Reptiles at Risk

Staff Profile: Sean Espinola

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 30, 2008 at 12:40 PM

Sean has worked for Sciensational Sssnakes!! for three summers now, and before that he also volunteered with us. So, he's our most senior staff person even though he's just finishing high school!

I can't say enough good things about Sean- he's knowledgable, versatile, dependable, and most importantly, he's very intuitive. He can see what needs to be done, and get it done well, without needing to be told.

This summer is the first time we've had Sean on the road for an extended period of time with the Reptiles at Risk on the Road project. It was great to have him travelling with us, and to be able to show him some pretty amazing parts of Canada. Sean continued to impress me with his abilities and attitude while on the road, and I only wish that we'd been able to show him a few more reptile species along the way!

Challenges on the Road

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 28, 2008 at 6:43 PM

Monday, July 28th.
I jinxed myself yesterday when I wrote that our visit to the Prairies Rattlesnakes would be more eventful than what was to come. Yesterday turned out to be full of numerous problems, or in the words of one of my former employers, full of "challenges". Our first show at Cabri Library in Saskatchewan went well, despite the tight space we were in. On our way to the show, we discovered that our trailer brakes, which work independently of the van brakes, and which Jeff had been rewiring had a short in them. So that was challenge number one, which was somewhat easily fixed by our handy and fearless leader, Jeff while we did our first show of the day.
Following our show in Cabri, we headed to Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park where we were do for another show later that afternoon. We drove to the Western block of the park, only to discover that our audience was waiting at the Center block of Cypress Hills Provincial Park, for the show. We spun the van and trailer around and headed back down a very steep and windy road which we had just struggled up to get to the Centre block. Once we reached the bottom and started along the flat plain between the two block of the park our van brakes stopped working (Whew! so glad we fixed those trailer brakes!). The dirt road of a short cut that we took to get to the other end of the park was in less than an ideal condition, especially for an aged van and trailer, but we made it! The best part was pulling into the parking lot of the auditorium and running out of gas just as we turned the corner, about 20 feet in front of our parking spot. Running out of gas was the icing on the top of our very large cake.
Again, Jeff was fixing the van James, Heather and I talked about reptiles to a room full of people. It was great to have a large enthusiastic crowd after such a challenging day to get there.
The rest of the day went pretty smoothly after we filled the van with our spare fuel and found a gas station. We then headed to a small trail riding operation, which took me on my second horse back riding experience of my life. The ride was pretty slow, but a good pace for a second-timer.
After the show we headed back to Maple Creek to spend the night with a friend of Jeff's, who's hospitality was wonderful. Thank you Gary, Lisa and Bailey for everything!
Lenny

Returning to Val Marie

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 28, 2008 at 6:40 PM

Sunday, July 27th,

We returned to Val Marie, Saskatchewan on the 25th for one more show in the area. This show was not at the Grasslands Park office, the location of our last show, it was instead at the local theater for the Community Movie Night. We were the opening act, so after the show we hung around to watch Kung Fu Panda.
Val Marie was new to one member of our crew, James, who flew into Regina that morning. We also sadly said goodbye to Sean who flew back to Orillia about the same time. Having James on the road has definitely been a big change in the trailer, as dynamics and responsibilities shift between us.
The 26th developed into a day that I will likely never forget. We woke up early that morning to be picked up by our Val Marie snake researcher, Jessica, who we went out in the field with on our first visit to Val Marie. She again took us out to one of her sites where we hiked into the prairie hills and found two large female Prairie Rattlesnakes basking halfway out of their den (or former Gopher hole). They rattled a lot and were certainly not as exited to see us as we were to spot them. Despite all the rattling we saw no teeth and no striking, just a lot of noise. But that was not all that we saw, five other rattlers were out and in view to satisfy our curiosity. We also saw three Plains Garter snakes, one of which sprayed some smelly musk on mine and James' hands (whew, smelly!).
The rest of our day was spent relaxing and seeing Val Marie, which has more character than one would think, especially considering its size. Jessica was again nice enough to be our guide through the town.
The only difficult thing about a good day is getting back to work for the day that follows it. We are on our way to our next show still in Saskatchewan. We have our two final shows for Saskatchewan today and we are off to Alberta tomorrow. So I am taking my final glances at the beautiful prairies while I still can. In fact the prairies where anything but boring and definitely not as flat as their reputation frequently suggests. Oh, and I got a great tan!
That's all for now...
Lenny

