What next? Our plan was to walk along one of the old logging ditches that cross parts of Mingo. These are good places for snakes, turtles and other herps. Driving there we came across a snake in the road - Cottonmouth! A nicely patterned young adult, and we got to play rescuer and scoot it off a road busy with some traffic, including a couple on bicycles. They had turned around when they reached the snake, the woman not wanting to get anywhere close to it. Thanks to us, they turned around and got back to their regular ride.

Not much further and another snake - this time a juvenile Racer, which we stopped and scooped up. We moved off the roadside to a rockpile to take some pictures. I swung a little wider than the other guys when heading to the rocks, and found an adult Racer, stretched out and quite still in a patch of bramble next to a fallen log. I snapped a couple shots before we grabbed it up, and now we had two Racers to pose and shoot. These two were Southern Black Racers, of the priapus subspecies, but the adult looked more like a Blue Racer or perhaps a Yellowbellied Racer from the eastern side of their range.

We arrived at a parking area and I decided to answer the call of nature before hiking down along the ditch. It's funny how many times I've seen herps while taking a leak in the woods, and this time was no exception - another moccasin, coiled and basking in the grass. I've always got my camera in a belt pack, so I grabbed a couple shots after finishing my business. This snake also sported some parasites on the roof of its mouth.

Walking along the ditch, I noticed there were no aquatic turtles out and about. Later in the year this waterway would be full of Southern Paints, Redears, and Mud and Musk Turtles. I was surprised, figuring that some turtles ought to be out basking, even in late March.

There was a rustle in the grass between Jim and I. and Jim reached down and yanked out a full-sized Southern Black Racer, who reacted in fairly typical Racer fashion by crapping, musking, and biting. It managed to catch a tooth or two on one of Jim's digits, and shredded a bit of skin. Rare is the racer photo without some trace of herper blood in it.

Nearby was a large Cottonmouth, basking in the afternoon sun and taking in the whole racer capture episode. When we released the racer back into the grass, it unexpectedly headed towards the moccasin, crawling right over it and moving on. This perked up the Cottonmouth, who lifted its head and did a lot of tongue-flicking, and then apparently decided against pursuit. It may have had a hard time swallowing a snake two feet longer than itself...