It’s a bit of a drive but we made from the ocean to the desert in time to get in some road-cruising after dark. There’s one quiet road that I really like, and as a bonus our friend Dan drove in from L.A. to hang out for a couple days.…
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It started in Las Vegas, as many stories do, and really, there were several significant loops made during this journey. I went through the PITA hoops to secure a rental car at the airport, and then picked up Tim and John at a casino and we left Vegas in our…
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One morning we stopped in at a local animal shelter near Filadelfia and it proved to be quite an interesting experience. Jake and Dermot made a new friend – a fish-eating raccoon named ‘Shampoo’. A little nippy and a lot nosy. The place also had a large number of rescued…
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NOTE: “Hot Stove Herping’ is a phrase I coined years ago, for use in end-of-year posts on the old Field Herp Forum. I stole it from baseball; members of the ‘hot stove league’ huddle together during the cold winter months and talk baseball until spring and the game comes back.…
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Note: ‘Hot Stove Herping’ is a phrase I coined years ago, for use in end-of-year posts on the old Field Herp Forum. I stole it from baseball; members of the ‘hot stove league’ huddle together during the cold winter months and talk baseball until spring and the game comes back.…
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NOTE: “Hot Stove Herping’ is a phrase I coined years ago, for use in end-of-year posts on the old Field Herp Forum. I stole it from baseball; members of the ‘hot stove league’ huddle together during the cold winter months and talk baseball until spring and the game comes back.…
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Spring, summer or fall, it doesn’t matter – when the sun sets on the far side of the Mississippi, amphibians and reptiles are out and about in the La Rue-Pine Hills Research Natural Area. Walking along Snake Road after dark can be interesting and can produce a few surprises. Treefrogs…
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There are many ways to discover amphibians and reptiles – you can road-cruise for them, flip rocks and logs and trash, or even just walk them up. But if you haven’t made use of boardwalks, you’re missing out. There are a lot of boardwalks out there in parks, preserves, and…
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The word terrapin is rooted in the language of native peoples of North America. It is derived from torope, which comes from the southern Algonquin, and more specifically, from the long-extinct Powhatan tongue. It’s no secret that words and phrases change over time, and when Europeans roll unfamiliar…
In January, 2020, with Covid19 still a vague rumor, I traveled to Ecuador with three friends to the Mindo Valley area. We spent a few days up in the hills and mountains (as a flatlander, they all look like mountains to me). Aided by Eric, a local guide, our goal…
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