Our next few stops offered many opportunities in the way of metal and wood objects to lift and look under, but none produced more than the usual scattering of Racerunners. We stopped to examine a DOR Eastern Milk Snake, a fairly nice looking adult.

At what proved to be our last stop of the day, Jim turned up our third Bullsnake of the day, under a piece of white house wrap, of all things.  All four had been good-sized, healthy serpents, with this last one well over four feet in length.

I had other commitments later in the day and it was time for me to head for home. Just as well, for the metal was now hot to the touch. I bid farewell to the Scharoschs and took my leave for today - I would be coming back up the next morning and we would have another crack at the sand prairies.

On Sunday morning I repeated my journey, and this time Tracey Mitchell came with me. Once again I drove to the campground, where Jim and Laura and Austin had broken camp and were ready to herp again before heading for home.

Once again, Racerunners were part of the landscape as we made our first stop. The fields were covered with yellow, orange and blue flowers, pretty in the early morning light. I stopped at a piece of corrugated roofing where I had flipped a nice female Bullie last May - would lightning strike twice?  Yep - there was another one, and quite possibly the same one I had found last year. There is something comforting about finding the same snake on another visit; aside from a sense of continuity, it makes you think the snakes are doing just fine.

Tracey turned up another small Glass Lizard nearby, and that was it for this stop. We moved on from place to place, visiting a number of the same sites from yesterday, but not finding much.  When we stopped at a small junk pile, Austin walked up a Blue Racer, hot and ready to streak away. He stayed with the snake as it weaved back and forth, and it finally ducked under a large plastic tarp, and the five of us managed to pluck it from there. A nice piece of work by Austin. While looking at the snake he spotted something wiggling on the ground, and got hands on another small Glass Lizard.  Three juvenile Ophisaurus on the trip, but no adults to be seen.

And that was it, I'm sorry to say. We visited more sites, but by 1130 our tin window was gone, and we came up empty-handed. It was time for Jim, Laura and Austin to head for home, so we made our goodbyes until our next time in the field. It would have been better to visit the sand prairies a month earlier, but you go when you have the opportunity, and it was a pretty good weekend as a whole.

Species Observed:

Bullsnake (Pituophis melanoleucus sayi)
Blue Racer (Coluber constrictor foxi)
Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis)
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis t. triangulum) DOR
Prairie Racerunner (Aspidoceles sexlineatus viridis)
Western Slender Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus a. attenuatus)
American Toad (Bufo americanus)
Bullfrog (Rana catesbiana)