Michigan Herps

During the winter of 2006, I became intrigued with this apparent "Snake Road" located in southern Illinois. I noticed pictures of Water Moccasins from Illinois and found it rather peculiar. Cottonmouths in Illinois? When I think of the infamous species, I always imagined the swamps and bayous of the southeastern states, not the Midwest. But the more and more I read, the more I became interested in visiting what is considered among field herpers as the herping Mecca of the Midwest. After months of planning my dad and I headed out in late April for the vaunted Snake Road. Upon arriving, I was blown away by the landscape. The parking area sits on the edges of Winter's Pond, only a small fraction of the larger LaRue Swamp. It seemed like and environment that would be found in the Southeast, it almost screamed Moccasin country.

Winter's Pond

We had a few hours of sunlight to get out on the road, so we headed out to see what we could find in the waning daylight. There wasn't much out on the move, but when we headed up near the bluff faces to check some crevices and came across a small group of Cave Salamanders (Eurycea lucifuaga).

Cave Salamanders

Unfortunately, these small amphibians were all we found in the few hours we had to spend at the road. But we headed back out to our hotel in Marion, IL for the night. It was hard to sleep due to thoughts of seeing my first Cottonmouth in the wild. The alarm went off early and we headed out to LaRue for a full day of herping. The morning air was cool, but the day was supposed to be a hot one. Within five minutes, we found our first herp of the day clinging tightly to a twig, this Green Tree Frog.

Green Tree Frog

There were many Leopard Frogs and Toads out moving across the road, but no snakes. It wasn't until we headed off the beaten path that encountered our first snake. We were down near the edges of the swamp when my dad said, "There's a snake over here." He pointed to the base of a tree where in the undergroath a serpent laid.

Yellow-bellied Water Snake

The snake was a Yellow-bellied Water Snake (Nerodia ethyrogaster flavigaster) that had obviously been beat up by something. Although he was rather ugly, he did seem to be fat and healthy and also had plenty of aggression which is typical for Water Snakes.  After watching this serpent head down a whole, we came across another snake streched out near a creek about five minutes later. The snake was a juvenile Black Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoleta obsoleta) which was out on the move looking for prey.

Out on the Move

Black Rat Snake

Finding two snakes within five minutes of each other was encouraging, despite that we had not found the snake that is the face of Snake Road, the Western Cottonmouth. As I later learned, a cold snap in early April had severely disrupted the snake migration from the bluffs to the swamp and affected snake behavior. We stirred up a few Black Racers along the edges of the road and saw lots of cool amphibians.

Blanchard's Cricket Frog

Southern Leopard Frog

A Snake Hater's Vision of Hell

A few more snakes and lizards were spotted, but the real disappointment of the day came when we ran into a couple walking the road. We asked if they had seen anything, and they told us that they had just seen a large Timber Rattlesnake crossing the road where we had been a few minutes earlier. They had pictures and everything and it was so discouraging that they had seen the rarest venomous species at Snake Road. We did see a lot of skinks and a few Ribbon Snakes, but the heat of the day and disappointment began to take its toll. So, we headed out in the late afternoon. We were driving out on the Levy Road when my dad slammed on his brakes, and there is front of us was a snake. I got out of the car and was thrilled to see that it was indeed the snake we had traveled eight hours to see, the Western Cottonmouth.

Species Observed:

• Western Cottonmouth
• Black Rat Snake
• Southern Black Racer
• Western Ribbon Snake
• Yellow-bellied Water Snake
• Eastern Garter Snake
• Green Tree Frog
• Blanchard's Cricket Frog
• Green Frog
• American Bullfrog
• Southern Leopard Frog
• Dwarf American Toad
• Broad-headed Skink
• Ground Skink
• Cave Salamander

The LaRue Swamp

Sunset Over LaRue

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