Last year I drove 6 hours to the sandhill prairies of Illinois to look for my first wild Bull Snakes on Memorial Day Weekend. I didn't find any. So this weekend I got "back in the ring to take another swing" and I went a few weeks earlier than in 2011. That turned out to be a pretty good idea.
My first wild Bull:
Prairie Racerunners were easy to catch in the morning when they were still cold and under cover.
But after they warmed up they were fast and fiesty. I also saw my first legless lizards, but I was unable to catch/photograph one.
Blue-margined ground beetles were commonly encountered.
The second Bull Snake I found was in shed.
I saw two Blue Racers, but both were going through a shed cycle so they weren't particularly attractive.
The final Bull Snake was the best of them all in terms of color and pattern.
It was a great day for finding a couple of "lifers." Closing shot of a Muskrat:
