Herpedex: All the Herps I Have Seen In The Wild: September 2014

Saturday, 27 September 2014

Fall Herping in Southern Illinois 1

Black Kingsnake: PC Yatin Kalki

Date:
September 27th & 28th 2014

Species Found:

Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus)
Dwarf American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus charlsmithi)
Black Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula niger)
Northern Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans blanchardi)
Bronze Frog (Rana c. clamitans)
Ground Skink (Scincella lateralis)
Northern Redbelly Snake (Storeria o. occipitomaculata)
Five Lined Skink (Peistodon fasciatus)
Fowler's Toad (Bufo fowleri)

Background:

I took a 2 day field trip to Southern Illinois with my Earth Science and Environment class. The field trip was aimed at showing us the diverse relief features of Illinois but I was more interested in the herps I that occurred there. Tristan had told me all about the various snake species, including venomous ones, that could be found in the Shawnee Hills. This time I didn't have Tristan to tell me about each species as we found them. I had to be able to identify all of them by myself. I looked at pictures of all the species and learned how to identify the venomous ones in particular: the Cottonmouth, the Copperhead and the Timber Rattlesnake. I knew the non-venomous ones roughly and that was good enough for me. I was planning to take pictures and send them to Tristan for identification. There was one professor, Dr. Rob, on the trip who was a fan of reptiles and all animals in general, but not really a herper. He told all of us on the trip not to touch any of the snakes that we might find but after I showed him that I knew what I was doing, he waived the rule just for me. He was also an amateur wildlife photographer so had a policy where he would give students $5 for every vertebrate they helped him get a good picture of. I planned to totally capitalize on this deal.

The Trip:

The first place we visited was called Garden of the Gods. It was high up on a hill with many boulders and rocky outcroppings. From the moment we stepped out of the bus, I started herping. I was flipping logs and looking under rocks while the rest of my class stared at me in puzzlement. I finally found a baby Fence Lizard on the side of a boulder. Catching it was not easy, but I eventually did and brought it back for Dr. Rob to photograph. Getting 5 photographs of "nature" was a part of the assignment so the rest of the class took turns taking pictures of the lizard too.

Eastern Fence Lizard: PC Yatin Kalki

Eastern Fence Lizard: PC Yatin Kalki

Eastern Fence Lizard: PC Yatin Kalki

The next place we went to was Heron Pond, a forest with a stream cutting through it, finally ending up in a swamp. I found an American Toad under a log near the parking lot and again, there was a queue to take pictures of it.

Dwarf American Toad: PC Yatin Kalki

Dwarf American Toad: PC Yatin Kalki

Soon, we came across a stream where Cricket Frogs were hopping all over the place. Flipping some of the rocks in the stream resulted in some frogs that I later found out were Bronze Frogs.

Northern Cricket Frog: PC Yatin Kalki

Bronze Frog: PC Yatin Kalki

I wasn't satisfied with what I had found so far. I knew that if I was going to see any snakes, I would see them in Heron Pond. So, as the group was walking ahead on the trail, chattering, I was hanging behind, flipping every rock and looking in every tree hollow. Finally, I came upon a large pile of rocks by the side of the stream. I flipped a few and found a large black snake coiled up, nestled between a few large rocks. I couldn't see the head and I knew it could be a Cottonmouth so I grabbed a stick and moved its body off the head. As soon as I saw that its head wasn't the distinctive triangle shape of a viper, I grabbed it by the tail and picked it up. Surprisingly, it didn't hiss, strike or musk on me. This 4 foot snake was so docile, you would've thought it was a pet. From the black dorsal side and the white ventral side, I guessed it was a Black Rat Snake. When I called everyone over, Dr. Rob was overjoyed to see the snake and he promptly took it in his hands with no hesitation. I told him that I thought it was a Black Rat Snake and he seemed to agree. My classmates were a little more wary of such a large snake but once they realized that it wasn't doing anything, they slowly came forward, one by one to hold it. I found out later from Tristan that it was actually a Black Kingsnake, a species that looks very similar to the Black Rat Snake. The Black Kingsnake is known to eat other snakes, including venomous Cottonmouths and Rattlesnakes.

