With the weather being very cool the last few days and almost down to freezing last night I was trying to decide where to go today. I thought I would drive to the Kansas border and try to find a great plains skink and a collared lizard on a road cut I had found in March. My sons had not seen that skink and one had not seen a collared lizard. I thought they would be very cold and under rocks. Was thrilled when we found several plus a 22 inch red milk and a speckled kingsnake at that road cut. Thought that would be the high point of the day but there was much more to come. My plans after that was to make a circle and check road cuts and then cut back to Missouri and hit a couple state parks on the way back. After driving over an hour with no good looking spots we pulled into some state land to have lunch. After eating I noticed some land had been cleared several years ago so decided to walk over the grassland to see if any rocks were there. Was very surprised to see quite a lot of good looking rocks along the timber on one side. These rocks were pushed there when the land was cleared and had not been turned in recent years. Large flat rocks that could still be managed. First we found an adult black rat snake,then a 38 inch speckled king, then a red milk, and finally an estimated 17 inch timber rattlesnake with no rattle. We then found a small man-made pond with flat rocks completely covering the dam. First snake found there was a juvenile yellow-bellied watersnake with great color. We then found two more adults and very surprised to find yet another timber under a rock on the dam!

We thought our day was complete but I had noticed two pieces of tin and what looked to be a small concrete foundation just over from where we had our lunch earlier. That was the last thing to check before we headed home. I was very surprised to find several pieces of tin almost buried in the grass. The first five pieces only turned up mice and then we found another black rat snake. I was really trying for a prairie king to complete the cycle for kingsnakes. The next tin had a racer, black rat and timber all laying together. We kept saying all day that it can't keep getting better! After that find I turned a tin that had 4 timbers with the biggest about 46 inches and very fat. We had a reference point when the big one left the tin to measure. We were not quite done yet! Another tin had 5 timbers and a black rat snake. Finally found a lone timber under the last tin but still filmed that snake too. This tin site totaled 11 timbers and 5 black rat snakes so it must have been a den site. The strange thing about this site was the two pieces of tin were visible from the road and on state land. It had never been checked as far as I could tell yet there were about 4 or 5 vehicles that came and went while we were there. A truly unbeleivable day!

What started out as a very cold morning turned much warmer when the temperature soared to 58 and sunny in the afternoon. It was total clouds earlier. We wore jackets most of the day because it was so cool.

All three of us found a red milk, a speckled king, a skink and collared lizard. Luckily I found all the timbers since my sons are aged 9 and 11.

Totals for the day,

10 Great Plains Skinks

6 Collared Lizards

66 ring-necked snakes

1 brown snake

1 western worm snake

1 red-sided garter snake

2 eastern yellow-bellied racers

3 yellow-bellied water snakes

3 red milks 9, 19 and 22 inches

4 speckled kings 9, 10, 22 and 38 inches

6 black rat snakes 45 to 57 inches

13 timber rattlesnakes

I really like the yellow color on the Kansas speckled kings and the red milks seemed to have a little central plains influence if that is possible in that part of the state. The red bands look different than the ones we find in Missouri