved seeing this juvenile snapper in a trap. As part of our physical exams, we need to briefly turn turtles over to swab their plastrons. This guy let me know he was not happy! Did you know snapping turtles can reach their head back halfway down their shell? With a far reach, sharp beaks, and lightning fast reaction time, these guys can cause some damage if you’re not careful!
You can almost hear him saying “don’t do that again!”
Another interesting find was this White River Crayfish. I have posted pictures of crayfish before. Notice anything interesting about this guy? Maybe the size of his claws? I’ve never seen one claw bigger than the other!
My project this summer is swabbing frogs for ranavirus and chytrid. I have swabbed many bullfrogs and green frogs at this site, but was ecstatic to find a leopard frog in one trap! Yay for data diversity!
Speaking of amphibians, I feel like I never see enough salamanders. A few times this year, I have found tiger salamander larva in the traps. Frog tadpoles are round and short with a long tail. They grow back legs first, then later their front legs. Salamanders are longer and slim with both front and hind limbs growing at the same time. Like frogs, they will live in the water until they undergo metamorphosis and move to land.
I loved seeing the butterfly bush blooming this week as well 🙂 One of my favorite prairie plants!
Finally, we have to end with a “find the tiny toad!”
Need a hint? Look in the center, to the left of string coming from the trap.
Until next time!
-Marg
