Kansas Herpetology May 2014

We are about to embark on our second week of fieldwork. Students have had the weekend at home to do laundry and regroup before we head off to Barber County and the Alexander Ranch. I’m told that this will be the first KU party to visit the ranch in 40 years.

Our hope is that with a little rain we might also be among the few to ever hear a chorus of the Red-spotted toad in Kansas. Our second stop will be Baxter Springs in Cherokee County, home to a number of salamanders found nowhere else in the state.

Last week was a great success. I’m so proud of the students! Many are pre-health care students headed for careers as nurses, doctors, and physical therapists. Perhaps unlikely participants in a field biology course, but here they are catching lizards, snakes and frogs. While handing a prairie king snake at the end of last week, one student remarked “If you’d told me a week ago that I’d be wrangling snakes for a photo session, I’d have told you that you were nuts!” Yet, here she was, pillowcase held over the snake on a picturesque rock set against a landscape of sandstone, mixed grasses, and desert plants at Wilson State Lake.

Our most exciting finds last week were the abundance of Collared lizards in central Kansas, the grass-swimming Glass lizard (which has no legs), some “horned toads” (really lizards), and two 5’ long Coachwhip snakes. Who knows what this week will hold. 

-David McLeod, instructor

Most of our frogs have come from the permanent pond on the Konza property. We have found four species here: northern cricket frogs, Cope’s gray tree frog, leopard frogs, and bullfrogs. We’ve also found a red-sided garter snake and one particularly unhappy common snapping turtle, shown above.

-Matt Jones, graduate student in geology/vertebrate paleontology.

I don’t know when the last time was that KU offered a field Herpetology course. Months ago it was decided that this would be a good year to correct for this absence. Our goal: to collect local amphibians and reptiles from different regions of the state to bolster our genetic resources at the BI. 

On May 19th,  12 would-be herpetologists set off on a grand expedition across the state. First stop—Konza Prairie Biological Research Station in the heart of the Flint Hills. This unique tall grass prairie ecosystem reserve boasts a diverse community of amphibians and reptiles, amazing views, and is home to a herd of about 300 bison.

Our first two days at Konza have been outstanding! Next stop—Wilson State Lake in the Smokey Hills region of Kansas (Russel Co.)