4-26-12

Trip Details

Location: Linn County, Iowa

Weather: Clear skies and temps in the mid 60's. Low wind.

Time: 5:00 p.m.

Herpers: Jim Scharosch

Account by: Jim Scharosch

Photos by: Jim Scharosch

It was a short trip out tonight after work. I should have been home, writing music for band practice tomorrow, but it was supposed to get cold for the next couple of days so I blew off songwriting until the weekend. You gotta take advantage of the warm weather while you can. I wanted to get home early so I didn't spend a lot of time taking photos.

I got to an area that I have been visiting for more than twenty years. It's been a crazy warm spring, but I was still surprised at how tall the foliage is already. It looks like late May here, not late April.

Since I wanted to get home early, I went to the best part of the spot first. I worked for quite a while without seeing anything. I was beginning to wonder if the snakes new something I didn't. I was nearly done with the small ridge when I finally found a Fox Snake (Elaphe vulpina).

It was a bit over two feet long. A few feet later, I found another one, almost identical to the first in size.

This one was very dusty from it's life in the rocks. After releasing the snake back to it's hide, I finished out the rock line feeling better about the trip. As I walked back, I stopped to turn a couple more rocks that I had skipped on the way in, and under one rock I got a double. The rock concealed a juvenile fox snake and a Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum).

The milk snake was a very nice young adult. It was about eighteen inches long.

The fox snake was about sixteen inches long and fairly typical in appearance.

That was it, but it was pretty good for a quick stop and working about a quarter of the area. Colder weather is on the way, so signing off for a couple of days most likely...