Herping in Boneyard Creek, UIUC

Midland Painted Turtle: PC Yatin Kalki

Date:
April 2nd 2015

Species Found:

1. Plains Garter Snake (Thamnophis radix)
2. Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata)

The Trip:

I had been to Boneyard Creek, behind Engineering Hall many times to catch Plains Garter Snakes. I usually found them under stone slabs or sunning themselves in the grass. I was doing a Mark-Recapture study where I caught the snakes, measured them, marked them with a permanent marker and released them. The previous day I had caught 7 Garter Snakes and that day I caught 11 of them. The smallest one I caught was 26 cm long.

Baby Plains Garter Snakes: PC Yatin Kalki

Baby Plains Garter Snakes: PC Yatin Kalki

The longest ones I caught were 62 cm long. One was a male and the other was a gravid female.

Plains Garter Snakes: PC Yatin Kalki

Plains Garter Snakes: PC Yatin Kalki

Plains Garter Snakes: PC Yatin Kalki

I was about to head home for the day when I remembered that a professor had found a Painted Turtle in the creek a few days earlier. I went down to the water and looked around for a turtle. Soon I saw a medium sized Painted Turtle in the water by the bank. I went closet to it and it went under. I sat by the bank and waited for it to surface again for air. After 5 minutes it did as expected and I scooped it up in my net. This was my first turtle in America so I was pretty happy. It was very colorful, with red streaks on its body and on the edges of its shell. It also had yellow streaks on its head.

Midland Painted Turtle: PC Yatin Kalki

Midland Painted Turtle: PC Yatin Kalki

Midland Painted Turtle: PC Yatin Kalki

Midland Painted Turtle: PC Yatin Kalki

Midland Painted Turtle: PC Yatin Kalki

Midland Painted Turtle: PC Yatin Kalki

Midland Painted Turtle: PC Yatin Kalki

Midland Painted Turtle: PC Yatin Kalki

I found one new species, putting my American Herp List at 45 species.