Some Field Shots from Earlham, Iowa

A week back I was in Earlham, Iowa at a camp overnight...and of course, while I was there I did some herping. Here are some of the shots:

This is a Cope's Gray Tree Frog. There was quite a bit of calling going on between these creatures and they were very loud.

Here's another one in a small pool-like area at the end of a slide. There were lots of these frogs around this area. As I said, they were very loud.

With all the calling going on, love was in the air! One interesting attribute of the Cope's Gray Tree Frog is that they can change colors in a matter of seconds. The colors of this frog vary from bright green to gray to brown. It's pretty cool!


Here is a shot of an American Toad. These guys are plentiful in this area. They are another species that varies quite a bit in color patterns.


For another shot, look at this American Toad. He is almost black compared to the other toad I had shot. Same area, just a large variety in coloration among these toads.



Here's a little Eastern Garter Snake. You can see from his eyes that he is ready to shed. I found him by flipping an old piece of tin. Actually he was sharing the same space as the black American Toad.


This is a baby American Toad. He was so tiny. Look at the next shot...

It took me about 30 shots to get him to stay still long enough in my palm to get a shot like this. He was a really cool little toad.

These next two shots aren't herp species but they are interesting shots nonetheless...


This is an Iowa Pleistocene Snail. It is actually an endangered species in Iowa (I had no idea!), I think snails are really interesting creatures. They also make up the diet of many different herp species in Iowa!


This is some kind of a field mouse. Not sure honestly what it's actual name would be. He never tried to bite me. He had a shorter tail. The field I caught him in had been freshly mowed so it was kind of easy for me to catch him.


The final snake I caught was this Brown Snake. He too was in that freshly mowed field where the mouse was.


All in all I had a good visit to the camp in Earlham. Thought I would share these nice shots with you.