My girlfriends friend from work, Jason wanted to see what all the hub bub was about Kankakee County. So today I took him and his girlfriend Donna down on a little tour.

As usual the first stop was my Garter/Brown spot just off the highway. Sure enough we found a few Brown Snakes and about a dozen garters. I announced my goal to show them at 10 herp species before the day was through. So far we were at 2.

First spot produced some Racerunners (3) and a nice medium sized Blue racer (4) both lifers for them. We drove around a bit and saw a couple painted turtles in an irrigation ditch (5). Went over to the spot everyone hits across from Willow Slough, and not 5 minutes after I said "I never really found anything here but everyone else says they did" Jason found a subadult Eastern Milk (6) under that big sheet of tin, another lifer for him and only the second Eastern and third Milk I have ever seen in the wild, all within the last 4 weeks.

We went over to Willow Slough and walked around the pond and saw some cute baby geese a few Bullfrogs (7). On the way to the next spot we found a nice 10-12 inch Snapping Turtle (8) drying himself out on the road (presumably to rid himself of leeches). After that we saw a pair of Ring Neck Pheasants alongside the road. Then we saw quite a site, a big old dead tree with no less that 8 Turkey Vultures perched in it, with another 8-10 flying above. We found a couple other Blue Racers at some other spots, the record total for me in a day.

Then as it neared dark we came to the last spot of the day still not seeing Jasons target species of the day, the Bullsnake. This was the same spot I found my first Bullsanke and Glass Lizard of the year a few weeks ago. The magic boards simultaneously produced a juvy Bullsnake for him and a Glass Lizard for me (another lifer for him, and our daily herps number 9 and 10). Jason then found a nice 4 foot adult Bull and I another glass Lizard. Mission accomplished. 10 species.

12+ Plains Garters

4 Brown Snakes

3 Blue Racers

10+ Prairie Racerunners

2 Midland Painted Turtles

1 Eastern Milk

20+ Bullfrogs

1 Common Snapper

2 Slender Glass Lizards

2 Bullsnakes

Dave