I'm helping a grad student at UF with the daunting task of finding out how many gopher tortoises are on private lands in southern Mississippi. So our first stop is Jackson County (the county farthest southeast). I'm hoping and praying to find 1) copperhead, 2) timber rattler, 3) black pine, and 4) salt marsh watersnake. But honestly any herp I've never seen before would be cool.
We spent a week there driving back and forth to the landowners houses taking back roads 90% of the time. The habitat was awesome for just about everything, it was mostly pine forests (loblolly and slash), hardwoods with creeks, and some salt marshes on the coast. I could easily find myself owning about 20 acres over there.
Here's a few pics of what I saw during my trip
Grey treefrog (Hyla versicolor) (I think... anyone care to verify?)
Florida (Mississippi) redbelly snake (Storeria occipitomaculata). I think I'm one of the luckiest guys finding these, I've seen 6 in about 3 years.
Unfortunately this little Speckled king didn't make it...
Neither did this gorgeous southern copperhead... I have yet to see one in the wild and people go and run them over :cuss2:
Common musk turtle (Kinosterna subrubrum)
One of the largest black racers I found. Ended up seeing 3 live ones and 3 DoRs.
Eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus). He had his tail until he jumped and I caught him by his tail breaking it off... poor little guy.
Saw a lot of neat pitcher plants
This little guy I found flipping over some bark. I'm pretty sure it's another redbelly snake (again, someone want to verify?)
And finally at the last piece of property we visited, I saw a live gopher (Gopherus polyphemus)
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