Hog-nosed Snakes hatch; random stuff

On August 28th I checked on a location where I knew Hog-nosed Snakes had nested and was surprised to see some animal diggings and some eggshells on the surface. I was disheartened at first because I thought they had been predated but when I showed them to my friend Jon he explained that the snakes had already hatched. The snakes hatched, shed their skin, and hopefully slithered away safely. A predator like a skunk or raccoon came along, sniffed out the nest, and dug up the already hatched eggs. The eggs were deflated, didn't show any bite marks, and there were shed skins around the nesting site. We found two nests, one with 26 eggs, and the other with 8. The 26 eggs may have been laid by one big mama, or perhaps several females using the same site.

Generally open sandy habitat with diggings and a few scattered egg shells.

 

We further dug up the nest to count the already hatched eggs.

 Hard to see, but there are some small snake skins in this photo.

Other random photos and ramblings:

 This robber fly was flying around with this Cabbage White and it kind of startled me. It looked like a big cotton ball was just whizzing around and I had no idea what I was looking at.
 

 Saw these guys while paddling around Long Point Bay. Northern Map Turtle above and a Blanding's Turtle below.

 Recent Eared Grebe and Short-billed Dowitchers at Townsend

Hog-nosed Snake Nesting, and D-flies

Hog-nosed Snakes have been nesting for the last couple of weeks here in Norfolk. They basically dig a hole in the ground with their nose and sweep the sand out with their head and neck. Then they lay the eggs and fill in the hole.  I haven't actually seen it first hand, but I've seen the evidence. Below is a photo of an incomplete nest. It's pretty destinct and very cool to think that a snake created that. Did the snake abandon it? Or will she come back and lay the eggs before filling it in? I guess I'll have to keep checking it to find out. I suppose they dig test holes and would abandon sites if they thought it wasn't perfect. They will nest in "colonies" where the habitat is perfect, attracting females from all over.

 An incomplete Hog-hognosed Snake nesting site.

 Unfortunately this is what happens to a lot of our snakes. I pulled this one off the road yesterday.

Below are a bunch of Dragonfly shots I took recently. If I don't get them up now they may never see the light of day.

 Arrowhead Spiketail, a large colourful beast and my first for Norfolk.

 Calico Pennant, a colourful and common Ode of Norfolk.

Unicorn Clubtail (above) is a common clubtail of stillwater and ponds. Eastern Amberwing (below) is a small dragonfly that can be easily missed!

Duskywing sp., and a Hog-nosed Snake

This post is kind of a catch all for the past few days. First I'll start with a Duskywing I photographed in dry oak habitat at St. Williams. Several people were out yesterday and came up empty when it came to finding Sleepy Duskywing - an early flying butterfly. It was suggested by Bob Curry that perhaps due to the warm spring their flight period was already over. There were lots of Juvenal's Duskywings flying about but I managed to pick out either a Dreamy Duskywing or a Sleepy Duskywing. Based on habitat I'd lean towards Sleepy, but I don't have a lot of experience with these guys, so if anyone can look at the photos and give me a definitive answer I'd be very grateful!

Also present were many American Coppers, and the Lupine was in full bloom.

 

Down the road from St. Williams I photographed this female Common Whitetail.

 As well as this male Beaverpond Baskettail.

 

 

Today while walking my dog I came across this monster of a Hog-nosed Snake basking on the side of the road. I moved it off the road so hopefully it doesn't get squashed.

 

 

 

 

Not only did it flare its neck and hiss when I approached it, it also tilted its neck towards me in order to make itself look as large as possible. It also lifted it's head and neck quite high off the ground - very cobra like! They are of course harmless and not poisonous to humans.

Another Hog-nosed Snake Bites the Dust...

Today, April 6th, I found another Hog-nosed Snake that was dug up and killed by an American Badger, not too far from the site where the other two were killed - see my previous blog post about this. The previous blog entry talks about this strange occurrence so I'm just going to throw up some pics about this most recent discovery.

These are the same diggings shown in my previous entry, only they have been revisited by the Badger or some other mammal and made larger. Likely it was the Badger coming back, hoping to find a rabbit or other mammal hiding in the previously dug tunnels. 



This is the site where the dead Hog-nosed Snake was found, not too far from the diggings in the first photo. Notice the fan-shaped sand pile.

This is all that could be seen of the Hog-nosed Snake. It was mostly covered in sand. 

The excavated snake.

The snake washed up and measured.

Quite a brightly coloured individual :(

American Badger digs up two Hog-nosed Snakes!

American badgers are an extremely rare and endangered member of the weasel family found mainly in southwestern Ontario. There are thought to be less than 200 of these amazing creatures left in Ontario, with one of their strongholds being Norfolk County. They are a powerful excavator, digging up various prey items like groundhogs, rabbits, rodents, and other mammals. They also sleep and give birth in underground dens. MNR has a lot of great information on these guys if you want to learn more about their biology and occurrence in Ontario.

On March 30th, while walking on a property in Norfolk County, I came across some diggings made by a foraging badger. After closer inspection I realised that the Badger had dug up two Hog-nosed Snakes! This is an example of an endangered mammal digging up and killing two threatened reptiles! Pretty bizarre stuff as it didn't decide to eat them, it just killed them. I didn't think the badger was that choosy since they don't mind eating skunks! My hypothesis is that the snakes were hibernating in the sand like they do, the badger could smell them, and then dug them out to investigate. I don't think the snakes has emerged yet since they were on the top of the sand pile as opposed to buried underneath it. Below are some pictures with explanatory captions.

These are a couple of diggings the badger made while foraging for prey, likely small rodents.

 This is the diggings where the two Hog-nosed Snakes were found. Notice the wide, broad sand pile created by the badger sweeping the sand out with it's strong limbs. A canine tends to throw soil straight back when it digs, and ends up created a hole taller than it is wide.

Another good indication that a badger has created this digging is by the claw marks made in the sides and roof of the tunnel. A badger will lay on its belly and scoop sand out over its shoulders.

 That's actually two dead snakes, laying in situ the way I found them.

 The two dead snakes after I dug them out of the sand.

 Here are two pictures of the snakes cleaned up and laying next to a measuring tape. One snake had its head chewed off while the other had injuries to its body. Notice the different colour patterns.

Controlled Burn and another Hog-nosed Snake

On March 28th, a controlled burn was held at a site near Turkey Point in order to maintain some open clearings and to improve habitat for several species at risk. Due to the warm weather we have had recently, several volunteers including myself swept the area looking for reptiles. As soon as we started looking we came across a basking Hog-nosed Snake. Very cool snake, and a "lifer" for some of the volunteers. This particular individual was very dark showing no pattern at all.

Above is the habitat to be burned, and opened up.

Above is the basking Hog-nosed Snake.

 Superficially, the colour of this Hog-nosed Snake looks similar to a Black Ratsnake, an extremely rare snake in the Long Point area. Notice, the upturned "snout", a great feature that readily identifies this species regardless of colour. Hog-nosed Snakes also have keeled scales (ridges), whereas a Black Ratsnake is basically smooth scaled.

 Below are some shots of the burning process.

Unfortunately I couldn't stay until the end of the day, so I didn't get any shots of what it looked like after the burn, but I'm sure I'll be back to this site soon.