Herping in Oliver’s Woods

-

SHARE


This past Friday, October 24th, Cameron, Jessa, Elyse, Nick, Alyssa and I took a short trip to Oliver’s Woods to look for herps. The nature area is located at the intersection of Highway 9 and Chautauqua and is owned by the University of Oklahoma. We spent around an hour and a half overturning logs, watching for movement in the fallen leaves, and wandering around the forest while enjoying the unseasonably warm fall weather. We ended up catching one Little Brown Skink (Scincella lateralis) and two Rough Green Snakes (Opheodrys aestivus). This trip was the perfect opportunity for Alyssa and I to learn how to take tissue samples in the field. We had hoped to find amphibians and get chytrid swabs, but the ponds we found were dried up. The trip was a success anyway, and we all had a great time getting out and enjoying nature!