tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246666212012-02-16T19:09:54.625-06:00This is a blog dedicated to all friends of the plants and animals found in the Atchafalaya Basin and south Louisiana.James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.comBlogger151100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-76759240367254492542009-02-11T23:59:00.005-06:002009-02-12T00:18:01.308-06:00

Rob was in town briefly (from Colorado for those who don't know), and as usual....herps were a must while he was in town. We went out one night (myself, Rob & Chris Dobbs) specifically for photographing singing Pseudacris. Rob was also aiming high, wanting to photograph Southern leopard frogs, Lithobates spenocephalus singing......HAH.......good luck!Below are the night's highlight shots.....I

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-19452536748532449062008-03-03T21:33:00.016-06:002008-12-09T16:08:10.677-06:00

Things have been real busy in the Basin lately. It’s been a while since I posted here, but the work that’s being done is down right awesome! Dr. Hardin Waddle, Tyler Thigpen and I have been conducting visual encounter surveys in the Basin at night, usually three to four nights a week. When we encounter a herp, we (when possible) measure, age, sex and look for abnormalities. We also gather data

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-60684761721366519842007-12-20T10:46:00.000-06:002008-12-09T16:08:12.005-06:00

(Southern copperhead)Bert Lucas and I spent much of the day herping in the Basin, mostly around Whiskey Bay, Butte La Rose & Indian Bayou. The best herps were a nice Southern copperhead, Agkistrodon c. contortrix and a ring-necked snake, Diadophis punctatus. Walking around Jim Delahoussaye's property in Butte La Rose, we picked up Cope's gray, Hyla chrysoscelis & squirrel, H. squirella treefrogs

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-64865495377736893802007-11-28T12:26:00.000-06:002008-12-09T16:08:13.022-06:00

Rob Dobbs and I spent a couple of hours in the Basin last night, mostly to photograph and re-release a Louisiana milksnake he had found there Sunday night. Of course, we were also there to see what else we could find before (and just after) dark! Below are two of my best pics of the milksnake, Lampropeltis triangulum amaura. (photos by Beck) We also scored huge with very cooperative upland chorus

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1577025901818219052007-03-30T21:33:00.000-05:002008-12-09T16:08:13.436-06:00

Well, I already have a post devoted to copperheads...I might as well have one for cottonmouths as well. A.K.A. "water mocassins", they are another pit viper closely related to copperheads. The subspecies we have here in Louisiana is Western cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorous. Like their copperhead cousins, they are live-bearers and are born with yellow tips to the tail, to lure potential prey

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-6390434895136808522007-01-29T19:28:00.000-06:002008-12-09T16:08:14.352-06:00

Not much to ramble on about here, but included are some images of some of the plant species myself, Bobby Keeland, John McCoy and Erika Stelzer sampled while working in the Tensas River Basin. I took pictures mostly of trees, shrubs & vines that I would like to learn better.Carolina snailseed (Cocculus carolinus):Climbing dogbane (Trachelospermum difforme):Smilax bona-nox:Poison Ivy (

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1170119821865967522007-01-29T18:44:00.000-06:002008-12-09T16:08:14.568-06:00

It's been a while since we've had a post on this blog. To tell the truth, I forgot my username and/or password. You know how that goes, you try a thousand different combinations, and nothing works. Then finally, you find where you put it so that you could "find it" if you were ever to forget it. Right....Anyway, enough about that. This past summer I did a lot of field work up in the Tensas River

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1146242400831356762006-04-28T11:10:00.000-05:002006-04-28T11:40:48.016-05:00

We spent the week of 4/17 – 4/21 working based out of Tallulah, Madison Parish. Madison Parish is located in extreme northeast Louisiana, one parish south of the Arkansas border. We were working in the Tensas River Basin, setting out frogloggers in various locations. Even this far north, migration was quite apparent. The bulk of the migrants were Orchard Orioles, but we had a decent selection of

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1144774338320023822006-04-11T11:29:00.000-05:002006-04-11T17:58:53.946-05:00

Beautiful historic Washington, LA is located in St. Landry Parish, north of Opelousas. I have a friend whose family owns a nice chunk of undeveloped land in the gorgeous hilly countryside. The habitat includes agricultural fields bordered by second-growth forest, which leads down to a man-made pond surrounded by mature hardwood bottomland. I went up Friday night with my friend Jon Colletti,

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1144247662039069312006-04-05T09:17:00.000-05:002006-04-05T09:34:22.060-05:00

Well, despite our lack of rain, spring has finally arrived. In the Basin, there are plenty of migrants and newly arrived local breeders. Yellow-crowned Night and Little Blue Herons are back en masse, as well as Yellow-throated, White-eyed & Red-eyed Vireos. Last week in addition to the Swallow-tailed Kites, there were tons of Prothonotary & Hooded Warblers, with also a few Yellow-throated

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1143829193253986562006-03-31T11:43:00.000-06:002006-04-02T14:51:59.126-05:00

Wednesday turned out to be a great day out in Whiskey Bay. I lead a snake field trip for a LSU Native Wildlife class. Since we had been told this was going to be a snake trip for a herptetology class, I was surprised to see that many of the students were carrying binoculars. After our brief introduction at 3:15 p.m., we headed down Happytown Rd., where had had some luck in the past flipping cover

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1143512064581980782006-03-27T19:09:00.000-06:002008-12-09T16:08:14.753-06:00

Small snakes! Boy, are they cool! I must say, a lot of my friends growing up that were into reptiles with me were not very interested in these little guys. Except one; my friend Eric Guidry. He turned me on to the small snakes by showing me pictures of ring-necked snakes (seen in picture above). I have to say, in all my years looking for amphibians and reptiles, I have only come across three of

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1143250381717089482006-03-24T19:33:00.000-06:002006-03-24T19:33:01.723-06:00

Me and my wife, Ellen on Rutherford Beach, Cameron Parish. 

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1143212429934197472006-03-24T11:00:00.000-06:002006-03-24T13:19:12.496-06:00

It's been a very strange year for anurans thus far in the Atchafalaya Basin. Not much rainfall, and with slightly colder temperatures on an overall average in February (-0.5 degrees from the normal), one would suspect a potential mundane frog season. As it was, the Winter breeders were late in tuning up this year. However, early March gave way to much warmer temperatures and as a result, some of

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24666621.post-1143217194267330242006-03-24T09:55:00.000-06:002008-12-09T16:08:14.962-06:00

The Southern Copperhead, Agkistrodon c. contortrix, has always been one of my favorite snakes. Since moving to Acadiana, I have found several of these beauties, mostly on the Zoo of Acadiana's grounds. Typically, a normal find would measure no more than 10-12". I was constantly wondering..."where were all the adults!?". All of these little guys were still sporting their yellow tips to

James W. Beckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15589165932945325129noreply@blogger.com0