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Every spring and fall I try to make it down to the Shawnee National Forest in the extreme south of Illinois to watch the snake migrations. This year was no exception.
The most popular herping area is a stretch of gravel road, roughly two miles, that the snake must move across to get from their hibernacula to the habitat they live in during the summer. I did spend a day walking this road and the adjacent bluffs, but the full moon and a cold front pushed most of the snakes under cover where they were inaccessible. Areas in the surrounding habitat was much more productive, and I came away with roughly 30 species of reptile and amphibian seen.
I wasn't feeling particularly inspired in the photography area, but I did shoot a handful of the critters we found.
Rattlesnakes were the most common find. We saw four.
in habitat
a different snake
in habitat
yet another. This one was just a baby, maybe a year or two old. Notice the last rattle segment is still the "button" that they are born with. This normally breaks off within a few years because the snake grows another rattle segment with each shed. If rattles didn't break off regularly, old rattlesnakes might have rattles thirty or forty links long.
under roofing tin, as found.
The final rattlesnake.
size reference. The snake hook is 40 inches long, I think.
rough green snake from snake road.
as found.
bird voiced treefrog
eastern box turtle
grey tree frog
shawnee kingsnake, lampropeltis getula holbrooki X nigra
Hope you enjoyed the critters from this year!
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Originally Posted by paulnj
