3-11-16

Trip Details

Location: Benton County, Iowa

Weather: 60 degrees. Sunny, light winds.

Time: 5:00 p.m.

Herpers: Jim Scharosch

If not for my earlier trip with Don this year, this would have been the earliest snake post from Iowa since we started herpjournal. I went out to my normal season opening spot for a quick after work stop. It doesn't have the greatest sun exposure and this time of the day it is shaded, but I thought it was worth a shot.

It didn't take long to find this Brown Snake (Storeia dekayii) under a large rock.

It was tiny and very dirty from spending the winter underground.

A bit later I turned a rock that held another brown snake and this Eastern Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis).

It was about 10 inches long and very cold and cranky.

Not much to report, but it was cool seeing stuff out this early in the year.