Expanding Fascination
I once considered myself a herper; the kind of herper that was only interested in snakes. Then I found just about all the snakes that can be had in my area and so if a night of herping wasn’t stupendous, I got kind of bored and disappointed. This disappointment, however, was probably a good thing – it spurred me on to expand my fascination to include a wider array of wildlife. I began to meet people like my friends Jason B and Curtis who had a wider interest and started me thinking about something besides snakes.
Enter Frogs: frogs are cool because they chorus; meaning that one can actually find and identify them just by hearing them cal. So, whereas before a night of roadcruising would be only long hours staring at a (mostly empty) road; I could roll down the windows and be immersed in a new world I had no idea existed!
From there, I moved on to enjoy lizards, salamanders, turtles and the like. What happened then? Mammals started to get pretty cool.
All this has meant that whereas a few years ago a random night hike or the like might be terribly boring, now is seldom without excitement and wonder.What next, birds? (doubtful…)
So, next time you’re out and start to gloss over the by-catch; remember that the world is rife with fun, beautiful, exciting and significant life.
This post originally appeared on Josh Holbrook’s Field Ventures.
Joshua David Holbrook is an ecologist and field herper who enjoys learning of the world’s wonders through reading, time in the field and time with friends and family – occasionally all at once. He has authored a number of studies appearing in academic journals as well as A Field Guide to the Snakes of Southern Florida. He currently attends Florida Atlantic University as a graduate student and works on the Everglades Invasive Reptile and Amphibian Monitoring Program (EIRAMP.) He can be contacted at JDHolbrook@gmail.com
