A hatchling Snapping Turtle was found on the road, crossing towards the bluffs.  Where are you headed, lil' turkle?  One Redeared Slider observed basking out in the Scatters.  Redears seem to be the dominant slider here.  I can't recall seeing any Painted Turtles or Map Turtles.

After lunch at Winters Pond, we drove around to the other end of the Snake Road and took another hike. Along the way we found Longtailed Salamanders wedged into cracks in the bluff faces, along with Red Efts in the leaf litter.  At a wet place we located more Longtails and some Cave Salamanders.  The Longtails were also very plentiful along the base of the bluffs in the leaf litter.

We also found a juvenile Cottonmouth in an old firepit.  Nearby we found several Bird-Voiced Treefrogs, another Yellowbelly, and a single Dwarf American Toad.

Clambering up in the bluffs, Tracey and Jeremy located a number of Ringneck Snakes showing ventral patterns of the Prairie, Mississippi and Northern subspecies.  This is truly where Ringneck subspecies collide!  Tracey also found a neonate Rough Green Snake inside a rotting section of log.

More Cottonmouths as well, adults and juveniles, on the talus-littered slopes and up on the bluff ledges.

The light began to fade; dark clouds were rolling in, and the temperature began to drop.  It was time to end a very successful two-day trip.  We had found thirty six species in two days, and had missed a couple of the more plentiful species like the Green Tree Frog.

Species Observed:

Yellowbellied Water Snake Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster
Western Cottonmouth Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma
Rough Green Snake Opheodrys aestivus
Smooth Earth Snake Virginia valeriae
Ringneck Snakes Diadophis punctatus [edwardsi] [stictogenys] [arnyi]
Eastern Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina
Redeared Slider Trachemys scripta elegans
Fivelined Skinks Eumeces fasciatus
Northern Fence Lizard Sceloporus undulatus hyacinthinus
Ground Skink Scincella lateralis
Fowler's Toad Bufo woodhousii fowleri
Dwarf American Toad Bufo americanus charlesmithi
Bullfrog Rana catesbiana
Southern Leopard Frog Rana sphenocephala
Blanchard's Cricket Frog Acris crepitans blanchardi
Bird-Voiced Treefrog Hyla avivoca
Spring Peeper Pseudacris crucifer
Upland Chorus Frog Pseudacris triseriata feriarum
Longtailed Salamander Eurycea longicauda
Cave Salamander Eurycea lucifuga
Northern Slimy Salamander Plethodon glutinosus
Central Newt Notopthalmus viridescens louisianensis