Val Marie, Saskatchewan, and the CBC...

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 27, 2008 at 1:46 AM

We're back in Val Marie, having delivered another program in conjunction with Jessica the snake researcher, and Sherry from the Val Marie Ambulance. This one was for the local community, at the theatre in town before the Friday night movie. It went very well, and it was
great to speak to so many local ranchers about the reptiles in the area. Many of them raised their hands when asked if they'd seen short-horned lizards on their land, which was pretty cool!

Before coming back here, we headed off to Regina, to send Sean home, and pick up James for his rotation on the road. Everything at the airport went smoothly. We also fit in an interview with CBC radio while we were there- they gave us nearly nine minutes on the morning show. A CBC TV crew was also supposed to meet us at the airport, but they were delayed, so instead they caught up with us at the local Canadian Tire. We did a short interview in the parking lot for the evening news, though we have yet to see how it turned out. It is always great to have the media help get positive messages about reptiles out to lots of people!

It was sad for us to see Sean off, but also great to see James again. I'm sure we'll feel the same when we send Lenny back from Calgary, and welcome Sara to her portion of the project!

Minor mechanical difficulties continue to plague us, but so far nothing really major. We got the vacuum pump replaced in Maple Creek at Cypress Motors Ford, and it is nice to have power brakes again! We had a new trailer tire installed in Leader, due to a wayward piece of metal. Our trailer lights are finicky, and I'm in the process of rewiring them. Good thing we don't drive much after dark. And, our forward diesel tank is leaking, so we currently are using just the rear tank. Perhaps we'll get a chance to fix it in Alberta, since we do have a little down time coming up later in the week.

Bulls and Rattles

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 27, 2008 at 1:38 AM

We've been in Saskatchewan for a few days now and our shows have been going really well. The audiences in Saskatchewan have been smaller than in the other provinces, however they are still just as enthusiastic to learn about all our snakes.

At our Saskatchewan shows our Bull Snakes seem to be the most popular. Everyone always seems really excited to meet them and most people have stories of seeing them in the areas that we've been to here. A lot of people seem to have fears or misconceptions about the Bull Snakes before our shows, but once we bring out Brenda or Ferdinand, our two big Bull snakes, and tell them all about what they do, the audiences are won over and excited for a chance to hold Canada's second largest snake (Black Rat Snakes can get slightly longer). Bull Snakes live on the prairies and use gopher or ground squirrel holes as shelter from the sun or cold. These holes are great for the snakes because Bull snakes love to eat, you guessed it - gophers and ground squirrels! It's like an all you can eat buffet in you own home! These snakes are great for farmers to have around because they help to keep the numbers of these hole digging rodents down.

We've also had a couple of afternoons to go out in the field recently. Grasslands National Park was really beautiful and we spent a great day wandering around in that park. We've already written about that experience though so I'll talk about our most recent outting.

