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On April 4th, I had planned to meet Mike
Cravens and Eitan Grunwald to look for Massasaugas. The day before the trip, I decided not to make the four hour drive to
meet them. I guess Plan B would have to do, and I went out for a day of local herping instead.
I started off the morning by finding a few frogs.
Western Chorus Frogs to be exact. There were many of them calling from
a small pool. Pseudacris
t. triseriata
I only expected to find amphibians, but it got to around 70, and the reptiles came out of hiding.
First, it
was this snapping turtle.
Right after the snapper, I found this Chicago Garter Snake, my first snake of the year.
Thamnophis sirtalis
semifaciata
At another spot down the road, I found three Northern Water Snakes. All were found basking on branches over the water.
Nerodia
s. sipedon
At the same spot, a saw a few of these Midland Painted Turtles.
While searching the area for herp life, I ran into another guy looking for herps. He had just caught the painted turtle pictured above, and was nice enough to let me
photograph it. Thanks, Doug!
At my last stop, I happened upon a Blanding's Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii.)
My camera was in my bag, and when I got close to it, it dove into the water, so I wasn't able to get a photo. Bummer! This
turtle is threatened in Illinois, and was a lifer for me.
So for the day, I saw:
3 Northern Water Snakes
2 Chicago Garter Snakes
1 Common Snapping Turtle
1 Blanding’s Turtle
And many of the following
Green Frogs
Western Chorus Frogs
Midland Painted Turtles
A great day for this time of year in
Northern Illinois. I am happy with my finds, but I really wish I could have gone to see a Massasauga.
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