Story and photos by Carol Mowdy Bond
Naturalists out there should watch their backs because there’s a new
man on the scene, and he’s not slowing down anytime soon.
Hudson Floyd was two years old when he first caught turtles and frogs and brought them to his parents, Becky and Nic Floyd. That’s not unusual for little boys. But Hudson, who is now seven years old and in second grade, has grown into a full-fledged naturalist.
Hudson and his family live on eight acres in the Oklahoma City area. He is one of six children and one of 31 cousins, but he is the only one in that generation whose love of animals has become his lifestyle. It’s helpful that a creek runs through the property and through a neighbor’s property and then goes north to a pond. And Hudson’s grandparents’ property next door also includes a pond.
Life as a Wildlife Collector
Each morning after breakfast, Hudson, in shorts and T-shirt — he might or might not wear shoes — heads out to collect whatever wildlife he can find.
“It’s my idea,” Hudson said. “It’s fun. Sometimes I name the animals I catch, but not always. I’ll be walking through the woods, and my head tells me there’s a snake nearby. I’ll lift leaves and other stuff, and there it is. I go to the creek if it has water in it. If it’s dry, I flip rocks to see what’s under them. If I find snakes that I know need water to live and the creek is dry, I catch them and put them in water or move them to a pond so they won’t die. Or if the snake is in a dry area and it only eats crawfish, I catch crawfish and put them in a bucket
with the snake. Then I move the snake to a place with water.”
Hudson releases the animals the same evening to the places where he found them or to safer locations for the animals’ sake. When chilly weather hits, he releases them earlier in the day so they can find a good place before cold temperatures set in for the night. However, Hudson caught a green snake and kept it as a pet for three years, naming it Nelly. And he has frogs and toads in his bedroom aquarium.
“I know how turtles move their heads,” Hudson said. “So I know how to grab turtles so they won’t bite me. Sometimes I go out with my dogs because the dogs can find turtles.”
For huge turtles, Hudson catches with his hands or a fishing net. Or he runs to
the house and grabs his dad. A recent catch required a wheelbarrow to lug in a giant turtle.
In winter, Hudson goes out in snow and ice, looking for anything he can find. “One time the creek froze,” Hudson said. “I was walking on the ice, and I slipped and broke the ice and fell, and my bottom was cold.”
With his brow furrowed, his dad said, “But the frozen water was extremely shallow.”
Researching the Catches
With his dad, Hudson researches all his catches, and Hudson’s phenomenal memory allows him to retain the facts and details he learns and put them to use. As a result, the family front porch includes Hudson’s domain, with bins and buckets lined up. In each, he creates an authentic animal habitat, including rocks, soil, water, mussel shells, wood, leaves, or whatever the animals would have in their natural habitats.
Hudson’s list of wild catches includes a lot of snakes (some longer than he is tall), rabbits, mice, rats, moles, gophers, birds, baby ducks, four species of frogs, two or three species of toads, five or six species of lizards (including green anole lizard), a large skink, bullfrog tadpoles, scorpions, wasps, hornets, a 16-pound snapping turtle, various spiders, and a soft-shelled turtle 17 inches long. Hudson catches fish by hand, and that includes a three-foot-long carp. He once caught a wounded hawk and nursed it back to health. He also chases armadillos.
When water fills flowerpots and toys on the porch, Hudson scoops up fish and tadpoles and puts them in the receptacles, where they eat the mosquito larvae and other kinds of larvae.
“My favorite animals to catch are bull and rat snakes because they’re so big,” Hudson said. “And also turtles, especially snapping and soft-shelled, lizards, and skinks.”
Early on, Hudson’s parents realized his enthusiasm for catching everything, and they snagged a fourth-edition copy of A Field Guide to Oklahoma’s Amphibians and Reptiles by Greg and Lynnette Sievert. “The book has everything in it,” Floyd said. “It has range maps, habitats, photos and physical descriptions of all the animals, foods they eat, habitats, life cycles, and species habits. Hudson is very good at identifying all snakes, including venomous snakes. He has caught a large number of Oklahoma’s snakes.”
Floyd constantly quizzes Hudson on the book’s contents so he can identify and stay clear of venomous animals.
“We’ve also trained him not to touch brown recluse spiders or black widow spiders,” Hudson’s mother said.
“We’re also part of the Oklahoma Snake Identification Network Facebook page,” Floyd said. “I educate Hudson and keep him safe by teaching him venomous animals. He immediately knows a venomous snake and immediately backs away. He has a rapid speed of identification, and he can immediately recognize different color variations in snake species. He has an incredible memory.
“This is science for Hudson. He loves the hunt and the mystery of what he’ll find. He is very fast, and his eye-hand coordination is extremely fast. Hudson’s hearing is amazing. He has the ability to hear an animal that is barely making a sound. He can catch tiny animals and also huge animals. He is very patient, and he will wait and watch for a long time before catching an animal. He talks a lot while he hunts for animals. He can identify pretty much everything.”
Occupational Hazards
There’s a flip side to being a fearless young
naturalist. Hudson has landed in poison ivy, but he gets only small rashes that disappear quickly. He has also been bitten by nonvenomous snakes, scorpions, spiders, wasps, and hornets. Hudson was thrilled when he got his first nonvenomous snakebite. And although he says the bites hurt, he doesn’t cry, and he is not fazed by bites except from a certain type of grasshopper.
“There are big green grasshoppers with bright red eyes, and they bite, and I hate them,” Hudson said. “I don’t like their bites. I catch them and feed them to spiders.”
At times, a herd of four to 20 deer gravitates onto the property. If Hudson emerges from the creek and the deer are on site, they stomp their feet and make noises, indicating that they are mad. He either freezes or races to the house, and they have not charged him but have left him alone. “He sometimes watches YouTube and nature shows about animals worldwide,” Floyd said. “He can identify snakes that are not in Oklahoma. This is an extreme passion for Hudson. I like it that he would rather be out in God’s creation, exploring the world and enjoying all that, rather than sitting in front of the television.”
A Field Guide to Oklahoma’s Amphibians and Reptiles, from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, can be purchased online at https://www.wildlifedepartment.com.
