Snake Road, 2003


Spring Peeper.


Upland Chorus Frog.


Yellowtail.


Southern Leopard Frog.


Five-Lined Skink.


Fun with flavigaster!

Place and Time:  Snake Road, southern Illinois.  September 27th, 2003. 

Weather Conditions: Morning after a heavy rain, temps in the upper 50s and sunny.  Increasing clouds later on in the afternoon with temps in the upper seventies; winds out of the northeast.

Others present:  Rick Milas, Ken Felsman, Steve Coogan, Jeremy Schumacher, Doug Mills, Glen & Stacey Davis, Tracey Mitchell, Christopher Mitchell, Ryan Thies, Rich Thies.

Minimal narrative from my field notebook for this trip.

While breaking camp in the Trail of Tears State Forest, we managed to run across a Spring Peeper, an Upland Chorus Frog, and several Fowler's Toads.  Not a bad way to start off the day!

Arriving at the Snake Road, our first herps were the ever-present Southern Leopard frogs, and Blanchard's Cricket Frogs.

A Smooth Earth Snake was spotted crossing the road.

A number of Red Efts were found under logs and rocks alongside the road.

Several Slimy Salamanders were found under debris.

A Bullfrog sighted in the narrow pools along the bluff face just north of the spring.

At least two dozen Cottonmouths were seen this day, along the road or up in the rock ledges.  There were large numbers of juveniles observed, more than usual.  One two-footer was severely emaciated and did not look like it would survive much longer.

Glen, Stacey and Steve discovered a nice Rough Green Snake just south of the cypress trail.  A stump of a tail left on the snake.

Eastern Garter Snake on the road; we would see more later on, up in the bluffs and along the roadside.

A number of Fivelined Skinks in the roadside debris.

Christopher managed to turn up a Northern Fence Lizard, common up in the bluffs but only an occasional find on the road.

A young adult Yellowbelly Water Snake was discovered in the roadside vegetation near the spring.  Several more were spotted swimming in the water at Winters Pond while we were eating lunch.

 

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