Wainfleet Bog, Ontario Species List

[Hamilton_Herper]

I checked out the wainfleet bog today to see what i could see. I was really surprised by the number of frogs and toads in the area. I saw copious amounts of northern leopard, green, bull, and wood forgs, and many american toads as well. I was wondering if there are any hognose snakes at wainfleet given the healthy preybase there? Would anyone know? I am really curious if there is a species list out there for wainfleet too of all reptiles present. I very definitely saw one northern ring neck snake, two dekay's snakes, five garter snakes, and one very small smooth green snake! I was most pleased with the smooth green sighting as i had never encountered one before now. Also, I definitely saw two painted turtles as well. I have researched exhaustivly for a niagara region species list but have yet to come up with anything, any help would be greatly appreciated!

[dav]

I have spent a few days in Wainfleet bog and have encountered the following herps: garter snakes, smooth green snakes, massasauga, snapping turtles, painted turtles, and the same anurans as youve seen. There are likely more species of herps there, ive heard of sightings of rare/interesting herps. If you look at the ontario herpetofaunal survey sighting location maps , several interesting species seem to pop up in the wainfleet bog area. It is the only remnant of an ancient peat bog which extended the length of the north shore, so it seems logical that it would have a concentration of the historical herp fauna of the area. I love the place myself, and i will be going there a lot this coming year.

Dav

[CamHanna]

A massasauga would be quite the find. I went along with a rattlesnake count there a few years ago and even with a couple dozen volunteers no-one was able to turn up even one.

The melanistic garters are kind of neat, though.

[dav]

Havent checked this thread for ages. Yeah it was actually my lifer massasauga that I found in Wainfleet Bog. Since then, I have learned that their numbers there are critically low ( less than one hundred) so that made my find even more special (as unfortunate as their fate is). This year the bog has produced the following herps for me: Spotted turtles (lifer), painted turtle, snapping turtle, smooth green, garter, brown, redbelly and milk snakes, redback sallies, leopard, wood, green, and bull frogs. Maybe a few more I forgot. I post reports of most of my trips at fieldherpforum.com. I will be back down again very soon, in hopes of photographing a wainfleet sauga. Black rat, hognose and softshell are among rare herps recorded at wainfleet, as well as recent cougar sightings and a released black panther spotted in the area recently.

Peace,

Dav

[dav]

some pics from this year in the bog:

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wfltbogmilkmeadwsjune02-2007canon00.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wfltbogmilkmeadwsjune02-2007canon01.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wnfltbogandmilksnakemeadowsmay5--24.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wainfleetbogwtesoromay6-07016-1.jpg

[dav]

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wainfleetbogwtesoromay6-07008-1.jpghttp://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wainfleetbogwtesoromay6-07olympu-4.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wnfltbogandmilksnakemeadowsmay5--18.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wnfltbogandmilksnakemeadowsmay5--17.jpg

[dav]

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wnfltbogandmilksnakemeadowsmay5--12.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wnfltbogandmilksnakemeadowsmay5--11.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wnfltbogandmilksnakemeadowsmay5--9.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p182/davNF/wnfltbogandmilksnakemeadowsmay5--7.jpg

[Zortal]

Awesome pics! I love the milksnake