5-17-08

Trip Details

Location: Linn County, Iowa

Conditions: 75 degrees, mostly sunny

Time: 1:00 pm

Herpers: Don Becker, Austin Scharosch, Jim Scharosch

Account by Jim Scharosch

Austin and I met up with Don for the first time this year. We headed out to a local spot that I like to hit once or twice a year. There is a lot of rock to work, and it is easier with a couple of people. We worked for quite a while before seeing anything. The first snake was a small racer, which Don missed as it took off from under the rock he turned.

A few rocks later, I found an adult Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum).

Photos by Jim Scharosch

It was very dark in coloration, and seemed like it was still awaiting it's first shed of the season.

Austin turned a large rock and found this yearling Racer (Coluber constrictor).

Photo by Austin Scharosch

It didn't want to cooperate for pictures.

We moved to a different part of the spot we were at, and I found a Fox Snake (Elaphe vulpina) on the crawl.

Photos by Jim Scharosch

I had to make a quick grab as it shot into a rock pile. It was a bit under three feet in length, and was pretty chunky. It was my first adult fox snake of the season, and I always like finding them.

Don made up for missing the first racer of the day by grabbing this on that was on the crawl in the rock pile. It was a pretty good snag.

Photo by Austin Scharosch

Soon Don turned another rock and pulled out the next fox snake of the trip, another adult, similar in size to the first.

Photos by Jim Scharosch

This one would not pose or sit still no matter what I tried to do.

Soon Austin found the final fox snake of the day, another nice adult.

Photos by Austin Scharosch

That was it for this spot. We were short on time, and we were going to call it a day, but we decided to make a quick swing through another spot of Don's that was fairly close by. I was glad we did. On the way there, we drove the gravel roads that I used to drive all the time when I lived in the area. I would point out, "Yeah, I found a fox snake here" or "Yeah, I found a bullsnake here" as we drove the familiar roads. I mentioned something like, "Iowa isn't exactly a roadcrusing state". Not a minute later I say "Snake in the road!!", and there was a Bullsnake (Pituophis catenifer sayi) laying on the gravel. Funny how things work sometimes.

Photos by Austin Scharosch

We moved on to Don's spot and worked it really quickly. I had been there before, but never gone back because I didn't think it was very good at the time. Going back now, it was quite a bit better than I had remembered. Don found a last year's baby milk snake that rounded out the trip.

Photos by Austin Scharosch

I had a good time herping with Don, hope we can get out again this year.