5-14-10
Trip Details
Start Time: 10:40 a.m.
Weather: Sunny with low winds. High of 71 degrees.
Location: Lincoln, Russell, Ellis and Rooks Counties, Kansas
Herpers: Jim Scharosch & Matt Ricklefs
Account by: Matt Ricklefs
Photos by: Jim Scharosch & Matt Ricklefs
Thought of the Day: Misty Morning Hop
After a fairly good night sleep I awoke early. We camped by a lake and the mist that surrounded us was beautiful so I got some neat shots from our campsite.
Photos by Matt Ricklefs
Unfortunately the heaviness of the moisture left a drenching dew on our tents and made tear down a little miserable since the tents were soaking. We did however have a hearty breakfast, the weather was nice and we were ready to go.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
On the second of many hillsides we herped we found a Speckled King Snake (Lampropeltis getula holbrooki).
Photos by Jim Scharosch
This was a nice little one about twelve inches that gave us some pretty nice poses.
Our next find was a juvenile Central Plains Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum gentilis), but being in shed we just took a quick "in hand" picture.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
The next milk was about the same size but out of shed and very pretty.
Photo by Jim Scharosch
Then we found a third small milk.
Photo by Jim Scharosch
This was the last find at this location so we moved out to another.
I got a picture of a bird on some barbwire that caught my interest.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
The next find was a Red-sided Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) that was fairly nice so I got a picture. It was about fifteen inches long.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
Our next find was a very nice milk about twenty-two inches long and had some really nice color. It also posed fairly well for us.
Photos by Jim Scharosch
Photos by Matt Ricklefs
I turned one rock and found a nice surprise, four in fact. They were Great Plains Narrowmouth Toads (Gastrophryne olivacea).
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
They were the first of a few we found this trip. Getting them to sit can be tricky at times. Getting four to sit is about impossible; a fair effort was made however. Amphibians are animals that when you put them back it is good to "pay back the water debt" as Mike Pingleton says. What this means is that an object that an animal is under usually has a "seal" that keeps the moisture in. When you turn the rock it opens that seal and it is a nice thing to put some moisture back after you put the rock back and let the animal go back under. This is mostly true for amphibians because of the nature of the beast. You may not always have water, but when you do it is a good repay especially for a nice find. These little toads are very cool and pretty comical. They can jump quickly and far, even though their appearance lulls you for a moment into thinking otherwise.
Our next find was another Speckled King Snake a little bigger than the first. This one was a little closer to sixteen inches.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
The next score was a quadruple of milks under one rock found by Jim. They varied in size from the smallest being about nine inches to the largest being about fifteen inches. For photos we decided to divide and conquer, him taking two and myself taking two.
Milk number 1 of 4
Photos by Jim Scharosch
Milk number 2 of 4
Photo by Jim Scharosch
Milk number 3 of 4
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
Milk number 4 of 4
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
Milk numbers 3 and 4 together
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
Our next find was another very pretty milk.
Photo by Jim Scharosch
Next up-yes, another milk. We had a bone to pick with this one however-ha ha ha.
Photo by Jim Scharosch
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
Our next find-not a milk. It was at another location that we went to that had some junk. It ended up being our first Great Plains Rat Snake (Elaphe guttata emoryi) of the trip.
Photos by Jim Scharosch
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
This one was actually fairly stunning as it had good color and had just shed recently. We did take some time to get some good shots of this one.
Our next find was another Great Plains Narrowmouth Toad and since it was easier to wrangle just one, I did get a few better shots.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
En route to our next location we did spot a familiar "bump" on the road and found our first Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata) of the trip.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
After a quick picture and getting it off the road in the direction it was heading we moved on.
Next was ANOTHER milk. I know you did not expect that. This one was in shed and grungy so we took a quick "in hand" shot.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
However, on the next find I managed to scare up a milk (ha ha, got ya!).
Photos by Matt Ricklefs
This one was very nice looking and what I usually think of as the "classic gentilis" look. We got some nice shots of this one.
Jim did actually find something different next and another first find on the trip, a Western Slender Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus a. attenuatus).
Photos by Matt Ricklefs
The first shot is in situ and then we got some other shots after as this one posed amazing well for a glass lizard. Jim even got to ham it up a bit.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
We moved on to a new location.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
Our next find was another Great Plains Rat Snake, this one a juvenile in shed.
Photo by Matt Ricklefs
Soon after that we found another juvenile Great Plains Rat Snake.
Photo by Jim Scharosch
This was a unique situation as we found this one actually shedding. It had the head shed off already, but not the rest. Not a common find.
That was all for the second day of our Kansas trip. We actually took some time to set up camp before venturing back for some early evening road cruising (with no finds) in an effort to have the tents dry out. This did work out pretty well too. After a stop at Pizza Hut, we headed in for the night.
Not only did we have a day of happy herping, we had a night of happy camping since our tents were dry.
