On the Road: Alabama Turtle Survey

I spent part of last week assisting with field surveys for a remarkable river turtle.

What's on the Menu for the Commander?

On a remote pineland in south Georgia, I was helping a University of Georgia doctoral student with her radio telemetry study of Eastern Indigo Snakes. We were following the radio signal from the transmitter of a gorgeous 6-foot female indigo snake, when apparently our efforts to pinpoint her location disturbed her; she fled deep into the burrow of an armadillo. This was around noon on a very warm summer day, so to the drones of cicadas we broke for lunch, checked for ticks and then got back to work.

Harbingers of Spring

From his perch in the Piedmont, my good friend and accomplished naturalist Giff Beaton has been steady with e-mails to his invert cronies here in the low country of the Coastal Plain; his hunger and anticipation are palpable. "What are you finding, what have you been seeing? Boy, it's sure warm early this year, a lot of cool stuff should be flying, I heard Cindy just got a novel date for the Sartorial Skipper, dang, I need to get down there.

Big Snake, Small Island: Monitoring Eastern Indigo Snakes on North Captiva

(Note: This blog installment is co-authored by Javan Bauder and Chris Lechowicz).     As we depart by boat from Captiva Island on a calm blue-green sea, our smiles are as broad as the horizon. Fishing dolphins surface close by, and a snow-white tern air-surfs above us. Scanning the southern tip of our island destination we see dozens of twisted tree skeletons embedded in the beach and adjacent dunes—carcasses of Australian pines killed by salt water intrusion or tossed asunder by Hurricane Charley in 2004.

On the Road: Lake Wales Ridge

I had just emerged from a maze of head-high rosemary when the jays appeared. It was right out of a Hitchcockian thriller. One landed on the ground only a couple yards from my feet, shooting me an eager glance; another dove in, perched on a nearby scrub oak and issued a series of raspy croaks, while a third bird seemed intent on depositing itself on my shoulder. My shoulder!

Grace's soft voice was in sharp contrast to the strident notes of the jays.

Rattlesnake Recapture

Oh, was she beautiful! When we first met, in coastal Georgia, I found her stretched out in the sand — motionless, sunbathing. It was a gorgeous winter day, the sun steadily warming the earth, the air cleansed by a recent rain. Hypnotized and riveted by her form, I could hardly take my eyes off her. Then she noticed me, and began to slink into the tortoise burrow nearby. The body of the massive rattlesnake straightened as it entered the tunnel, gathering momentum as it slithered — essentially downhill — into the darkness of the burrow depths.

Cottonmouth Intensive

The massive bluff atop which I stand is hundreds of feet high, effectively forming the southern bank of a sprawling muddy river swamp. From my vantage, I gaze to the north– peering through the leafy crowns of cherrybark and white oaks, hickories, tulip poplars and other hardwoods–looking for the swamp.