4-28-13

Trip Details

Weather: About 65 degrees. Sunny with low to moderate wind.

Time: 11:00 a.m.

Herpers: Jim Scharosch & Matt Ricklefs

Account by: Matt Ricklefs

As a disclaimer, this post contains an account of an Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus c. catenatus). Throughout its range in the midwest each population is critical and as such we are respecting this by providing no location information or specifics for the trip. Be assured the necessary people were contacted prior to us being in this known location and all pictures of these snakes were taken in situ, meaning we took pictures just as we found them. Thank you for understanding and enjoy this entry!

Our first spot was an Eastern Massasauga (Sistrurus c. catenatus) about 18 inches long hiding and soaking up the sun the best it could. Spoiler alert; this was the only one we saw this day. It seems, from what I have seen at least, that cooler cloudier days work better for them. But sometimes it's just the luck of the draw.

Photo by Jim Scharosch

Our next spot was a Blanding's Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) which we also just did a in situ shot as not to disturb it too much. This was a full grown adult. Once it saw us it kept on moseying along on its way. If ever a turtle can be described as "moseying" this is one of them.

Photos by Matt Ricklefs

I did take a couple of minutes to take a quick pic of a Red-Sided Garter Snake (Thamnophis s. parietalis). As you can see this one was about 15 inches long and didn't seem to mind soaking up a little heat on my hand.

Photo by Matt Ricklefs

We flipped a few boards and I got another in situ photo. This time of a Red- Bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata). This one was about 6 inches or so.

Photos by Matt Ricklefs

The last find of the day was a Plains Garter Snake (Thamnophis radix) about 12 inches long.

Photos by Matt Ricklefs

A quick trip overall, but a fairly nice selections of species.

Happy herping for 2013!