Early evening was coming on fast before we finally found our first roadside moc, a good-sized adult in a small pool at the base of a steep slope.  Of course, there was much speculation as to the serpent's manner of arrival - Dignified Crawling Descent or the Moccasin Flop?  We took photos and video as best we could in the fading light.  I think the guys were really enjoying finding these moccasins - they're rather hard to come by up in Iowa and Minnesota, despite any local yokel's protest to the otherwise.  I mean, you have to water-ski to find the really big nests of Cottonmouths...

We let this big trapjaw finish crossing the road to spend its first night in the swamp.  It's always great to watch cottonmouths swim.  Slow and graceful they are, with their heads held out of the water as they undulate across the water.  They are the kings of the swamp, for sure.

Darkness falls.  One of the guys found a small Grey Treefrog  (Hyla versicolor) in the roadside vegetation.  Probably a tadpole last summer, this one. I call them versicolor, since that's what we hear calling down here - I can't recall hearing chrysocelis in this area.  A little further on and we snagged another small frog hopping across the road, this one proving to be a Bird-Voiced Treefrog (Hyla avivoca), little jewel of the Shawnee swamps.  This little frog was a nice tan color - the first avivoca I've seen down here without a green back.

Now it was too dark to continue, and somewhere somebody was cooking us dinner.  Maybe we could rustle up some Chinese food and a TsingTao or two.  Time to turn around and head back to civilization.  One more hopper on the road to give us another herp for the day - another avivoca.  This one was 'the regular kind' with a green dorsal color.  Either way they are beautiful frogs.

We could hear the single note peep of a Bird-Voiced or two as we walked back to the truck in the gloaming.  Not the best day possible, but not a bad one all the same, with tomorrow's herping just forty winks away...

First Day Results

ZigZag Salamanders (Plethodon dorsalis)
Bullfrog (Rana catesbiana)
Blanchard's Cricket Frog (Acris crepitans blanchardi)
Yellowbelly Water Snake (Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster)
Midwest Worm Snake (Carphophis amoenus helenae)
Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus)
Longtail Salamanders (Eurycea longicauda longicauda)
Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculata)
Southern Leopard Frog (Rana sphenocephala)
Southern Black Racer (Coluber constrictor priapus)
Northern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus hyacinthinus)
Western Ribbon Snakes (Thamnophis proximus proximus)
Western Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma)
Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga)
Grey Treefrog (Hyla versicolor)
Bird-Voiced Treefrog (Hyla avivoca)

Some Cool Birds:

Tufted Titmice
Pileated Woodpeckers
Wood Ducks
Cerulean Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Barred Owls (heard)