After our daytime photo session with the tree-loving Tropidolaemus, we spent the day making a long drive south to the Krabi area. As we got closer to the border with Malaysia, we began to see more Muslim influences among the people there, and in the food choices available to us. Travel means rolling with the changes and embracing new things, and for my part, banana roti for breakfast was easily embraceable. That night we engaged in some city herping, visiting an old temple that was once out in the countryside, but was now surrounded on all sides by a rapidly expanding urban area. We parked on a nearby street and immediately upon entering the property we encountered our first serpent,…
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After a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast, we were ready to get back at it. From here on out, our days had a repeatable pattern – drive a bit, herp in appropriate habitat, drive some more, and then herp again after dark. We would be up in the hills and down on the coast, bouncing back and forth as we made our way south. The food was good, the people were friendly, and the countryside had no end of things to look at as we went along. The karst limestone escarpments were spectacular, and I was looking forward to seeing more of them in the light of day. This morning we stopped at several temples up in the…
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While in Peru back in January of 2023, I was having a conversation with Pete Mooney about possible herp trip collaborations. Pete and I have herped together in a number of places, including Peru, and a delightful trip to Cuba a few years earlier. “I’m so jealous of your southern Thailand trip,” I said, speaking of an adventure Pete had the previous year. At the time I had been to Thailand twice, but had not visited the southern peninsula region. As it turned out, Pete was open for a second visit, and so we set the wheels in motion for a June expedition. As with previous visits, we made our arrangements through TonTan Travel. Our friends Tony and Tan specialize…
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Here’s another ‘pod blog’, providing supplemental material for Episode 124: Herp Science Sunday with Justin Lee. In this episode of HSS, Dr. Alex Krohn and I had a conversation with Justin Lee, currently working on his PhD at the University of Michigan. The bulk of our conversation centered around the genus Oligodon, of which Justin is a subject matter expert. Justin has authored and co-authored a number of papers on Kukri snakes, describing new species, and producing an updated phylogeny of Oligodon in 2024. The material I am presenting here, including some of my Oligodon photos, supports the podcast episode; if you haven’t listened yet, I think it’s an entertaining segment featuring a very cool snake genus, and an up-and-coming…
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It was the second day of March back in 2008, and a warm front was roaring up out of the south, bringing scudding clouds and rain. Up to that point, spring had not put in much of an appearance, with temperatures sometimes twenty degrees colder than normal. With this dramatic change in the weather, here at last was a window of opportunity to go look for a little frog that spends much of its life tucked out of sight. The winds were strong enough that I burned almost an extra quarter tank of gas while driving down to the bottom of Illinois. Close to sunset, I met up with Scott Albert and Mike Steffen at a local gas station. Scott…
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Our expedition clients have spent the last three nights hiking the trails around the field station here in the Peruvian rainforest. Those nights have been very productive, in terms of herps and other critters seen and experienced. But long hikes in the heat and humidity take their toll, and afterwards, when folks close their eyes for sleep, the afterimages of waving flashlight beams play against the back of their eyelids. It’s time to change things up – time to take a night off, give tired eyes and legs a rest. Time for the Boa Boat. The sign-up sheet is over by the icebox, and we leave a half hour after dark. Wear long sleeves, bring your bug spray and rain…
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This past June I drove out to New Jersey with one firm goal in mind – record an interview with Robert Zappalorti, the founder and executive director of Herpetological Associates, Inc. It all came together; Bob is an interesting person to talk to, with decades of experiences, and a gracious host as well. The resulting recording became Episode 118: Pinesnakes, Bog Turtles and more with Bob Zappalorti. I met with Bob at the HA headquarters in Pemberton, New Jersey, and we had an hour-long recorded chat that I think is excellent. I’m sure some folks find it absurd, traveling 800 miles for an interview, but what better way to get a real feel for what Bob and his staff are…
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A new feature of this blogspace are ‘pod blogs’, which support and supplement some of the episodes of my herp podcast, and this is the first. In Episode 114: Always Get The Full Coverage, I and my panel of campfire cronies had an interesting discussion about mishaps and misadventures with automobiles in the field. This was such a rich vein for us to explore, and since I’ve collected a number of photos from various trips that document many mishaps, here’s a supplemental sample to go with the episode. All of this makes more sense if you’ve listened to the show first, but hey, you do you… I’m happy I took a photo of Arturo’s truck down in Coahuila, but I…
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A few weeks after we moved into our home in June of 2000, there was a tremendous rainstorm that flooded the streets and left standing water everywhere. Walking out the side door afterwards, I came across a rain-soaked American Toad (Bufo americanus) crouching by the gate, and then nearly stepped on a Plains Garter Snake (Thamnophis radix). The snake zipped away, and I tucked the toad under a bush, out of harm’s way. In our twenty five years here, I’ve not seen another toad, but the yard garters have been constant companions during fair and foul weather, and a source of much enjoyment. As a field herper living in the middle of The Great Corn Desert that is central Illinois,…
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…”dear friends, once more…” I haven’t posted here since the second week of January in 2022, which was also the week I received my first Covid vaccination. You would think that being retired and house-bound by a pandemic would afford ample opportunities to get some writing done, but hard times are not always the best crucible for creativity, despite what you hear. And I was pouring a lot of effort into my then-new podcast, which easily absorbed all of my free time and creative energy. No complaints about that, but I had little left in the tank for the written word, not even for the Hot Stove Herping posts, heavy with thrill and chill but light on research and thoughtful…