After our show at the Leader Community Centre, James, a local resident, offered to take us out to a place near the town where Prairie Rattlesnakes can be found. It turned out that James had a ton of experience researching Rattlesnakes in Canada as well as the United States. He had a wealth of knowledge and we had a great time chatting with him. It was lucky for us that he attended our show! We spent a great evening wandering around the hills next to the Saskatchewan river with James looking for Prairie Rattlesnakes. Unfortunately we didn't see one - well James saw one just as it went down a hole - but we can't really count that. It was still a great evening though. Prairie Rattlesnakes are Canada's largest Rattlesnakes and are found over a much larger area than either of the other two Rattlesnakes found in Canada (Massassauga and Pacific Rattlesnakes). But even with that distinction there have been no recorded deaths from a Prairie Rattlesnake bite ever! Not something the you have too much to worry about. Most of the residents that live near where the snakes can be found know that the best thing to do is wear cowboy boots and jeans when you go into the field. That way, in the unlikely event that a rattlesnake were to bite you it wouldn't even be able to bite you through your boots with it's short teeth.

Right now I'm sitting in the laundry room at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park. We're doing a bunch of laundry before heading out to Regina tonight. In the morning we will have a session with CBC radio then we're off to the airport to send Sean off (with CBC television in tow) and pick up our new crew member, James. Once we have James with us we head back to Grasslands for another show at the community movie night in Val Marie next to the park. Should be an interesting day!

- Heather

Crossing the Manitoba/Saskatchewan Border

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 22, 2008 at 3:26 PM

Tuesday, July 22nd,

Within the last four days we went from Spruce Woods Provincial Park to Turtle Mountain National Park, both in Manitoba, before crossing over the Saskatchewan border. We gained another hour that day, giving us more time to get to Val Marie, our first stop in this province. The drive over the border was long, we totaled about nine hours on the road between driving and stopping for a couple of short breaks. If that is not surprising enough, Heather drove the whole way! It is no surprise that we were all wiped by the time we reached Grasslands National Park, near the small town of Val Marie, in Southern Saskatchewan.

We woke up the next morning to the prairie sun and an opportunity to go for a hike around the grasslands before our 2:00 show. We wandered the park, which turned out to be very scenic, interesting, and unlike any other terrain I have seen yet. And we saw a Bull Snake! Heather and Sean spotted it about 10 minutes after we set out on our hike, and it was perfect timing because our wild snake sightings have been quite limited. Jeff measured the big guy and discovered that it was 160 centimeters long.

Following the show, we headed out into the field again in search of Short-Horned Lizards and Bison. Grasslands is one of two areas that are working to re-introduce these Bison back into the wild prairie landscape. Jeff has been telling me about how the staff at Grasslands National Park are working closely with the locals to ensure that the Bison do not negatively affect any of the nearby farmland. We did not see any bison up close but we may have spotted a heard in the distance while on our hike. The elusive Short-horned Lizards, Saskatchewan's only native lizard species, also failed to surface during our walks, but it was nice to spend the day out in the warm sunshine.
This brings me to today, which has already been eventful. We had our earliest morning yet, waking up at 4:30 am, early enough to see the sun rise, and headed out into the field with two researchers. They were two enthusiastic young ladies, (especially for the early wake-up), Jessica and Ashley, that are tracking Yellow-bellied Racers and Bull Snakes to study their behaviors and hopefully gaining a better insight into their lives and habits. We did not have any snake encounters but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

Following that adventure, we piled into the van again and drove North-West a couple hours towards Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, where we recently finished a show. The audience was full of little snake enthusiasts who were all exited about handling snakes, many for the first time.

I think I will stop there and let the adventure continue...

Lenny

Southwestern Saskatchewan... some time in the field.

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 22, 2008 at 12:41 PM

We're in Shaunavon at the moment, and Lenny's talking to the crowd about snapping turtles while I write this entry! Our program at Grasslands National Park went very well, and was extra interesting since we teamed up with the local ambulance service and some researchers from the University of Regina to talk about rattlesnake safety and some current research activity about reptiles in the area.

We managed to fit in time for a hike before the show, and we were lucky to find a 160 cm bullsnake- by far the biggest I've ever seen in the wild, and the researchers told us they haven't seen one that big yet this year! We were hoping to find short-horned lizards, but didn't have any luck with that. After the show, we went out to a different spot, where we saw prairie dog colonies, and a pronghorn- North America's fastest land animal. Pretty neat!

