Weekly Update Archive

Week Ending 04/29/2007

Gus Engling WMA - April 28-29, 2007

I gave up my George Thorogood tickets to attend this years ETHS campout. I feel I made the right decision as I had a really good time and this place was AWESOME with plenty of herps! A big thanks goes out to one of our members Robert Edwards for setting this up. We will definitely be going back. Me, Kim Caleb and Weston herped the roads and the trails and everywhere we could, but found OUR coolest herp on the road just after dusk. It was the illusive mud snake. We found an almost perfect specimen that had just come out of a slew near one of the campsites that were occupied with other campers. I would have missed this animal if had not been for Kim's sharp vision. I was actually looking away from it and would have missed it. Great job Kimmie! We also found two Southern Copperheads and I field collected a cottonmouth on top of a brush pile near the lake.

The big catch of the weekend in my opinion was the Western Pigmy found by Romilia Ramirez. This figures as the person most likely not to find an animal like this DOES IN FACT find "the big catch"! Robert Edwards found a nice canebrake as well, and numerous other animals were found this weekend! The kids had a blast, as there were plenty of other kids to hang out with. Enjoy these pics!!! Not all were taken by me!

A freshly caught Western Pigmy at Gus Engling WMA

A freshly caught Western Pigmy at Gus Engling WMA - same snake as above

The dreaded Cottonmouth

Snake hunters in the making

Mud snake from Gus Engling WMA (both pics)

Mud snake from Gus Engling WMA - same snake as above

Kim and Weston at Gus Engling WMA

To see more pictures of the ETHS field trip, go to the Field Herp Forum. All photos there are by member, Robert Edwards.

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