Dav turned up another Prairie King and Jeff found a feisty little Ornate Box Turtle.  This half-pint turtle tried to take a chunk out of anyone coming close to it. This one was out in the open; we had also found several Ornates hunkered down under large flat rocks. Back home we generally don't find our Eastern Boxies under rocks.

Photo by Tracey Mitchell.

Time to turn it around and head back.  We scared up a few Glass Lizards while crossing an old field, including the first juvenile I've ever seen.  All was quiet when we swung by the pond, the scene of so much activity the previous day.  A single adult Blotched Water Snake lazed among the surface vegetation.  It might have been the female from yesterday; at any rate, we left her to her own devices.

We headed for the rockpile that yielded yesterday's Timber Rattler.  The group fanned out and approached slowly, keeping our eyes peeled for any basking serpents.  Much of the rockpile was covered with bramble vines, which provided a layer of concealment for any critters. I was off to the left of the others, and I saw an adult horridus stretched out on a large concrete slab about the same time it saw me.  We managed to move it onto solid ground for further examination and some photos.  This was a medium-sized snake, a little over three feet.  Moving down the dorsum, the dark chevrons gradually reduced to faint crossbands near the tail.

We returned the snake to its dark crevice and headed back to the vehicles.  Unfortunately, Jim and Dav and Jeff were out of time and had to turn towards home.  We were all a bit disappointed; we had had a good time together, had herped well as a group.  We said our goodbyes and looked forward to having another herp adventure in the future.

And then there were five.  Now where do we go?  Cheyenne Bottoms in central Kansas was a place Steve and I had been  interested in visiting.  A good place for Massasaugas and for Steve, a great place for shore birds.  It was a bit of a drive, but the day was getting pretty hot, so travel time would not be wasted time.  We headed west...