The year started with an incredible day filled with lifers in extreme southern Florida. 4 EDBs and 1 Brooks Kingsnake were the highlights.
Everglades Racer by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Brooks Kingsnake, Miami-Dade County by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrHuge EDB, easily 5+ feet
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, in shed by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrFebruary was my first trip to the Canefields and turned up a gorgeous rat snake and a couple Florida Kings
Yellow Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
"County line King" by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Florida King by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrAnother hike in the Everglades yielded a very grey EDB
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, Miami-Dade County by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrI didn't do too much herping in March due to a course I was trying to finish up. But a morning trip to the Everglades yielded a Yellow Rat Snake, a huge Cottonmouth, and a gorgeous Corn Snake.
Yellow Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Cottonmouth Concentration by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Miami Phase by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Contrast by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrApril got off to a great start with my first real foray into the Devil's Garden of SW Florida. Things were looking up when two Yellow Rat Snakes were spotted on a dirt road within 30 minutes of getting there. But the real fun started after dark and we finished with a total of 20 snakes, a new personal best for me.
Yellow Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrLifer Mud Snake!
Eastern Mud Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Everglades Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Corn Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrTwo weeks later, we descended on the area again. We had found some photos of EDBs from the area and we wanted to see some for ourselves. Neither of us and seen one in those counties before. On our second pass down a dirt road, we were greeted by this incredible sight on the shoulder:
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrAfter the obligatory photoshoot, we took off down the road. We had almost reached the end and were so busy talking that we nearly missed this big beauty that was just barely sticking into the road:
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrSuper nice Devil's Garden Corn Snake and Anery Corn Snake from the end of April.
Corn Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Anery Corn Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrEarly May yielded both my lifer Eastern Coral Snake as well as my lifer Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake.
Eastern Coral Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Coral Snake, Okeechobee County by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Red-Shouldered Hawk eating Striped Crayfish Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrTwo more Corns from the Devil's Garden
Corn Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Anery Corn Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrA trip up to Ontario, Canada in June yielded my lifer Eastern Fox Snake plus three more in the same day.
Baby Eastern Fox Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Fox Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Fox Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Getaway by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrA pretty Eastern Garter Snake from my in-law's place in SE Michigan
Eastern Garter Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrWe returned to south Florida via Osceola National Forest. My search for Canebrake Rattlesnakes came up empty, but still turned up a couple cool snakes despite the weather.
Gray Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Corn Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrMy young brother-in-law who came back with us to south Florida said he wanted to see a rattlesnake in the wild, so we headed to the Everglades to see what we could see.
Yellow Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
American Crocodile by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Hybrid by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Florida Cottonmouth by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrJuly started with a bang.....a yearling EDB in the Devil's Garden. My third from that area, which is always a treat.
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Yellow Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrLess than a week later, I went with some friends down to extreme southern Florida, and within 10 minutes of getting to our first location, this chunky buzztail was just crawling off the road. I was getting spoiled......3 EDBs in just a couple of weeks!
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrThat same night, we got a Florida Cottonmouth and an Eastern Coral Snake, but missed the grand slam for lack of a pygmy. But I made up for it 48 hours later with my first Canefields Pygmy. So I'm calling it my 48 hour grand slam......that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
South Florida Grand Slam by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrThe rest of July was rather slow, but I did get to see some baby American Crocodiles
America Crocodile hatchling by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrAugust 1 began a herping trip that I'll never forget. You can read about it in my post that I put up in the forum around August 2 or 3. Needless to say, we got our target baby Burmese Python despite a flat tire in the middle of nowhere.
Yellow Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Burmese Python neonate by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrA Devil's Garden run to search for more EDBs later in the month missed my targets but still produced lots of common species. I ended up with 22 snakes for the night, breaking my previous personal best.
Corn Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Yellow Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrSeptember rolled around, and with it, Hurricane Hermine. Though it wasn't a hurricane when it went by south Florida, it dumped tons of rain and it got lots of snakes moving after. I hadn't been getting much in the way of target species in the month of August, so hopes were high for September 1. We saw several snakes before sunset and then the sun went down and the fun began. We were racking up numbers quick and I had already surpassed my previous record by 10:30pm. And then lightning struck.....Brooks King! And if that wasn't enough, lightning struck twice and we got a second Brooks King for the last snake of the night to finish with a total of 31.
Brooks Kingsnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Brooks Kingsnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Florida Scarlet Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Florida Cottonmouth by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrThe next night, I went back with another friend and got a Burmese Python and a gorgeous Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake.....still the nicest I've seen! 14 snakes on September 2 made for 45 in two days.
Burmese Python by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrA couple weeks later, we tried again for diamondbacks and were rewarded with this adrenaline-pumping sight crawling onto the road.
Sunset Diamondback by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrThe month was more than half over, and things had been going really well, but one of my top targets was still eluding me: the Scarlet Kingsnake. Thankfully, a trip to south central Florida produced a Rough Green Snake and this stunning redhead.
Rough Green Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Scarlet Kingsnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrA trip up to north Florida at the end of September to target Canebrake Rattlesnakes came up miserably empty, but we did manage to turn up this beauty. An Anery Eastern Mud Snake!
Anery Mud Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Anery Mud Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrA brief trip to the Canefields the night before Hurricane Matthew yielded a gorgeous Mud Snake and a big Pygmy Rattlesnake.
Eastern Mud Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrAfter the hurricane passed by, I took off to the Everglades with a buddy of mine.......things started out really slow before sunset, though we did turn up my first neonate EDB. Things started to pick up after sunset, and then got really interesting when a 7 foot snake turned up in my headlights. And not an hour and a half later, two more Burms!
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Burmese Python by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Burmese Python by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrA week later, I turned up a gorgeous little neonate EDB on a road through a mangrove forest.
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrLess than two days later, I went with a buddy to hunt Florida Pine Snakes. The location was great, the weather was perfect, everything was lining up........only no snakes were moving. We cruised for a painfully long time and then decided to finish the day at another location in central FL where we could probably at least find snakes of some kind. We got there and cruised a pygmy within 15 minutes. And then, on the way up a paved road to get to some dirt roads, we passed a snake, slammed on the brakes, sprinted back, and stood in awe of my first Florida Pine Snake!
Florida Pine Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Florida Pine Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrNovember was mostly a bust for herping......every time I went out, I was coming up empty. But a warm evening at the end of November proved successful and yielded 18 snakes.....the exact number I needed to achieve my goal of 400 snakes for the year!
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrA brief foray to the Canefields yielded this tiny Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake basking on a log next to a canal under completely cloudy skies......and it was only 63F and really windy!
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrI was planning to head to the frigid north for the holidays to visit family, but I had one more chance to herp before leaving. The evening wasn't that warm, but herping is better than not herping, right? I drove down a Canefields road that I reached after dark, wondering if I would see anything at all. But then the shadowy form of a snake appeared in the headlights and I could see that it started to turn around and get off the road. I slammed on the brakes, threw the car in park and sprinted back as fast as I could. Thankfully, it wasn't moving fast and I reached it and smiled with delight.......a Florida Kingsnake! Basically the best thing you can find on that road and it was the only snake I saw that night.
Florida Kingsnake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr
Florida Kingsnake by Daniel Wakefield, on FlickrIt was a great end to the best year of field herping I've ever had. 404 live snakes later, I feel incredibly blessed to see so many of these magnificent creatures in the field. Here's to many more years and finds!
