Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Slither and Hop

That’s right, Toto, we’re not in Brooklyn. This is a Little Brown Skink (Scincella lateralis) seen, like all the following creatures, in Virginia last weekend.
One of the Plestiodon. The Common Five-lined?
Fowler’s Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri). We kept hearing what I thought were American Toads in trees, but they quieted before I could record them. We didn’t hear Narrow-mouthed Toads in the same roadside ditch we’d heard them in before on an earlier trip. The latter sound like sheep..
Watersnake, Cottonmouth? A couple of iNaturalist observers call it as Eastern Ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) and were surprised to see it swimming. The four of us crashing around the woods above the creek may have set it flying atop the water….
Norther American Racer (Coluber constrictor). It just went on and on, even as it just sat there.

mthew

2 responses to “Slither and Hop”

  1. Chuck McAlexander

    We could use some of those rat snakes in my apartment building in Manhattan. But then I’d be complaining about fat snakes instead of the rats.

    Reply
  2. nature969

    Thanks for sharing the photos from Virginia!

    Reply

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