Just got back from La Rue Pine Hills

came home from four days in the shawnee national forest, saw over 30 different species of reptile and amphibian, with overall counts of herps stopped for in the hundreds. At some point on the first day I started to ignore the cricket frogs, skinks, leopard frogs, and the other ubiquitous critters running around. the second day I started to ignore the YOY (young of the year) cottonmouths, which are the most abundent snake on La Rue Pine Hills, affectionately known as "snake road." The La Rue conservation area is the northern-most cypress swamp in the USA, and is located at the extreme southern tip of Illinois. It's a 5-6 hour drive from chicago, but so worth it that I go twice a year if money permits.

Cottonmouth (Adult) Agkistrodon Piscivorous Leucostoma

http://www.sushigaijin.com/images/ph...onportrait.jpg

Although I have only looked through my photos once, It looks like I scored pretty well with only one disappointing set that suffers from a little motion blur. To make matters worse, that particular set is of the snake that I most wanted to see, the timber rattlesnake Crotalus Horridus. Fortunately the portraits came out fine.

http://www.sushigaijin.com/images/ph...erportrait.jpg

This is just a start, be ready for the deluge as I get them sorted, edited, and uploaded.

Erik.

SCORE on that timber rattler! They are always great to see, though I have seen only a few myself.

i agree on the timber, i've only ever seen 2, and they were on the same hike :-)


very nice pics. hoping i can get that close to some snakes this up comming summer, since i didn;t get many this summer.