I helped lead an annual citizen science survey of reptiles and amphibians. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of young boys involved in the survey - and a few little girls. It was fun to share in their glee at creepy crawly critters. Their sheer awe at every Garter snake was contagious.
Common garter snake (and some strangers' hands)
Wow, did they get excited when it was one of them who spotted a snake first! But of course that didn't happen often, since they made so much noise that most snakes slithered away before being seen. The kids spotted 2 Garter snakes, the adults spotted 6, and the official reptile expert spotted and caught a rubber boa.
Rubber boa
I was excited about the rubber boa since I'd never seen one before. I hadn't even realized that there were boas in this region. They're very shy snakes, compared to the garter snakes that can often be seen basking in the open. Rubber boas have stubby, non-tapered tails, so it can be difficult to tell which end you're looking at if you see them on the ground.
Which way is forwards?
Julia,
ReplyDeleteWhat citizen science project did you take part in? Your pictures are amazing!
I'm part of a team at ScienceforCitizens.net that is creating a database of citizen science projects to connect volunteers with the thousands of available opportunities.
Check it out if you get a chance: http://scienceforcitizens.net. It's free to sign up, and everyone who joins gets their own Member Blog where they can share their citizen science experiences with the entire community.
Hope to see you there!
~John