After returning from Appalachia and Illinois, I settled back into the work and home routine for a few weeks but decided to try my hand at a Broad-banded Copperhead, the only venomous snake indigenous to Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, or Arkansas I still had to see, one sweltering night in late May. About two hours into Kansas in some surprisingly hilly, almost Southern Ohio-esque terrain, I got my quarry on an after-work twilight cruise:
Broad-banded Copperhead, Southern Flint Hills, Kansas
About a week later, my girlfriend and I headed out to the prairies on the western fringe of Missouri for some road cruising and then Mexican food and a tour of the town where I work. The morning was not stellar, but it wasn't slow either:
Prairie Kingsnake, Barton County, MO
Common Snapping Turtle, Barton County, MO
As always at this site, there were several racers crossing the road that I failed to catch because they were too fast, and on the way back to town for Mexican, we found this heartbreaker DOR Blotched Water:
I still have yet to see one of these AOR or alive in general in Western MO, but this is now my third DOR. But, it's hard to complain when you have just seen a Prairie Kingsnake and the next thing on the agenda is an authentic Mexican buffet....
In June, a friend of mine from church who had been curious about my crazy hobby for months got a chance to go with me on a one-overnight snake hunt to the Red Hills of west-central Kansas and the surrounding plains, one of my new favorite spots in the US since moving out here to SW MO. It was an absolute blast. We are both old country fans, and discovered that west of the dry line, Marty Robbins is good snake luck. We found 8 glass lizards and a Massasauga despite the falling temps (it was about 75) listening to him while cruising one of my favorite US cruising roads:
Western Massasauga, Red Hills, Kansas
Western Slender Glass Lizard, Red Hills, Kansas
On the ride to the motel, we saw a Diamondback Watersnake crossing the road and turned around to photograph it in the grass. What a cantankerous son of a gun!! Getting this big boy to sit still was a photographic nightmare.
Diamondback Watersnake, Kansas
The next morning, we did a cruise through some very strange marsh habitat nestled in the middle of the wheat and soy farms that completely envelop this part of central Kansas. Things started very slowly after an early morning breakfast at a tiny rural diner where, somehow, a large omelet was still $5 and everyone knew everyone. In retrospect, we could have slept in another hour, because we didn't see anything between 7:30 and 8:30. I was worried I had gotten us up early for nothing and that, while the birds and marsh at this site were nice, my friend would bag nothing but a Nerodia and a single Massasauga for coming all the way to the dead-center of Kansas. Wrong.
As the sun peeked out of the clouds just before 9am, thing started cooking. It started with a pair of Plains Gartersnakes that got off the road on us. Then, just past 9am, we saw our first Yellow Mud Turtle, a lifer for me and the main target of the trip! These are such cute little turtles, and so distinctive from their more drab-colored relatives in the Southeast. We saw five within about 20 minutes crossing the gravel, but this was the best shot:
Yellow Mud Turtle, Central Kansas
Between mud turtles, I spotted something shiny and glossy in the weeds at roadside? Could it be? MASSIVE Bullsnake! Now THIS is what Kansas herping is all about:
Bullsnake, Central Kanas
True to form, we got a specimen that hissed, shook his tail, and lunged a few times at the camera, following me with his head. My friend compared it to a "turret on a tank," and I like the comparison. These snakes are so burly and fiesty yet harmless--possibly my favorite nonvenomous snake in the four states area (MO, KS, OK, AR). We would see another one about a half hour later laid out in the middle of the road, and similarly nonplussed to be disturbed.
At about 10:15am, the Ornate Box Turtles all decided to wake up and move about. We saw four within thirty minutes or so:
Ornate Box Turtle, Central Kansas
I was already elated with the day, but Kansas had one more parting gift for me: a Yellow-bellied Racer. Though I drove past it by a few feet, this racer miraculously decided not to move until it was too late and I was right on top of it, incurring some gravel scrapes while lunging to make sure it didn't get away. The specimens in Kansas are also more vibrant than the ones back home in Missouri:
Eastern Yellow-bellied Racer, Central Kansas
With that, as the temps crossed 90, we headed for the town of Hutchinson, where I temporarily pranked Chloe by telling her I had been hospitalized for snakebite (and then immediately retracted it) from a Taco Bell and we shot a round of disc golf amidst along the Arkansas River, although the windy conditions made play difficult. Speaking of disc golf, somehow, a video a few weeks later of this watersnake from a Missouri disc golf course became one of my most-viewed videos ever on YouTube. Beats me....
Midland Watersnake, SW Missouri
Well, that was the summer here in the Midwest, and with that, I focused on gearing up for the fourth annual foray to the great wide open of Arizona. Stay tuned for that post. Happy herping!
Jefferson