This morning, we got up at 4:30 to go out with Jessica and Ashley, the two researchers who are studying bullsnakes and eastern yellow-bellied racers. They have a number of snakes with radio transmitters implanted so they can track their movements, so we got to help locate them. Too bad they were all still hiding in animal burrows- they hadn't emerged for the day yet! It was still very interesting to try using the radio telemetry equipment, and talk with Jessica and Ashley about their research. We hope to go out with them again next Saturday; hopefully we'll get to see more snakes!!

Field Trips

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 19, 2008 at 7:05 PM

Hello Everyone! Heather here. So I've been editing everyone else's entries and I've finally decided that it's about time that I write one for myself. So far we've had an excellent trip; we're all getting along extremely well and the shows are awesome.

The last few days in Manitoba have been a little less hectic than they were at the beginning of our trip. This means we've had more time to enjoy some of the sights and herping opportunities available here. Our first outing of this type was to Narcisse. This is a herpetologists' Mecca at certain times of the year. Garter snakes gather here in the hundreds of thousands in the fall to take advantage of many natural caves and rock falls in the area. They use these to get down below the frost line to hibernate. Not all snakes hibernate in groups, but the garter snakes here are famous for gathering in large groups to spend the winter. The best times to see the snakes at Narcisse are in the fall when they're gathering to go into hibernation and then in the spring when they are coming out of hibernation. Usually there are at least a few that hang around the area during the summer, so even though we were not arriving at the right time to see the really cool huge numbers of snakes we were hopeful about seeing at least a few Red-Sided Garter snakes. Unfortunately the day we passed into the area was rainy and cool, not the best for seeing snakes. Add to this the clouds of hungry mosquitoes and our trip was not quite as we had hoped. In fact, as soon as we left the van we realized we might have issues. We started walking towards the first interpretive signs. We didn't get more than 50 metres before we started running to get away from the bugs. A quick run around the signs and to the first cave was all we could manage before sprinting back to the van while laughing and yelling at the bugs. We unfortunately didn't see any snakes at all. We were excited later on in the day when after our show at Hecla Provincial Park some local children brought us to where there were Red Sided Garter snakes and we all got to see them for the first time. Surprisingly, these Red Sided Garter Snakes actually have less red on their sides than some of the Eastern Garter Snakes that we have in Ontario.

Our next expedition was with some researchers from the University of Brandon in Manitoba. Dr. Pamela Rutherford and her team of graduate students and helpers brought us to a site near CFB Shilo where we were hoping to see some endangered Prairie Skinks. Within a few minutes of arriving at the site we quickly found two skinks. These small lizards are the only lizards found in Manitoba. They are confined to a small area around Spruce Woods Provincial Park. They depend on clear sandy prairie areas to survive. These areas are becoming less and less abundant as land is developed for farms and cities and fires are suppressed allowing trees to grow in on the remaining areas. The skinks we found were juveniles however they did not have the bright blue tails young skinks are famous for. Dr. Rutherford told us that 50% of the skinks they find have dropped their tails and grown back new ones, and when they grow back they usually don't keep the blue colour. Skinks can drop their tails at will and do so to get away from predators- it leaves the predator a tasty meal but lets the skink live another day. We learned a lot about skinks from our companions. They also helped us find a couple of new species for us in Manitoba. We found Red-Bellied snakes as well as our first Plains Garter Snake. We spent a while looking for Western Hognose Snakes, but couldn't find any. We did see a Snapping Turtle in the river, though!

