Background:
A herper from North Carolina named Thomas was in Illinois and wanted to see the herpetofauna of the state. A group of us met him at the Kankakee Sands to show him some snakes. Tristan and I had been to this spot a few times before and knew the area pretty well. We met some old friends: Conner, Culton, Matt and a few of Matt's coworkers, who would also look for herps with us.
The Trip:
By the time we pulled up, the herping had already begun and they had found a large Eastern Milk Snake under a wooden board. After introductions, most of us went to look for more snakes while others stayed to photograph the Milk Snake. In the next stretch, we found plenty of Gray Treefrogs and a few Fowler's Toads. Tristan found a Chorus Frog, a species that was pretty rare in these parts.
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| Eastern Milk Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Gray Treefrog: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Western Chorus Frog: PC Tristan Schramer |
Conner and one of Matt's coworkers each found Blue Racers under boards. Conner caught his while the other escaped into some thorny bushes. It was a beautiful specimen about 4 foot in length.
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| Blue Racer: PC Tristan Schramer |
The next snake found was a 4.5 foot Bull Snake by Thomas. It was his first Bull Snake so he was pretty excited. Some others found a few Garter Snakes and a Brown Snake, species that were extremely common elsewhere but pretty rare in the Kankakee Sands.
While we were walking through the sand prairie, I saw the tail of a Glass Lizard zip between some bushes. I tried to locate the animal but it was long gone. While everyone was searching the area for the Glass Lizard, Matt found an Ornate Box Turtle. This was the highlight of the trip because Ornate Box Turtles are extremely hard to find and are even listed as a Threatened Species in Illinois. Tristan had seen every Kankakee Sands species except for the Ornate Box Turtle so when he found out, he was ecstatic.
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| Ornate Box Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Ornate Box Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Ornate Box Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Ornate Box Turtle: PC Tristan Schramer |
Tristan and a few others stopped to photograph the turtle while I pressed on with a few others. We didn't find much else so we decided to move to another spot: a trailer nearby that had some tin and boards near it. There we found another Milk Snake and a Racerunner. Some of the other guys had never seen a Racerunner before but I had seen plenty.
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| Eastern Milk Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
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| Six-lined Racerunner: PC Tristan Schramer |
Next we went to another spot: some disused railway tracks that were know to harbor Fox Snakes. On the way from the car to the tracks, I saw several dead Leopard Frogs and hatchling Snapping Turtles on the road. I had never seen a live Snapping Turtle so I looked in the area but didn't find anything. We got to the tracks and started flipping old ties, rocks and logs. I lifted a rock that was half buried in the ground and found 3 hatching Fox Snakes. Each was a little over 6 inches long and they had very calm temperaments. While everyone was passing around and inspecting the snakes, I lifted the another rock next to the previous one and found 2 more baby Fox Snakes. I had found a nest of baby Fox Snakes!
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| Hatchling Fox Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
Meanwhile, Thomas found a Northern Water Snake under a log. It was an average sized male and had the average temperament of a water snake: nasty. Matt and his coworkers found a 2 more Northern Water Snakes and 3 more baby Fox Snakes in a rock pile. We photographed the snakes and released them. Soon, Matt yelled for someone to help him. He had a huge Northern Water Snake by the tail but the majority of its body was tangled in a clump of plants. I ran over and located the snake's head. With one motion, I grabbed its neck before it could bite me, which it was desperately trying to do. I pulled it out of the plants and handed the snake to Matt. It was a 4.5 foot female.
On the way back, someone saw another Garter Snake disappear into a hole under the rails. We tried to locate it but we couldn't.
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| Northern Water Snake: PC Tristan Schramer |
Trips to Kankakee are always fun but this one was even better because we got to see the Ornate Box Turtle, a beautiful rare species that nobody in our group had seen before.
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