Graduation Trip: Day 4
Johnson County, IL
Monday 12 June 2023
80 °F
TUESDAY, MAY 23:
My last full day in southern Illinois consisted of: you guessed it! More birds and herps! Let’s get right to it:
Started the day off with Tony hiking Wildcat Bluff where we filmed a short segment overlooking the Cache River swamp. The preserve has a small hill prairie that overlooks the swamp:
And of course, we climbed down to herp the swamp below:
One of the many herpetological highlights Wildcat Bluff has to offer is salamanders, and here we have a yearling Marbled Salamander, my F.O.Y. which hadn’t yet developed its thick silvery bands. They have this awkward blotchy appearance (reminiscent of Slimy Sals) during their first year (this specimen matured to its terrestrial form last fall).
And here’s a Northern Slimy Salamander for comparison:
We also flipped this gorgeous Cave Salamander:
And I found this Long-tailed Salamander, one of only a few Tony has ever found here! (Oddly enough, I found another here when I visited in 2020!)
Box Turtles abounded, such as this female:
And the more vibrant male:
Most interesting, though, was this hatchling which Tony spotted — the first wither of us have ever seen out on the crawl! Seeing a young example of this species is always a sure sign of a healthy environment. Amazing!!!
Convict Caterpillars! Fitting name, right?
Midwestern Wormsnake:
And another fossorial species, the Ring-necked Snake:
When we got to Tony’s place, I spotted my LIFER Luna Moth just chilling on his front porch out in the open like this! What?!?! A species I’d been wanting to see forever — so cool!!!
Tony told me that Luna Moths, like Monarchs, have two generations per year. This individual hatched last fall as a caterpillar, but unlike the migratory Monarchs, it spent the winter in a cacoon, and now has emerged in adult form! This can be told by the maroon leading edge of its wings, as opposed to the golden edge found on second-generation individuals hatched later in the summer.
Close-up on the large, leaf-like antennae found on male Lunas:
Size reference!
How cool! A bit of birding around his property yielded this late SWAINSON’S THRUSH:
After a chill early afternoon, I headed out to Mermet Lake for a third time to try for Diamondback Watersnake. Again, Midland Watersnakes proved…common! With 21 found.
And soon, I found my lifer Diamondback Watersnake but to my extreme annoyance, it disappeared underwater as soon as I pivoted in the driver’s seat of the car to get a photo of it. argh!!!!
A periscoping Common Snapping Turtle:
Common Five-lined Skink:
Then, a second Diamondback Watersnake appeared in the water next to the car so I very slowwwly pointed my camera in its direction and got some decent shots!!! Awesome!!! So glad to get photos after missing this species the two previous days.
Note the different, more staggered patterning than the Midland Watersnakes pictured earlier:
And here, you can compare the two species (Diamondback and Common/Midland) side-by-side!
Unfortunately, I went for the catch and fumbled it by the tail so I simply settled for these photos and headed back to Tony’s. There, an EASTERN BLUEBIRD greeted me:
And this Blanchard’s Cricket Frog!
A beautiful pastoral scene to wrap up the evening:
Along with an Eastern Newt:
And this Red-eared Slider that wasn’t thrilled to be rescued from being run over on a country road!
Bird-of-the-day to the late Swainson’s Thrush with runner-up to a heard-only Blue Grosbeak on Tony’s property. Honorable mention to my two stellar non-bird lifers today: Luna Moth and Diamondback Watersnake! An awesome day in the field!
Good birding and herping,
Henry
World Life List: 1151 Species
Your wildflower is Spigelia Marilandica. Very striking!
by liz cifani