4-14-06

Austin and I decided to hit a couple of local spots after I got out of work and he got out of school. I have to keep my account brief, I have a lot of stuff to get done before the marathon Kansas and Kentucky trips this year. Temperatures have been warming up nicely over the last few days, and we thought it might get some things moving. First we went to an old railroad bridge that had been demolished many years ago. It used to span a creek near where we live, but now is only a few concrete pillars. For the last few years, every time I have driven past this spot I have wondered if the cracks in these pillars acted as hibernacula for the snakes in the area. We checked them out and saw one yearling garter snake poking its head out of a crack. That was all we saw there.

On our way to the next spot we found a small junk site and stopped to flip some stuff. We turned up a young garter snake, but didn't stop to photograph it. The spot may be worth checking later in the year.

We then stopped at a small milk snake den site where we found quite a few snakes last year, but didn't turn anything up.

We then went to a local quarry and flipped a bunch of rock. I commented to Austin that this was good practice for my upcoming trip to Kansas. After a while, I flipped a nice twenty-four inch long Racer (Coluber constrictor).

It had a nice blueish color on top, and a pretty white ventral color. The only yellow color was right around the underside of the neck.