I think it's safe to say that this summer I’ve spent more time canoeing Missouri rivers than I have spent working.  This is great in the sense that I can’t think of a better way to spend the hot and humid summer months than swimming, snorkeling, turtleing, and just plain lazily floating my days away down a beautiful river.  Then when night falls, find a good gravel bar next to a nice deep hole of water, build a fire, open a bottle, and set some catfish lines; all before falling asleep under the stars.  This is truly what Missouri summers are all about.  Sounds great huh?  Well it is, but eventually the money runs out and responsibilities start heaping up at home and you finally have to get back to the real world. 

Do to not having a good, dry system for keeping and using photo equipment on the river I’ve taken very few photos this summer.  Still I managed to take a couple, starting with an Ozark hellbender trip from just a few weeks back.  I had planned on trying to get some top notch hellbender photos this summer but unfortunately earlier in the season my 100mm macro lens took a tumble while attached to my camera and ended up in almost two pieces.  This was the perfect lens for the job and the only lens I had a polarizer for so unfortunately I was handicapped from the get go.  This first photo is a good example of how important a polorizer is when shooting through the water. 

This next one was about the best I could do and there is still way too much glare.

Here are a couple quick habitat pics from where the pictured animal was found.

Finally here are a couple friends of mine Shannon and Rebecca holding their first wild Ozark hellbender salamander.  Shannon and Rebecca are both biology teachers from near my home town; their interest in seeing one of these animals is how this trip came about in the first place.

I should also mention that Ryan Thies was also along on this trip and is due credit for finding the first salamander (pictured above) of the trip.

After our hellbender float Shannon and Rebecca had to get back home but Ryan and I headed a bit further west looking for a couple home state species we had never seen, the Oklahoma salamander and the ground snake.  We unfortunately missed out on both but we did get to see some outstanding Ozark habitat that I’m sure we’ll be visiting again next spring when the conditions are more favorable to herping.

We did manage to road cruise this southern copperhead one evening.

This eastern yellow-bellied racer was found out on the crawl on a rock cut near Branson.

They really hold up to their namesake yellow belly here much more than in the eastern part of the state.

Here area a couple turtles from a different trip Brian Scheidt and I took down the St. Francois River in southeastern Missouri.

This first one, I’m a bit confused about its taxonomy on this particular river but I’m going to go with Graptemys kohnii the Mississippi map turtle.

Finally, here’s a big old cooter.

While this report doesn’t represent a fraction of the great wildlife I’ve seen and places I’ve visited this summer, its sill all I have to offer for now.  I’ll try harder next summer!