Some more heavy herping

[Colin Vestrand]

so back to the massasauga rattler research... it's getting a bit warm up here in michigan. makes everything very difficult and tedious. we measured ground surface temps of 130 degrees and relative humidity over 85%! the long and short of it was, we decided to go out first thing in the AM to get the best chance to see some snakes. we saw probably 20 water snakes, a dozen eastern garters, and a few browns along with a milk snake and all the rattlers we had to track... so here's a few pics:

brown snake eating a slug


an eastern milk (my first in the wild)


an oddly grey colored massasauga... i like this look (sorry the humidity was wreaking havoc on my camera's focusing abilities)


this guy let me get a couple decent shots finally

[Jerhart]

I said this on the 'other' forum but the next time im in W. Mich, you best have your phone on Colin!

[tigerlily]

Nice pics Colin. I especially like that last pic, it almost looks feathery.

Thanks for sharing those pics.

[Colin Vestrand]

thanks josh, for sure!

and christie, thanks - their scales are very heavily keeled; more-so than any other snake i've handled.

[littleindiangirl]

Thats so cool! Man, there is NOTHING around up here but farm land... all I ever see is the once in a while garter. And have only seen one milksnake, last year, almost stepped on it.

[Colin Vestrand]

farm land is great for snakes... those field edges are money. the secret is to be able to set up artificial cover. plywood pieces are great for this time of year and tin sheets are great in spring and fall... i don't know if you/your family has any property or if you can make friends with someone who does, but it's so worth it if you can set up a little spot.

[littleindiangirl]

Well, I got a ditch in my back yard that runs along a large farm field.... Now you got me thinking, I may have to rummage around and drag a piece of plywood back there.

[Colin Vestrand]

doesn't take a large piece! you know how small all the michigan colubrids are...

[Patrick Long]

Damn dude, looks like a good day to me!

[Colin Vestrand]

heck yeah!