My Field Journal

On Saturday, we (myself, Dr. Sandy Echternacht, and Dr. R. Graham Reynolds) took the herpetology class at UTK to the Cherokee National Forest in Polk County, Tennessee, for a field trip. Weather was great with sunny skies, temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s, and low humidity. We first traveled to the Conasauga River area to look for turtles and salamanders in the tributaries. Next, we visited a historic locality for Coal Skinks collected by in 1980. Later in the day, we traveled to the Hiwassee River to look for hellbenders and mudpuppies then roadcruised around the Apalachia Dam area for snakes just after dark before heading back to Knoxville.

Overall we did fairly well and saw a number of species. We documented 23 species of amphibians and reptiles, including 8 salamanders, 4 frogs, 1 lizard, 6 snakes, and 4 turtles.

Conasauga River area:

The herpetology class at UTK went out to search for amphibians and reptiles associated with the cedar glades of middle Tennessee in hopes of finding some the rarer species of snakes and lizards found in the state. We first visited a few sites in Cedars of Lebanon State Forest then search briefly at Vesta Cedar Glade State Natural Area. Although overall numbers of individuals was down compared to trips in the past, we weren't disappointed by diversity. The weather was great with temperatures in the mid 80s and partly cloudy skies. On the way back to Knoxville, we also stopped at Ozone Falls State Natural Area to look for a few species of salamanders.

Cedar Glade finds: 

Bones and I went over to a woodlot behind where Bones used to live in Lafayette to look for snakes and for some frogs. We turned up a few interesting finds. We also set minnow traps in a ditch a local park in Youngsville in hopes of landing a few turtles and maybe an amphiuma. This year, we weren't disappointed catching 7 turtles and an amphiuma in the unbaited traps, including a Mississippi Mud Turtle.