Black Kingsnake: PC Yatin Kalki

Kingsnake with Geology Prof: PC Yatin Kalki

Black Kingsnake: PC Yatin Kalki

Black Kingsnake: PC Yatin Kalki

I let the Kingsnake go and soon caught a Ground Skink. I had seen at least 10 of them before I managed to catch one because they were so fast.

Ground Skink: PC Yatin Kalki

As we were walking through the forest and returning to the bus, Dr. Rob, who was walking beside me, said "Snake!" and pointed to the floor. Sure enough there was a small 8 inch snake crossing our path. I picked it up and thought it was a Ringneck Snake but it was actually a Northern Redbelly, Tristan told me. We took some pictures of that and let it go.

Northern Redbelly Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Northern Redbelly Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

The next day we went to farmer's prawn ranch. He had about 5 artificial ponds which had Cricket Frogs and Bull Frogs in them. I couldn't catch any of them as they were in the water. That' why they aren't on the Species Found List. When I spoke to the farmer, he said that in Spring and Summer, he gets Cottonmouths, Copperheads, Hognoseds, Garters and Kingsnakes. He also gave me permission to look under the tin sheets and what not that lay about on his property. Under one tin, I found a vibrant Five Lined Skink but it was too fast and went down a hole. I also found a large Fowler's Toad hopping around.

Fowler's Toad: PC Yatin Kalki

Fowler's Toad: PC Yatin Kalki

In total, I found 9 species for Dr. Rob to photograph. I was looking forward to getting $45 but he said he didn't expect anyone to actually take the challenge seriously and at most, he would pay me $5. At that point, I was happy just with the 8 new species I had added to my American Herp List. My total count now stood at 17 species over 3 herping trips.

Saturday, 20 September 2014

Fall Herping in the Kankakee Sands 2

Eastern Hognosed Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Date:
September 20th 2014

Species Found:

Eastern Hognosed Snake (Heterodon platirhinos)
Chicago Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis semifasciatus)
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum)
Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens)
Six Lined Racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineata)
Fowler's Toad (Bufo fowleri)

Background:

Since Tristan, Noah and I had had so much fun on the last trip, we decided to go herping the very next weekend. We hadn't found nearly all the species that can be found at Kankakee so we made the 3 hour trip once again. This time, we were looking for the Eastern Hognosed Snake in particular. It is not an endangered snake or anything but due to the fact that it lives underground in burrows, it is very elusive and hard to come by. It also does a very elaborate display when it feels threatened, but more on that later. It was a bright and sunny day so we were hoping to find some snakes sunning themselves out in the open.

The Trip:

Tristan had found a spot on Google Earth where there were large wooden boards laying out on a grassy field. We hit that place first and flipped some huge wooden boards and even a door. We found plenty of Bull and Garter shed skins but no live snakes. We also found a few Six Lined Racerunners.

After about an hour of bad luck we got back in the car and went to the same junkyard from last time. That was when our luck turned. We hadn't even been looking for 10 minutes when I heard Tristan shout loudly, "Hog!". Noah and I dropped whatever we were doing and ran to see the snake. Tristan was holding a stocky snake about 2 ft long, coiled on his palm. The Hognosed was a first time species for all 3 of us so we were all keen to get a better look at it. It was a beautiful snake with dull but striking patterns and an upturned nose which gives it its name. It has a scale on the tip of its snout which is hard and used for digging. This particular specimen was a little beaten up. It had open wounds along its sides and on its underbelly. It had probably had an encounter with a predator of some sort, probably a human. When threatened, Hognosed snakes employ a very peculiar strategy. First, they flatten their neck and puff out their bodies to make themselves look more intimidating. If that doesn't work, they roll over, exposing their underside and play dead.

