Author: Ty Smith
County: Virginia Beach Survey Time: 11:00 am (May 2nd) - 2:30 pm (May 4th) Basic Weather: Clear, Temps in the 90’s Party Members: Ty Smith, Koaw (Koaw Nature) & Ceaser Villacorta What a hike… False Cape State Park is about 3.5 miles from the Visitor Center at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and the only way to get there is to walk or bike. This sounded like an amazing adventure that promised tons of cool herps. Then we found out, if you are camping at FCSP, you cannot park at the Back Bay VC, and you have to park at Little Island Park, which is 1.5 miles up the road. On the walk in, we had two Swallow-tailed Kites flyover, so I took that as a good sign! We then proceeded to get to the VC and decided to hike the Raptor Trail for some guaranteed snakes. This decision added another .5 miles but yielded 3 snake species and a few frogs. Then came the hike to FCSP, where we saw several turtles. We eventually made it to the entrance of FCSP. Where we realized we would have to walk another mile to get to the Visitor Center at False Cape. So, many snakes, turtles, and frogs later, we arrived at the VC. After referencing the trail maps there, we realized that we were still almost three miles from our campsite… So, we continued to our site through forest, marshes, and ponds until we finally arrived at our beachfront campground near dark. We herped and fished around the second day, before repeating our death March on day three. It was rough, but we had a good number of herps. These are the species we had: Fowler’s Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri) {8} Mostly juveniles around FCSP VC. Green Treefrog (Hyla cinereus) {30+} Several seen in the trail and calling during the nights. American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) {45+} This species was present anywhere there was fresh water. Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus) {25+} Very common around wet grassy areas. Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta picta) {60+} Fairly common sight, basking and swimming. Yellow-bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) {120+} Low-ball estimate. Easily the most abundant turtle here. Northern Red-bellied Cooter (Pseudemys rubriventris) {45+} Several adults basking along Back Bay NWR and a juvenile found along the trail at FCSP. Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) {6} A few adults seen coming up for air. Northern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus) {35+} Very abundant species. Several were photographed, at both Back Bay and FCSP mostly along the trail. Some were foraging in the water near the trails. Almost a guaranteed sight on the Raptor Trail in my experience. Eastern Ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis) {2} Juvenile along the Raptor Trail and a small adult at FCSP. Eastern Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis saurita saurita) {3} One smaller individual seen along the Raptor Trail in a Myrtle. Two others seen in a hedge of Virginia Creeper between the entrance and Visitor Center at FCSP. Comments are closed.
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