Snake Road
3 & 4 May 2014
On 2 May 2014, my son, Jack, and I
drove the 730 miles from Marquette, Michigan to Anna, Illinois. We spent the
next two days at Snake Road in the Shawnee National Forest, Union County,
Illinois. We were there to watch the snake migration,
one of the premiere wildlife viewing spectacles in North America. Here is a shot of the dramatic entrance to Snake
Road (north side). And here is Jack by the Snake
Road sign (south entrance). The crummiest winter on record was still holding on
here in the U.P., so we were happy to get down south and see some herps. And
even though southern Illinois suffered through an unusually cold winter as
well—and hence, the snake migration was slower than usual—Snake
Road did not disappoint. Over our two days of herping, we had nine species of
snake, including this dramatic encounter
between a Cottonmouth and a Black Rat Snake. Here
is a shot of another Cottonmouth that we had the next morning, and here is a shot
of a Cave Salamander just a few feet from the head of this Cottonmouth (hence,
I was a bit nervous about getting too close for a shot!). On our final evening
at Snake Road, we had this handsome, juvenile,
Cottonmouth. Just before sunset on our first day of herping, we had this Ringneck Snake and this Eastern Smooth Earthsnake. A bit after
sunset—hence, in rough light for photography—we were thrilled to
find this tiny Midland Brown Snake. We
found a total of four Northern Redbelly Snakes (the common snake in our yard
back in Marquette), including this interesting
individual with a red stripe down the center of its back. On Sunday
afternoon, we found this juvenile Northern
Water Snake. A fleeting glimpse of this speedy
Black Racer was our eighth snake. And our ninth, and final, snake was a
Yellow-bellied Water Snake, seen only by Jack. The only real disappointment of
the trip was that we missed a Speckled Kingsnake in the south entrance parking
lot by just a few minutes.
Eastern Fence Lizard is common along
Snake Road; here is a shot I made of
one on 3 May (without my telephoto lens). So is Zigzag Salamander—here is a shot of Jack holding one (to give
you a sense of their small size). Speaking of amphibians with tails, we also
had a number of Eastern Newts—here is a shot of
Jack holding one (again, to give you a sense of their small size). Not
surprisingly, we also had piles and piles of frogs and toads, so for the sake
of completeness, here
is a shot of a Gray Tree Frog (note the diagnostic yellow on the rear legs),
and here is a shot of a Southern
Leopard Frog.
On 5 May, Jack and I made the long
drive back to Marquette, after a remarkable trip to a remarkable place. We will
surely be back.