Eastern Hognosed Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

We wanted to see the its whole performance so we provoked it a little and got it to go through the whole routine for us. As expected, it first opened its mouth and hissed, then it flattened its neck and inflated its body and after that it rolled over and played dead.

Hissing at us: PC Tristan Schramer

Flattening neck and inflating ribs: PC Tristan Schramer

Rolling over and playing dead: PC Tristan Schramer

Going back home: PC Tristan Schramer

We were sad to see the Hognosed disappear back into its rubble pile but we continued on herping. It wasn't long before Noah walked up with a baby Eastern Milk Snake in his hands. It looked like it could have been the same one we had caught the week before but after looking at photos we found that it was a different one. This one was a little smaller and more brightly colored than the last one.

Eastern Milk Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

I was happy to see another Milk Snake but I was also a little sour as I was now the only one out of the 3 of us who hadn't found a snake. However, that feeling was short lived. Turns out this was just a lucky spot. About 15 minutes later I had caught a 1 ft snake from under a wooden board. All I knew about the snake was that it was non-venomous so I had caught it without hesitation as it tried to slither away when I flipped the board. Tristan identified it as a Chicago Garter Snake, an extremely common snake with no extraordinary features, but it was still a new find at Kankakee. However commonplace everyone thought this snake was, it was still my first catch in the US so I held it in higher esteem. I noticed that its eyes were neon blue, a sign that it would shed soon. Tristan said that he had seen at least 100 of these before and wasn't as entusiastic about taking pictures. So, these pictures are taken by me, with my phone camera.

Chicago Garter Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

Neon blue eyes before it sheds its skin: PC Yatin Kalki

Me with my first American snake catch: PC Yatin Kalki

Chicago Garter Snake: PC Yatin Kalki

At this site we found a few more Racerunners and some Fowler's Toads but no more snakes.

Six Lined Racerunner: PC Tristan Schramer

Fowler's Toad: PC Tristan Schramer

Next, we were going to a disused railroad track just over the border in Indiana to look for Fox Snakes. On the way, we saw some frogs hopping on the roadside so we stopped to catch them. There was a ditch running all along the road, between the cornfield and the tar. Jumping into that ditch were hundreds of Northern Leopard Frogs. They were really hard to catch in the tall grass but we finally caught a few and took some pictures.

Northern Leopard Frog: PC Tristan Schramer

When we got to the railroad, the sky was getting dark and a storm was rolling in. We figured we had already come all this way, might as well go out and see what we can find, so we started walking along the tracks, flipping old planks. We still hadn't found anything when the rain started. By the time we reached the car, which was 2 miles away, we were soaked to the bone. We endured the 3 hour ride back in our drenched state. Noah wasn't too pleased with the condition of his car seats though.

From this trip, I added 3 more species to my American Herp List, putting my total at 9.

Saturday, 13 September 2014

Fall Herping in the Kankakee Sands 1

Eastern Milk Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Date:
September 13th 2014

New Species Found:

Western Slender Glass Lizard (Ophiosaurus a. attenuatus)
Six Lined Racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineata)
Fowler's Toad (Bufo fowleri)
Eastern Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor)
Bull Snake (Pituophis catenifer sayi)
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum)

Background:
It had been about 3 weeks since I had left my home in Bangalore, India and started my undergraduate degree in Wildlife Conservation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I was going herping with Tristan and Noah, two fellow herpers I had met at a Wildlife Club meeting a week earlier. Tristan had been herping in the Midwest for most of his life and he had found a lot of the native species, impressive considering he was just a freshman like myself. He had loads of experience with Illinois herps so he was a useful guide to have on my first herping trip in the United States. Noah was a senior Integrative Biology major. He had herped a little here and there but his specialty was birds. He had worked in Panama the earlier semester with migratory birds. He knew a good deal about the native snakes too (a lot more than I did at the time) and he had a car, without which we wouldn't be able to find anything.

