One of many bald-faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) Jeffrey Peffers and I saw on a wetland boardwalk in DuPage County.
Chicago garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis semifasciatus) at the newt swamp woods.
Neonate redbelly snake (Storeria occipitomaculata).
Redbelly snakes are common at this site and we see many of them. I am always fascinated by how variable they are in color. This is nothing more than a voucher shot but I liked the combination of light reddish-brown on top of slate grey.
Tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum).
American toad (Anaxyrus americanus).
The Illinois & Michigan Canal near Lemont.
Juvenile black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) on the canal. This is a state-endangered species.
Roadkill Eastern garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis), still fresh upon my finding it. Sad.
Green frog (Lithobates clamitans). Getting this photo required that I lay on my belly in soft mud and slowly creep up on this girl. Was it worth it? Of course!
So I came upon a tall stone railroad trestle, and as I scanned the ground along the walls of the trestle, I saw this dead mouse.
I didn't think much of it until I came across this second one, not far from the first.
Perplexed, I began scanning the area and found 5 dead mice, suspiciously dead in the small area I was in. I looked up against the walls of the trestle, and immediately I found the culprit - or at least evidence of the culprit. Large shed skins from what I imagined were Western fox snakes (Pantherophis vulpinus).
I imagined that the rodents use these cracks and crevices as their homes, as do the fox snakes. A fox snake poking and prodding around would incite panic among the mice, and cause the mice to basically run out of the hole and fall to their death onto the rocky ground 10-20 feet below.
It didn't take long before I found the first Western fox snake - ultimately I found three, all of which were probably this year's hatchlings. The weather was unseasonably cool, yet it was sunny, and so all were found out basking.
This is how I found one of them - in situ, warming itself within an old railroad tie.
An interestingly-patterned Northern leopard frog (Lithobates pipiens) found not far from the fox snakes.
A green frog that was much easier to photograph than the first.
And finally, a first-time visit to a wonderful forest preserve in Will County in search of amphibians.
Western chorus frog (Pseudacris triseriata).
A dead tree encrusted in fungus.
A gorgeous spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). The spotted salamander is rapidly disappearing from the Chicago region. Sadly, it is not as hardy as the tiger or blue-spotted salamanders, and tends to be more of a specialist than the aforementioned species, preferring closed woodlands with very little to no sunlight. Of course, they require vernal ponds in order to reproduce.
A spotted salamander next to a blue-spotted salamander (Ambystoma laterale). The blue-spotted salamanders are decidedly more common through the Chicago region. In this case, they share habitat. Fortunately, there was no shortage of either species this day.
This scene will soon change as the fall is quickly making its presence known.
As I walked down this beautiful coniferous corridor, a great horned owl flew overhead and came to rest on one of the boughs of a pine.
Leaves of this giant oak (Quercus sp.) starting to reflect the seasonal transition.
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