Trapped Below - How Turtles Spend Their Winter

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Trapped Below - How Turtles Spend Their Winter

In temperate climates, many amphibians and reptiles hibernate during the cold winter months. Here in Minnesota, my current state of residence, it gets cold (mean winter temperate = 14° F / -10° C, record low = - 60° F / -51° C) - brrr. Yet, Minnesota is home 11 species of turtle (one of which is the invasive Red-eared Slider). This leaves turtles with roughly 5 - 7 months of good weather to breed, lay eggs, and feed to build up fat reserves. 

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Chasing a ghost...

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Chasing a ghost...

Tiger beetles (Carabidae: Cicindelinae) are a fascinating and diverse group of predatory ground beetles that come in a wide-range of colors and patterns. Because of their beauty and relative ease of identification, tiger beetles are a great 'gateway' insect for naturalists that are more familiar with vertebrate organisms (birds, herps, etc.).

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In search of nature’s undertakers

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In search of nature’s undertakers

A short hike off a road in the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, near Zimmerman, he drops to his knees next to a hole in the ground that’s been covered with chicken wire, plywood, and a concrete weight. As he removes the makeshift cover, a sickeningly sweet stench wafts out. Smith, a nongame wildlife biologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, wrinkles his nose as he reaches into a buried five-gallon plastic bucket and pulls out the deflated carcasses of two very dead, very rotten rats.

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Toadally Cool - Meet the Great Plains Toad

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Toadally Cool - Meet the Great Plains Toad

The Great Plains Toad is a wide-ranging species found primarily in the arid west and grasslands of the north-central states (Fig. 1). It reaches the eastern edge of its range in the tallgrass prairies of Minnesota and Missouri. It is an explosive breeder following heavy rains, and prefers to breed in shallow temporary fishless wetlands. In Minnesota and North Dakota, breeding typically occurs in late May or June (personal observation).

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