Spring herping.

[Sushigaijin]

I haven't had a lot of time for posting recently, or photography, actually. I'm about a month out of opening a restaurant so time and relaxation are at a premium. I did, however, reach a breaking point at mid-april when I absolutely had no other choice than to get out in the field and shoot. I took a long weekend down in southern Illinois, roughly 45 miles south of Carbondale, watching the annual snake migration. Many herps were seen (despite bad weather) and of course, many photos were taken. I hope you enjoy!

Toad.



Green tree frog.



Cricket frog



black rat snake.



cottonmouth.



Prarie kingsnake



Copperhead. Shot with my 50-200 f/2.8-3.5 and a 25mm tube. This is a great combination for "hot" snakes, spooky herps and close-ups when flash is required because the working distance is much larger than with my 50/2 macro. The tube gives the subject nice isolation too. Tubes and a close-focusing, high quality telezoom are now officially standard equipment for me on herping trips despite the weight difference of a pound over my macro. Of course, the macro will still be strapped on most of the time :thumbsup:



Two more with the 50-200, these with (wireless) flash in complete darkness.





green snake



and last, but not least, a life-list animal for me (and a good find for Illinois), eastern ribbon snake.



and many more...we saw 36 species of herp and a bunch of other cool critters including a bobcat (too slow on the draw:mad2: ).

Now if the weather would do anything except be cold and rainy, maybe I might find a snake or two in may (usually the best month of the year, other than september)...

[Loupey]

Nice shots!

I'm glad you were able to get down there. Hard to pick a favorite in this bunch but if I had to, it would be the black rat snake for its dramatic posture.

[Dylan8i]

nice shots, glad you got out to shoot some. i haven't found much this spring. I like the second complete darkness tree frog one.

[paulnj]

AWESOME Erik! I love your herp posts.