The Trip:

Tristan had been to Kankakee sometime before but he had gone in the Spring while we were going in the Fall. He had the GPS coordinates of all the species he had found last time and he was keen to look in the same spots again. Last time he had found a Glass Lizard in a thicket right next to the parking area and sure enough, this time there was a Glass Lizard not 30 feet from where we parked the car. It was in a thorny bush, sitting right next to a burrow so when we tried to catch it, it disappeared underground. I couldn't even get a good look at it, much less a photo.

We moved on through the forest and started following a trail, where Noah spotted a small lizard curled up in hole left by a deer's hoof. It was a juvenile Six Lined Racerunner. It was cold outside and the sunlight was patchy so the lizard wasn't its usual speedy self. It was sluggish and made a feeble attempt to escape when we picked it up

Six Lined Racerunner: PC Tristan Schramer

While we were walking to some of the spots where Tristan had found herps before, he spotted a Fowler's Toad hopping through the dewy grass. He caught it and explained to me the difference between the Fowler's and the American Toad, the other toad species found there.

Fowler's Toad: PC Tristan Schramer

As we were photographing the toad, we found another little amphibian. It was an Eastern Gray Tree Frog hanging out on a damp, discarded tire. Tristan moved it to a more natural setting (a tree) and proceeded to take some photos.

Eastern Gray Tree Frog: PC Tristan Schramer

We moved deeper into the Park we came across many piles of debris and rubbish. Tristan said that the large objects like tin sheets and tires offered good artificial cover for herps, so we proceeded to flip all the debris we came across. We found about 10-20 more Six Lined Racerunners but could only catch a few as they were all really fast with the heat they had absorbed from the sun, which was blazing by then. Tristan flipped a large carpet and found a juvenile Bull Snake that was about 2 ft long. It hissed and struck at him when he picked it up by the tail but it was quick to calm down when it realized we weren't hurting it. I was really excited because this was my first snake in the US. I held it and when I was confident it was not going to bite, I let it crawl all over me, even my face. Tristan wanted to photograph it curled up and ready to strike but the Bull Snake didn't want to sit still for a picture. Even when Tristan tired to provoke it into getting into the "strike pose" it just didn't see his hand as a threat. He then used a method I had never seen before to get the snake to coil up. He cupped his hands over the snake, shading it out and trapping it between the floor and his palms. When he no longer felt the snake nudging against his hand to get free, he removed his hand and there the snake was, coiled up with all body parts in the shot. We took some pictures and let the Bull Snake go back under its carpet.

Bull Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

We tried a few more spots where Tristan had found Blue Racers before, but had no luck. We decided to try looking in a nearby junkyard where a friend of Tristan's had found a Hognosed Snake sometime in the past, so we got back in the car and drove there. That place was really a dump. There was a broken down trailer and a whole house with all its parts lying in a radius around its foundation. Roof tiles, drywall, glass panes and tin sheets lay strewn about. I wondered how any animals would be able to survive in such an environment, but Tristan assured me that we would find something if we just kept flipping the debris. We found a few more Racerunners and Fowler's Toads but it wasn't till late evening that we found a snake. I had just caught a Fowler's Toad and I called Tristan over to log its GPS coordinates. As he was walking over, he kicked a large piece of rubber and underneath it was a gorgeous baby Eastern Milk Snake. We forgot all about the Fowler's Toad as we took turns examining the colorful 1 ft snake. I couldn't get over how smooth and shiny its scales were and how the red and white color pattern was so unlike any of the snakes I had seen before. The checkerboard belly and the little white heart it had on its head made it all the more intriguing. Needless to say, the baby Eastern Milk Snake is one of my favorite snakes in the world.

Eastern Milk Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Eastern Milk Snake: PC Tristan Schramer

Checkerboard Underbelly: PC Tristan Schramer

Heart shape on head: PC Tristan Schramer

We decided to head back to campus after we released the Milk Snake back under its rubber sheet. I had opened up my American Herp List with 6 species and I had 6 new ones to add to my Life List. All in all, it had been a very good herping trip and it left me craving more.