After our exciting day in the field we had a great show at Spruce Woods Provincial Park, with over 200 people attending. Still on the search for the apparently elusive Western Hognose, we took a night walk to the Spirit Sands area in the park. This area is a large sand dune intermixed with spruce trees which grow in the dune where groundwater comes closer to the surface - giving the park its name. The night was a full moon night (or close to, plus or minus a night or two) and we were hoping for moonlight for which to use to see the snakes. Unfortunately
the sky had clouded over a little and though we could walk without our flashlights, we did not see any snakes. This morning, after an early thunderstorm we woke up and got ready slowly, hoping for it to clear. It cleared just as we finished getting ready so we headed back to the Spirit Sands. It was great walking through the dunes in the sun, but yet again we were foiled by the hiding snakes. We're now on our way to our last show in Manitoba at Turtle Mountain Provincial Park. We're still hoping to see the Western Hognose snakes sometime soon. We'll be in their
area for a little while longer and hopefully one will show itself.

After a couple restful mornings with great trips out to the field we're feeling a little recharged (maybe these lingering colds that we've been sharing will disappear soon) and ready to head into a slightly busier schedule in Saskatchewan.

- Heather

Greetings from Sean

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 17, 2008 at 6:26 PM

The past week has been an amazing and unfamiliar experience for me. In Ontario, some of the highlights included, doing a show at Science North, experiencing the frigid waters of lake Superior, and drinking in the spectacular landscapes surrounding the greatest of our great lakes. Having never been further North than Sudbury, it was especially exciting to enter a much truer form of wilderness than I have ever experienced. Despite the abnormally cold, wet weather, the iritating abundance of mosquitos and a lingering cold amongst the crew, we still managed to enjoy the sights, sounds and shows of the journey.

On July 13, we crossed the Ontario/Manitoba Border. We made a quick stop to take a touristy group picture at the sign indicating our entrance into Manitoba and then hurried back into the van and down the Trans-Canada for our afternoon show at Whiteshell Provincial Park. For any Ontarian as unfamiliar with Whiteshell as I was, it is, in many ways, Manitoba's equivalent to Algonquin. We made it just in time to do our show at the Alfred Hoole Sanctuary within the parks borders. We had a large and enthusiastic audience and consequently, one of our best shows yet. We had the rest of the day off and enjoyed a quick dip and our first leisurely evening.

The following day, we decided to visit the petroforms - rock formations created by traditional Objibway people - that the park is famous for. We were lucky enough to arrive at the site at about the same time as the petroform tour guide, Ron, who has been visiting the site for over 50 years! Ron was extremely friendly and was quite intrigued to hear about the Reptiles at Risk on the Road project, so we showed him a couple of the animals before entering into his realm of expertise. Ron was a fantastic guide! He shared his vast knowledge of the Ojibway culture and history. We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were especially happy to find out that many of the rock formations were in the shape of turtles and snakes! It was nice to finally have an opportunity to take a break from our fast-paced schedule and explore our surroundings. We are definitely looking forward to many more of such endeavors in the near future!

Sean

Bugs, Turtles and Sssnakes!

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 17, 2008 at 6:24 PM

Lenny here. This morning it was the dozens of mosquitoes that woke me up, not the alarm. We camped at Quetico Provincial Park last night after doing a show here as well as in Atikokan, the town nearby. Atikokan is a small Northern Ontario town, with a gradually declining population, so when four people roll into town with a bunch of snakes, it really draws a crowd. We had over 150 people at our presentation.

I saved my first turtle crossing the road today! We were headed north towards Blue Lake Provincial Park for an afternoon show, and there he was crawling across the road - a Western Painted turtle about 25 centimeters in diameter with long black claws. Jeff told me that it is the males that have the long nails, for mating purposes. We took a few photos of him and sent him on his way. Working for Sciensational Sssnakes has made me not only exited about helping turtles cross the road, but also wanting to see and help my first turtle in distress.

Our show at Blue Lake Provincial Park went well despite the unforgiving weather, which was cold, rainy, windy, and difficult to talk over. This was complemented with a long and uncomfortable previous night spent battling (and rarely winning) against mosquitoes. And finally, one more complication is the cold that we are all struggling with, and which keeps all of our voices at minimal capacity. The enthusiasm of the audience is easy to build off of though and their excitement at being able to see and hold the snakes helps us get through the more difficult shows. Its no surprise however that dinner and a bed was welcome by the end of the show.

