Went to my wood turtle spot today in central pennsylvania. My goals were red salamanders, spotted salamanders, wood turtles, and timber rattlesnakes, 2 of 4 were found along with some others. Here are some pics,
Big old male wood turtle, with an absolutely huge strong head,
Another male woodie,
Found two more males, and finally after finding so many males over the years I acted on a hypothesis of mine. Due to males aggressive breeding habitats I've assumed that females head way upland to avoid them. Of the dozens of wood turtles I've found over the years maybe 10 percent have been females. I headed way upland and found this beauty climbing a nearly vertical rocky, grass hill.
Also found nearly 30 raid wood turtle nests in a 200 yard stretch, hopefully some nests make it.
First great find of the day was this red sally foraging on a log for worms, in situ
A red eft,
Pickerel frog,
A lastly an adorable baby porcupine getting its first taste of climbing a tree,
Was disappointed I didn't find many snakes but the wood turtles and red made up for it.
Big old male wood turtle, with an absolutely huge strong head,
Another male woodie,
Found two more males, and finally after finding so many males over the years I acted on a hypothesis of mine. Due to males aggressive breeding habitats I've assumed that females head way upland to avoid them. Of the dozens of wood turtles I've found over the years maybe 10 percent have been females. I headed way upland and found this beauty climbing a nearly vertical rocky, grass hill.
Also found nearly 30 raid wood turtle nests in a 200 yard stretch, hopefully some nests make it.
First great find of the day was this red sally foraging on a log for worms, in situ
A red eft,
Pickerel frog,
A lastly an adorable baby porcupine getting its first taste of climbing a tree,
Was disappointed I didn't find many snakes but the wood turtles and red made up for it.
