It was cold today in Chicagoland, the high was around 50. I had to drop my girlfriend off at work at 10am so I figured why not go for a drive. Most of my drives wind up taking me to Kankakee County. Even though it was cold I figured I'd try anyways, after all i have a pprogram coming up in a couple weeks and need to fill in some gaps.

I got off a few exits earlier than I usually do because the clouds were still hanging overhead and I figured I'd meander through farmland and look for abandoned houses. Within a few minutes I slammed on my brakes to check out a clearing behind a Medical building that seemed perfect. It reminded me of the place in Effinham County where I found the Black King and Midland Water Snake I suppose. A small stream flowed behind a grassy opening.

As I stepped out of the car, my friend called me on my cell. As I talked to him, I flipped the first thing I saw, an old carpet, under the first fold I flipped was a beautiful 3 1/2 foot Fox Snake. This was only the 7th Fox Snake I have ever seen in the wild. Looks like it was going to be a good day after all! A nature center I work with is doing a breeding project with Fox Snakes to rerelease them in the wild so I bagged it, plus the spot she was in looked as though it was going to be bulldozed and built on fairly soon. I checked around a while longer and turned up a couple nice looking Brown snakes.

Onward to the sand prairie. I stopped at a couple of new spots I hadn't checked out befopre that I only noticed because the foliage isn't grown out yet. Came up with nothing. Checkled out a few spots that I have found stuff before. Nothing. Then I remembered one specific abandoned house with a bunch of boards that were nailed to the fence at one time that were now flat on the ground. I went up to the boards and looked under the first few, they crackled and fell apart in my hands as I lifted them. The second to last one broke in half as I lifted it to reveal a strange looking golden creature moving backwards. It was a Slender Glass Lizard! Only the second I have ever seen in my life. I carefully lifted it up so I wouldn't break it's tail. An unexpected bonus and a perfect specimen.

There was one board left, what would it hold. A perfect 2-3 year old Bullsnake! One of my target species for the day. I continued on through the area flipping and searching but saw nothing else. I hit up a few more spots around the sand prairies and turned up nothing.

I need a Black Rat Snake for my presentations so I decided to head south to Vermillion County to see if I could turn that, or a PRairie King up.

When I reached my destination I found an abandoned, and overgrown stretch of railroad track on the Indiana side. There was a little control shed, rusting away next to the tracks. I peered inside the broken window and felt heat coming out of it. It was warm in there, I knew something had to be in there. I pryed the door open and stepped inside and looked up and down for a possible climbing Black Rat. Nothing. I noticed the concrete floor was cracked and warped in the corner and decided to give it a yank. A chunk broke off to reveal a juvy Fox Snake, broke off another chunk to find another juvy Fox Snake! Went down to some railroad ties that were obviously too big to move but gave a half hearted yank anyways, cracking off a piece revealing ANOTHER adult Fox Snake.

Poked around a bit more, it was getting late, I was 2 1/2 hours away from home and had to pick up the girl from work in an hour and a half. I checked a great looking piece of metal alongside the tracks on the way back to car car expecting another Fox Snake. Nothing. But wait! Whats that? Curly green thing? A Smooth Green Snake! I actually said outloud to myself "Oh Cool!".

Perfect ending to a short day. Didn't find that Black Rat, but I have nothing to do tomorrow, or Tuesday, so we'll see.

For all of you in the Chicagoland area I'll be doing a presentation at Lakeview Nature Center in Oakbrook Terrace on May 14th from 12-4. So far it will include 11 species of snakes, 1 species of lizard, 1 species of toad, and 4 species of salamanders.

Dave