Bye for now,
Lenny

Day Nine: Central Manitoba- after a day at the beach with the chicks!

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 16, 2008 at 12:30 PM

We're in central Manitoba, on our way to Hecla Provincial Park. Our show at Grand Beach went very well- we had about 350 people turnout despite the hordes of mosquitos! This was our biggest program yet, but it was made easier by the help of nine of the park staff with the hands-on part of the program. We stayed an extra day at Grand Beach, for our first day off of the trip, and we were happy to sleep in a bit, go for a swim, and then walk some trails and the beach. The sun even came out to shine for most of the day, which was a nice change.

We saw some painted turtles, and also lots of tiny toads that had just transformed. Toads are one of the fastest Canadian amphibians when it comes to the tadpoles growing legs and leaving the water for their terrestrial life. When they all come out around the same time, it can sometimes look like the ground is crawling with baby toads!

We were also happy to see white pelicans, and one of Canada's rarest birds, the piping plover. A few pairs nest at Grand Beach, and the park goes to great lengths to protect them, with a fenced area to keep people away and a rotating staff of Plover Guardians to watch over the chicks. We watched the chicks for a while through binoculars, and then kept going down the beach. We were surprised to then see another chick, with an adult male keeping an eye on it. These guys were out of their fenced area, so it was pretty cool to see them as well.

Later today we'll stop at the famous snake pits of Narcisse, but at this time of year we don't expect to see many snakes. We'll let you know how it goes in a future update!

Overall, things are going great. Everyone's getting along exceedingly well, the programs are working out nicely, and aside from some minor vehicle issues we haven't had to address any serious mechanical problems yet. Let's hope things stay that way!

Jeff

A note from Lenny...

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 11, 2008 at 5:12 PM

After an early start this morning, we are cruising just outside of Thunder Bay,
headed to Atikokan for a show this afternoon. This drive will take us into the
Central time zone and set us back an hour, giving us more time to arrive at our
destination.

So this is day four of our trip. My feelings about the initial stages of this
experience have been very up and down and I am still just getting accustomed to
this glorified road trip. And, of course, I am still in the process of getting
to know Heather, Sean and Jeff, my makeshift family for the next few weeks.
The scenery around Lake Superior kept me awake most of the time while we were
driving so as not to miss the picturesque lakes, streams and landscapes. Sean
and Heather have been taking endless photos, some of which they are in the
process of uploading onto the web site.

Being a random recruit for this position I was initially largely unfamiliar
with the snakes and turtles that we use in our programs, yet Sean has been
helping me stay up to speed with his extensive reptile repetoire. My brain has
therefore been expanding with interesting herpetology information, which is
different from the the politics and economics that I am used to learning in
University. I study International Development and Globalization at Ottawa U.

So far we have done six shows and all have gone well because of good turnout
and enthusiastic audiences, which has been invaluable to me as I am still in
the process of perfecting my snake presentations.

I will draw this little blurb to a close, but there will be many future reports
to come as our adventures continue.

-Lenny

We're on the road again...

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 10, 2008 at 11:16 AM

After some intense preparations over the last couple of weeks, we are once again heading west! This time, we'll go all the way to Vancouver Island before turning around in September to come home. We hope to get our tour schedule up on the upcoming events page soon, as we have our schedule confirmed as far as eastern Alberta at this point.

Our first programs of the tour were Tuesday at Science North in Sudbury, and at Chutes Provincial Park. They went very well, given how tired we all were. Heather, Lenny, and Sean are great, and I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with them this summer! Watch for staff profiles of them in the near future.

We're a little better rested now, and heading out from Agawa Bay at Lake Superior Park- next stop Neys PP, just west of Marathon.