5-14-16

Trip Details

Location: Delaware County, IA

Weather: Cloudy, windy, high of 55 degrees

Time: 2:00 p.m.

Herpers: Don Becker, Jim Scharosch

Account by: Jim Scharosch

Photos by: Jim Scharosch

Don and I were out taking care of a few herp-related things at some local county properties and finished up a little earlier than expected. The weather was cool and the wind was blowing. We had experienced a couple of days of cold weather in the days leading up to today. I have seen plenty of days like this over the years, and I knew that milk snakes were still in play despite (or maybe because of) the chilly weather.

We decided to head to a spot in Delaware County that I like to visit at least once a year. I had been meaning to get there already this spring but it had not worked out until today. On the drive in we found a large fresh-killed milk snake on the road, so we knew they were moving around. We got to the spot and ended up finding five Milk Snakes (Lampropeltis triangulum) in the span of about thirty minutes.

These two were under the same rock. It was a cool contrast to see the variation between the two snakes.

Another shot of the lighter colored one. For some reason I didn't take another pic of the darker one.

Another milk

This one had very dark distinct black borders on the saddles. The side blotches were also very dark.

The last milk was a dark "chocolate" milk that we often find in Iowa. It was a bit over two feet long.

We found a variety of colors and sizes, from a last year's hatchling to a large adult. I hadn't planned on herping today so I didn't bring my camera. Thus all photos are cell phone shots.

It was a fun stop off and a nice way to end the day.