Finding Indigo Snake Eggs in the Wild
Ben Stegenga
Views:28 views Ben and Jesus have just kicked off our 2024-2025 indigo snake survey season, and while it’s…
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Fieldnotes
51 posts
Collaborative Science to Monitor Invasive Snake Parasites
Views:218 views Ben holds up a freshly collected fecal sample from Eastern Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum flagellum) that will…
Flatwoods Salamander Pond Research
Launching long-term research projects this summer, our Georgia field crew, led by Ben, installed water monitoring wells in ephemeral ponds within pine flatwoods habitat. These ponds are crucial for Flatwoods Salamander recovery efforts, providing essential data for their conservation.
Secretive Blackwater Salamanders
My first true salamander focused foray into the blackwater creek swamps of southeastern Georgia took place years ago with my friend and former colleague Jonathon Bolton. We decided to spend a Saturday exploring a small blackwater creek system. We hiked upstream along the main channel to where it became somewhat braided, and the shallow floodplain swamp spread out beneath a dense canopy of tupelo and other hardwoods.
Hatchling Indigo Snakes and Camera Trap Surveys
Our indigo snake season is winding down, but it was a pretty good winter for snake surveys, and we collected a lot of important data. Now the research crew is beginning to transition into some new spring projects, but they’ve still got a lot of indigo camera trap photos to go through. In this month’s episode of Fieldnotes, Ben recaps a particularly memorable day from this winter and highlights more sandhill biodiversity with another batch of camera trap photos.
Indigo Snake Surveys with Camera Traps & Soil Samples
We’re in the second half of the indigo snake survey season, and our field crew has been extra busy with the additional eDNA and camera trap surveys. In this month’s episode of Fieldnotes, Ben takes us out on a survey and demonstrates how…
Using DNA to Survey for Indigo Snakes
This past November we started a new indigo snake project, investigating the possibility of environmental DNA as a means of detecting indigo snakes in the field. In this month’s episode of Fieldnotes, Ben gives a brief summary of this project and describes how we’ll test our results against other indigo snake survey methods.
Eastern Diamondbacks and a Chance to Join Us in the Field!
This month Ben is joined by Noah Fields (NKFherping) for some early season indigo snake surveys. We are once again partnering with Noah for #GivingTuesday, so in addition to survey highlights, they share how you can win some cool herp themed prizes and a chance to join us in the field to look for some iconic southeastern reptiles and amphibians.