Kirtland's Quest: Outside the Box

The Kirtland's snake (Clonophis kirtlandii) is exceedingly rare in northeastern Illinois.  It is a state-threatened species and a candidate for federal protection.  Though remnant populations persist in a few widely scattered areas, on the whole, there isn't much hope at all that the species ever will expand beyond the current known preserves.  Small urban pockets of them once were fairly commonplace; these are now probably all extirpated.  Their wet meadows have either been destroyed or heavily altered through succession, pollution, lowering of the water table, and so on.  They rely heavily on crayfish, as they live and feed within the crayfish burrows.  As the crayfish succumb to similar changes and die off, eventually so do the snakes.

However, there are exceptions to almost every rule, and Kirtland's snakes from a few sites in central Illinois have adapted miraculously well to drastic changes in their habitat.  Long gone are the wet meadows, and in their place are manmade lakes.  Crayfish can still be found in some numbers, but the snakes seem to prefer living along the water's edge, amongst and underneath rocks, boulders, and driftwood.  Manicured grass surrounds the lakes in most areas to facilitate fishing; this seems to have little impact on both the crayfish and the snakes, oddly enough. 

It is an unusual arrangement for an animal as specialized as the Kirtland's snake.  Such a drastic departure from the classic Kirtland's snake habitat, and yet there they are, appearing to be doing just well in places you'd expect to, and will, find northern water snakes (Nerodia sipedon).  This is why, on May 29th, I was alternating between scratching my head and containing my excitement over finding the species while I was searching for this elusive natricine.

 I had gotten up very early that morning to pick up Tristan Schramer so we'd head down together.  En route to the Schramer residence, I passed a large dead common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) on I90 heading west toward the burbs.  It had somehow gotten itself stuck in a construction zone while attempting to cross the highway, and once it made its way between the cement barriers, it was just a matter of time before someone was going to hit it.  Sadly, it was probably a female on her way to lay eggs.  Maybe she had already laid them and was on her way back - that's the best case scenario.

We planned on visiting at least three sites, each with at least one record of a Kirtland's snake.  In all we hit four sites, as well as a few side trips in between to search for the Graham's crayfish snake (Regina grahamii) and the prairie kingsnake (Lampropeltis calligaster).  We found three Kirtland's snakes, including a heavily gravid adult female in prenatal shed, from two of the sites.  Under permit, we collected scale clips for genetic analysis, to be submitted to the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS).  In order to protect the snakes from collectors or overzealous, irresponsible field herpers (there are a lot of those) , I'm not going to post any defining landmarks or clues that easily give away the sites, but I do want to illustrate the sort of habitat these snakes have somehow adapted well to.

This is the sort of habitat the Kirtland's snakes are found in.  In fact, our first Kirtland's snake was found right here, under the "triangular" rock below the two pieces of wood that form an "x".

 The Kirtland's snakes here have not completely abandoned their classic ways.  Under many of the rocks found in the vicinity, crayfish have constructed burrows.  Though we didn't observe any of the snakes in the direct vicinity of the burrows, we speculate that they do use these to their benefit, at least as hibernacula.

 An adult male Kirtland's snake.  Nobody in their right mind can deny the striking beauty these snakes possess.

 Tristan mugging for the camera with a Kirtland's snake, before we collected a scale clipping and let the snake on its merry way.

 This is a roadside ditch that is under normal circumstances, at least partially filled with water.  This day, it was bone dry.  We looked for snakes without success, but we did find a writhing mass of smallmouth salamander (Ambystoma texanum) and various frog larvae, including grey tree frogs (Hyla versicolor/chrysoscelis) mushed together in the last moist depression at the lowest portion of the ditch.  There was actually no water at all, yet the larvae seemed to be exuding a slime, which collectively formed a moist protectant for the larvae.  Many of the larvae on the outer fringes of the mass were already dead, and flies were numerous on both the living and the dead larvae.  With the day getting warmer and warmer, it was just a matter of time before these larvae were toast.  Tristan and I had thoughts of moving them to the nearby marsh, but we thought better of it and just left these where they were.  Nature will find its way.

 The large gravid Kirtland's snake.  She was ready to pop any day.

A reminder that all activities were performed under a permit that allowed us to collect information for the permitting organization.  All of the Kirtland's snakes were handled minimally - enough for a few photos and for scale clips.  An awesome day, and one that assured us that at least in some places, this species is secure.