Fowler’s Toads (Bufo fowleri) are difficult to tell apart from Eastern American Toads (both can be found in Maryland). One difference is that a Fowler’s toad never has a spotted belly. Its ventral surface (belly) is usually whitish and without spots aside from the dark spot in the throat area.

Also, Fowler’s Toads have three or more warts in each of the largest dark spots.

This Fowler’s toad was another species I recorded for the Maryland Amphibians and Reptiles Atlas (MARA) for 2011.

I spotted this Eastern box turtle (Terrapene Carolina) near my blueberry bushes this past summer. I presume he was looking for some of the fallen fruit to eat.

I know it is a male because of the depression in his bottom shell (called a plastron). This depression is not present on all box turtle males however. (But if you see this depression, it is a male.)

This box turtle was another species I recorded for the Maryland Amphibians and Reptiles Atlas (MARA).

I hope you too continue to learn about Maryland reptiles and amphibians!

Finding and gathering the pine cones is half the fun of this project.

This is what a Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga Canadensis) plant looks like. It is native to some parts of Maryland, as well as, much of New England.

I collected these during a visit to NH.

These are simple to make. Tie the pinecones to a string one at a time; working your way along the string.

I don’t think I captured just how cute these swags are but I think you get the idea.

The Northern short-tailed shrew Blarina brevicauda and the Southern short-tailed shrew Blarina carolinensis are hard to tell apart unless you are an expert. For the rest of us, we can make an id by the range. The Northern can be found in MD but the Southern is not. I discovered it while emptying a large container of soil.

It didn’t want to stay still for a photo. It soon scurried off.

This guy was about 3.5 inches long.

“Northern Short-tailed Shrews have poisonous saliva. This enables them to kill mice and larger prey and paralyze invertebrates such as snails and store them alive for later eating.”

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

In the month that we celebrate all things macabre, I thought I’d include a post on carrion beetles.

First off, carrion is the carcass of a dead animal. Vultures, hawks, eagles, Virginia opossums and carrion beetles will all eat carrion. Maggots of some flies also eat carrion. It is good that they do eat carrion because they help recycle nitrogen and carbon.

You may also be interested in my post (with cool pictures) of black vultures.

Strangely, this dead opossum was on my driveway one morning. Not sure what killed it.

In addition to eating carrion, carrion beetles eat fly maggots. The flies come to lay their eggs on the carrion. The maggots (if not eaten by carrion beetles) will also feast on the carrion.

Ridged carrion beetles (Oiceoptoma inaequale) on a recently dead opossum.

They will mate (see in photo one beetle on another) and lay eggs. The eggs will hatch into larvae (the babies) and like their parents, eat carrion and fly maggots. Yum yum!

I came across this little snake (A brown snake -Storeria dekayi) while weeding around my strawberry plants. This area had been neglected and was quite overgrown.

They only grow to be about 12 inches long.

These pictures are of the same snake on the same day. It is interesting the way the patterning looks different in some of the pictures.

Northern brown snakes like this one are live-bearing which means it doesn’t lay eggs.

This cute little snake is a baby black rat snake and is also called an Eastern Rat Snake: Scotophis alleghaniensis). It is harmless. Often people see the pattern on its back and confuse it with a copperhead snake and kill it on site. An adult black rat snake is black on its back and has a white chin.

I found this guy on my porch by my front door yesterday.

In Southern Maryland where I live, the copperhead is the only poisonous snake.

Rat snakes and other non-venomous snakes have round pupils while Copperheads have an elliptical pupil like a cat’s eye. It looks like a small vertical slit in the eye.

If you aren’t sure what kind of snake you are looking at; it’s best to keep your distance.

Here is a guide to Maryland herps: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Plants_Wildlife/herps/index.asp

An osage-orange (Maclura pomifera)  is a tree not native to Maryland but can be found growing here. My husband remembers having wars with his friends; they would throw them at each other. Boys!

I call this one the Grinch.

I call this one Oscar the Grouch.

I call this one Dude.

I found these horned squash bugs Anasa armigera feeding on my squash and zucchini plants in June. They look similar to leaf-footed bugs but horned squash bugs have two small horns at the base of each antenna that leaf-footed bugs do not have. I hand pick them off or let one of my chickens do it for me.

They can be quite prolific.

Here is a rough green snake we found near our house in Southern Maryland. The Kids and I enjoyed holding this beautiful snake.

The smooth green snake Opheodrys vernalis looks very similar to the rough green snake but if you look closely, the rough green snake Opheodrys aestivus has keeled scales on top. Note the line running down the middle of the scales in the picture.

Our property is near a marsh and has plenty of bushes and trees so it is a great place for this snake.

It is a good climber as you can see in this photo.

The rough green snake is a fun snake for kids to hold because they are so docile. Teach children to be gentle when handling because even the nicest animal will try to bit if it is being hurt.

You can guess what this is. To deter possible predators, snakes will release a foul-smelling substance. Skunks aren’t the only ones to use smell as a deterrent.

Yes, it did stink on us.