It Ended with a Rattlesnake

I got way behind with sharing my summer field experiences, so this is going to be a bit dated but lots of pictures make up for it, right? (side note, since it took a while to write these up, the next few posts are mostly pictures and not many stories...I will try to keep up this year!)

Salamander found as photographed...

In June we saw a lot of salamanders. There was just the right amount of rain and it was still cool at night. The mushrooms started to come out in June as well, (though lots more in July than in June). Some highlights of removal plot sampling include this cute little salamander climbing on one of the plot markers.

Near one plot was this giant mushroom that we fondly called this the 'humongous fungus'. It was about a foot tall and at least a foot and a half wide. 

Near the same plot was a patch of Indian Pipe flowers. Many were more vertical than usual; you could actually see a ring of tiny flowers in the middle.

We found this rather unusual fungus (I think that is what it is)...It looked like clear gel.

We saw lots of climbing salamanders in June! Here are a few cute pictures. Climbing salamanders are quite charming.  

Also up off the ground, we saw this beetle eating a snail and an extremely fuzzy caterpillar.

We found some galls on the ground walking to some of our field sites. This one was slightly opened so that you could see where the insect was living inside. Galls are complex structures created by insects while they develop. (See On top of Spaghetti for a green version)

While on the subject of invertebrates, here are some pretty moths and just strange bugs seen out and about.

 

This cricket had just molted and was soft and very pale. 

Back to cute salamanders:

Pretty gold flecks on its back, unusual for an animal this large

Beautiful Eastern Newt (eft). These guys move around a lot,
making them a little bit harder to find if you are looking
specifically for them, but we see them quite a bit.

Almost as bright as the salamander above:

Bright slime mold

Speaking of fungi:

Little mushroom perfectly growing under a fern

We don't see many frogs on our surveys since we are out in the woods, but there are streams near by so we see them occasionally.  Here is one exciting (the rarity makes it more exciting) example. I am not actually 100% sure what species this is, it jumped away pretty quickly but I think it is a wood frog (Rana sylvatica).

Bear corn (Conopholis americana) is a strange looking parasitic plant that looks a bit like an ear of corn sticking out of the ground. It has many tiny seeds inside the 'fruits' after blooming. It is found near several of our study sites.

By far, the most exciting part of June happened near the end. We were walking to a plot at about 2 am and sitting right next to the path was an adult Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). If you look closely in the first picture, you can see a salamander behind it. Rattlesnakes are venomous so we kept our distance, but what a beautiful animal. Since snakes are exothermic and move more slowly when cold I was not terribly worried about our safety.