Children’s herping outing was a big success

A great time was had by all at the Wild Columbia children’s outing on March 23rd. Despite typical dreary Oregon weather conditions, around 15 children showed up along with nearly as many parents and grandparents. Passion was tremendous among both the young and old. You can see some of the pictures taken by Emily Urfer with The Daily News out of Longview (all photos below are hers):

https://tdn.com/news/local/photos-hunting-for-reptiles-in-columbia-county/collection_841a4926-ed4b-11ee-9204-d7a8255cca75.html#8

The day started with a quick introduction to the reptiles and amphibians of Columbia County, as organized by habitat type. We discussed how to find herps in various habitats and what kinds of precautions needed to be taken when handling them so as to do the animals no harm. Several of the kids shared their own knowledge of reptiles with the group, especially one particularly enthusiastic Wild Kratts viewer. 😀

Since temperatures were too low to expect reptiles, I brought a Northwestern Garter Snake and Northern Rubber Boa so they’d have an opportunity to see some native snakes and handle them safely. The girls and boys (and a few of the parents) loved it.

From there, we took them hiking into a local natural area to go looking for amphibians. Right off the bat, several children and parents spotted very cold bullfrogs sitting in the ponds, some of the first emergences of the year. I took the time to discuss the invasive nature of bullfrogs and how they impact native amphibian populations. From there, we fanned out over the various rocky areas, searching for salamanders using the techniques I had taught them.

Without too much trouble, we soon found plenty of Western Red-backed Salamanders and a few Oregon Ensatina. The children were respectful with minimal handling of the salamanders, only allowing them to crawl on their hands without restraining them in any way, before quickly re-releasing them back into their habitat.

A highlight for me was watching one parent gamely attempt to get down into the edge of the marsh and grab a bullfrog. Great energy!

The boys and girls got fresh air outdoors, found some critters, and learned a little bit about our native wildlife. We all were quite satisfied with how it came off.

Special thanks goes to Lucas Green for helping us oversee the event and Jessica Hird for providing a little extra assistance. And big thanks to Emily Urfer of The Daily News for providing her pictures of the event. But most of all, we are grateful to the parents and grandparents who brought their children out to spend a morning enjoying these underappreciated little creatures.

Hope to do it again someday!

If you are a guardian or friend of local children and would like more information on how you could go herping together with them, check out this post on herping with kids and its accompanying links. Contact us for more information on the best local trails to take young people on for finding frogs, salamanders, snakes, and turtles in Columbia County.

Do you have kids who want to go herping with other kids?