I'm going snorkeling tomorrow. This thread's a little premature, I guess, but I'm excited! I'll post photos, I promise.

I think this marks the first pre-sampling report on the Forum, no?

ROTFLOL!

Todd

I like to set trends!

I'm mainly after turtles, but I should be able to get some sunfish shots, and maybe suckers too.

For psychics only:

Make a list of what you predict Newt will ketch.....

My psychic skills are limited but I predict; mud turtle, musk turtle, map turtle, slider, common snapper, maybe an alligator snapper if he's lucky, a watersnake or two [yellow bellied?], maybe a cottonmouth, probably a few salamanders [twolined, dusky?] white sucker, longear sunnie, a bunch of darters, some minnows and a few mussels.

Well?

We did some great collecting yesterday. I guess I could set up a thread and get the others to post to it.

Todd

My psychic skills are limited but I predict; mud turtle, musk turtle, map turtle, slider, common snapper, maybe an alligator snapper if he's lucky, a watersnake or two [yellow bellied?], maybe a cottonmouth, probably a few salamanders [twolined, dusky?] white sucker, longear sunnie, a bunch of darters, some minnows and a few mussels.

Thanks for the optimism! The trip was sort of a bust, though. All the public access spots I knew to Whiteoak have been fenced off and festooned with 'NO TRESPASSING' signs. I drove all over Houston County yesterday morning trying to find a put-in and was completely unsuccessful. I ended up going down to Kentucky Lake and paddling up Big Richland Creek instead. I only got a few hours of snorkeling and paddling in before it got overcast and killed my visibility; I barely made it back to the dock before a real gully-washer rolled in. Also, my AquaPac case has sprung a leak, so no more underwater pictures for me until I get a new rig.

In any case, I did get a few of the things on Mike's list. Pictures coming shortly.

All right. While driving around looking for access to Whiteoak I found this raggedy gal (Terrapene carolina carolina) taking a nap on the tarmac:



She had lots of notches in her shell and was missing an eye.



I scooted her over into the pasture by the road. A little later I came across this little snapper (Chelydra serpentina):



I picked him up, eliciting a very pungent response (young snappers' musk smells very similar to wild garlic, oddly enough) and carried him to the nearest body of water, a small creek.



The pool I released him in was also home to a large midland watersnake (Nerodia sipedon pleuralis), but he took cover beneath a root mass before I could photograph him. There were also a number of fish in the pool, mainly rosyside dace (Clinostomus funduloides).



At this point I decided to slip my camera into its Aquapac case and try to get some submerged photos. The dace were too quick for me and all ended up looking like this:



I did spot a little darter while I had the camera underwater.



At about that time I noticed that the Aquapac was taking on water and so quickly removed the camera from it. There were a few other cyprinids in the pool, though I couldn't get a good look at them; I think they were southern redbellied dace (Phoxinus erythrogaster) and central stonerollers (Campostoma anomalum), but I'm not sure.





I also saw this lovely blue flower that I did not recognize:



I didn't want to spend too much time here, as I was just parked on the shoulder, so I went on to Big Richland.

I put my canoe in the water at a private dock/ RV park at Big Richland Creek Bay on Kentucky Lake; my mother has an RV there and I'm on good terms with the owner, so I knew I would have no trouble putting in here. I cruised around the north end of the bay a bit; before long I found a little brushy cove with lots of downed wood in the water, most of it occupied by turtles. I put on my snorkel and mask and stalked the basking turtles for a while, eventually snagging a male Ouachita map turtle who was a little less wary than his conspecifics. I could easily have grabbed some red-eared sliders or painted turtles as well, but I wasn't after them.

Following this I paddled up into the habitat I call a "back bay"; these are creek mouths along reservoirs, which have a mixture of swampy and riverine characteristics. There were plenty of birds here; I saw osprey, great blue herons, Canada geese, wood ducks, purple martins, rough-winged swallows, double-crested cormorants, belted kingfishers, pileated and downy woodpeckers, and prothonotary warblers here. There was a dead drum (I think) in a bush for some reason; probably he was left there by a disappointed bass fisherman.



The black willows, blackberries, and wild roses were in full bloom.





I found a couple of good turtle-y log jams;



one revealed a large cooter,



while another yielded an adorable little Ouchita map.



I also spotted this watersnake, which I believe is a midland, but I didn't get a good enough look for definite ID:



I saw quite a few fish, but none of my photos turned out worth a hoot. There were plenty of sunfish (most unidentifiable, but I know I saw greens, bluegill, and redear) and bass (either largemouth or spotted). I saw several pickerel, both chain and grass, including some foot-long individuals of each. There were blackspotted topminnows and some sort of shiner in the very shallow waters on some of the vegetated 'islands'. I also saw a number of spotted gar, only one of them alone. Mainly I saw pairs of gar swimming side-by-side, but I also saw one trio in which one large dark fish was followed by two smaller, paler fish with their snouts practically in her vent.

The only other fish I saw was a decaying redhorse being fed on by two sliders.

Edited by Newt, 11 May 2008 - 05:20 PM.

Great pictures!

Oh man, now you've got me all jazzed up to get some rosyside film!

Cool stuff!

Todd

Thanks, y'all! Todd, you don't happen to recognize that flower, do you?

Looks like leaves opposite, entire, 5 parts... And that gets me a whole lot of nowhere in Newcombs

Here's a slightly better pic. Leaves are alternate, with axillary shoots.

Edited by Newt, 12 May 2008 - 02:28 PM.

Indiana Wilflowers wins again!

http://plants.usda.g...le?symbol=AMTA2

Thankee kindly!