April 16 i met up with about a dozen folks from the Greater Cincinnati Herp Society (GCHS), at "Snake Road" in Southern Illinois. The road runs thru a very narrow swath between the bluffs in the background in the first photo below, and the swamps in the second photo. There's no more than 100 feet, i'd say, at the widest spot between the bluffs and the swamp, and the passage is often much narrower than that. The road is busy each spring and fall with herps moving from and to brumation sites, so the state closes off the road for two months each season. It's become well known to herpers--i met a couple fellows from indiana there, and there was a contingent from a kentucky herp society.
A group gathered on the road to view a Timber Rattler. It was the only one found during the day and a half i was on the road. We'd had a very warm spell almost a month earlier, and i think the animals made their move earlier than in most years, as the counts were far below the previous spring's.
Other finds included rough green snakes, garters and ribbons and an earth snake.
There was a sizeable group on the road observing the wildflowers.
There are always some interesting invertebrates. Those big millipedes can't bite, right?! At least they haven't, in my experience.
Ed Neltner's son Chris and friend Mike found a baby cottonmouth the first day, on the slope up to the bluffs on the dry side of the road. I haven't seen many of them, and i was shocked at how much it looked like a banded water snake. It was too easy to imagine me grabbing it if i hadn't seen the head or tail. It was also surprisingly small, under one foot. The second day i ran across this one coiled at the base of a tree on the wet side of the road, maybe two feet from the tire tracks.
I mentioned the counts were down for the GCHS this trip? We'd found two cottonmouths by the time i left on the afternoon of the second day: Last year they saw more than 30.
One of the Indiana guys showed me a photo he'd taken of a black king he found at the very beginning of the pedestrian-only portion of the road, 10 or 20 feet from the nearest parked cars. By the time i left there were 32 cars parked along the approach. Sadly, this black/gray? rat snake juvie had apparently been stepped on and killed by someone getting out of their car.
We saw a number of salamanders. The cave salamanders were the most often seen. A few members of our group took flashlights to a "grotto" a short distance from the road, and reported seeing numerous cave salamanders peering out from crevices.
I'm not real knowledgeable with salamanders. Based on the pattern forming chevrons on the tail, I think this is a Longtailed.
Northern slimy?
I'm guessing this one to be a northern or spotted dusky salamander, but i welcome corrections.
and to end on a snake-note, this good-sized watersnake was spotted in a shallow slough on the "dry" side of the road.
A sign at each end of Snake Road explains its history--and the rules. I'll try to make it back for the fall trip. If not, definitely spring 2011. Are there similar areas any of you are familiar with, where collecting is prohibited but unusually large and varied numbers of animals can be observed?
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