SC Reptiles and Amphibians

RECENT OBSERVATIONS

March 2007

Gene's Notes:

The first day of March was windy and wet. The winds were damaging in the states west of us, but they were mostly tamed before reaching us. We did get a lot of rain. The river bottomlands flooded and water levels remained high for more than a week. And that was the extent of bad weather for us during March. Temperatures rose into the 80s F on several days. It seemed like March also included all of our normal April.

The sequence of frog serenades progressed from Upland Chorus Frogs to Spring Peepers to American Toads to Southern Leopard Frogs and Pickerel Frogs to Fowlers Toads and Gray Treefrogs. Grasses greened and trees flowered and sprouted leaves.

A friend at work brought me a Brown Snake that he found while gardening. I found my first snake of the year on March 25. It was an Eastern Worm Snake which I found under a board that usually yields Worm Snakes in the Spring.

Back in February, Win decided to raise chickens. He order 30 biddies before we had a coop and pen ready. The birds arrived in early March. We had to rush to get the facilties ready. The biddies stayed in a temporary enclosure for a couple of weeks, and then were moved to the new coop. So far all the birds have thrived. During the month Win, Hope, and I prepared and began planting a vegetable garden.

On Saturday, March 24th, Win and I went to the Palmetto Sportsmen's Classic at the State Fairgrounds in Columbia. Hope had gone down the day before and helped with the SC DNR kids' fishing exhibit. Saturday was Win's time to help with the fishing exhibit. I spent several enjoyable hours helping at Roark Ferguson's Reptile Safari native snake exhibit.

This month my six year old granddaughter began her acting career as a weasel in the Greenwood Community Theater's production of "The Wind in the Willows." She did a great job, if I do say so myself!

Gene Ott

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April 03, 2007
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