Slithering Snakes- Mom, Don't Read This #2

I enjoy reptiles.  If I wasn't planning a career in botany already, I would have gone into studying herptiles (reptiles and amphibians).  When I was three years old, I had an Australian accent because I watched Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter so much. I still love herps. The other day, in fact, I caught a toad just outside the door of a church building and brought it to a bible study inside the building.  (I returned him outside within a few minutes.)

Here are some of my favorite snakes I have seen in the wild:

Storea dekayi:  Dekay's brown snake is a small snake found commonly in forests throughout the Eastern U.S.   I have found it both in Illinois and in Georgia.

Illinois^^^

 Georgia^^^

Nerodia siphedon: Above is possibly the most common snake in Illinois, the northern water snake. It's a toss up between northern water snakes and common garter snakes.  Garter snakes have a tendency to be found in urban habitats more commonly, so it is likely that they are more common.  Here is an unknown species (Thamnophis spp.) :

I happen to have a den of garter snakes in a location not far from my house, and a second site five minutes away which contains a different species.  Neither one is known, although the one in the net below is about twice the width and length of the one above:

The author of this blog was promptly surprised when the snake pictured above decided to exit the net.  That is a post for another time.

Ophidophobia sufferers, you should not be reading this far.  The rest of you can try and figure out what ophidophobia is*.  I have mild anatidaephobia, and I'll let the smartest people figure out what that is. I know somebody is googling it.  Leave what you find out in the comments section.  It's a good time to talk about phobias, as the following image may make you scream.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.  More snakes, in other words.  I need your help, however, with some of these.  I have no clue what the following species is, for instance.  It was found in the fall in far southern Illinois (Garden of the Gods) and was initially assumed to be a ring-necked snake.   However, a ring-necked snake found nearby is pictured afterwards.

The following is a ring-necked snake, Diadophis punctatus.  The above is unknown, but it was taken only a few hundred feet from the snake below, so it could be a strange ring-necked snake color morph.  I cannot find a similar species online, unfortunately.

The following snake has stumped me for years.  This photo was taken about nine years ago, when I was a wee lad and only half as crazy as I am today:

I have assumed this is a racer, but the marbling on the sides makes me uncertain of the identification.  It was found in Peoria County in April in lightly wooded terrain with some development and a few water sources.  Can anyone confirm that this is in fact a black or blue racer?  That would help a lot.  Let me know what you thought of these snakes. This is only a quarter of the wild snakes I have have seen, as over half the time a camera is unavailable and/or the snakes escape quickly away before I can even get out a camera.  Anyway, good night/morning/afternoon/Friday to everyone.  

*Hopefully I'm not scaring too many of you away today. Roughly one-third of all human beings on the planet are at least slightly afraid of snakes, and fear of snakes, aka ophidophobia, is the most common phobia statistically in the world. 

Bizarre Bugs - Mom, Don't Read This #1

(Caution-  The following entry contains spiders.  If you do not like pictures of spiders and other bugs, then I completely understand.  Do not read this blog post.  On the other hand, if you can overcome your fears of all things creepy-crawly, read on, brave reader.  If you have no fear of bugs, then start reading already.  What are you waiting for?)

Halloween is nearly upon us.  The first frost came about a week ago in this part of the world, and thus the insect life is diminishing.  Leaves and ladybugs are in the air, and everywhere else.  With Halloween coming, there will be a short series of posts on creepy-crawlies, entitled, Mom, Don't Read This!

I was inspired to do these posts after encountering a praying mantis, orb weaver, and the following unusual fellow today whilst bird banding:

Meet Arilus cristatus, the wheel bug.  He's wheely cool.  (Sorry,  I couldn't help it.)  This is a species of assassin bug.  It's hard to show exactly how big this insect is, but it's about as long as my little finger, or roughly two inches long.  That's measured  front of the head to end of the abdomen.  

(I'm never sure how most scientists measure bugs.  I assume saying that the maximum length of a bug is x, for instance, means that the abdomen of the bug measures x.  All I know is that the cicada killer wasps I run into are nearly twice the length of any in the books.)  

Returning to my subject,  wheel bugs are dominant predators in the bug world.  They are fairly common. I have seen a wheel bug nymph (juvenile) every time I visit Henson Robinson Zoo, and caught them in my grandparents' garden.  That being said, they are very shy, and prone to bite if handled.  The bite is rumored to take months to heal.  Don't pick this bug up, in other words.  Wheel bugs have what looks more like a Spartan helmet than a wheel on their back.  This structure is kind of hard to see in the picture I took above.

This is a wheel bug nymph.  They have bright warning colors, telling you to stay away from them.  And with the bite they have, this is a very good idea.   You might now want to eradicate these creepy-looking insects from your yard.  However, don't.  It's actually a good sign to have wheel bugs in your yard.  It means you have a very healthy yard.  Think of wheel bugs as the insect versions of wolves or lions.  Both these animals require a large territory relative to their body size, and lots of possible food sources to exploit. Wheel bugs, as their food source, eat lots of stink bugs, Japanese beetles, and caterpillars, among other bugs.  They are extremely beneficial insects to have, and do not bite unless handled. 

Moving on to our next creature, we have a hatching cicada coming out of its shell.  This poor fellow died the night after this picture was taken, unfortunately, and was found the next morning half-eaten by ants.  

He almost looks cute.  We can't have that.  Moving on to the third and final arthropod for tonight, we have the reason this post is called Mom, Don't Read This.  Also, I did a video.  Please don't watch it if you have motion sickness.  It's a few years old.

Yellow Garden Spiders, or Argiope aurantica, are large spiders found in most of the United States in gardens, and especially in wet areas in the northern part of their range. Southwind Park in Springfield has a healthy population I have encountered within the last month,  This is the largest spider I have ever seen in the land of lincoln itself, aka Central Illinois.  That's a honeybee being wrapped in the photo below, to give you some idea of the size of this spider:

This both intrigues and horrifies me equally.  I have arachnophobia, but at the same time spiders, especially jumping spiders, are fascinating to watch and to see all the color forms.  In other words, this is perfect for this time of year, especially since this species has a skull-like pattern on its back. Alright, it's getting late.  Time for me to go to bed. I dare you to take one good  last look at that video. Sweet dreams...

Nipper Wildlife Sanctuary: Short Ears, Service Announcement, and Silphiums

I have gotten rather busy lately and not posted much.  However, I feel that some content is necessary.  And I just found out about something completely awesome a half-hour away from Springfield.  I mentioned wanting to see short-eared owls in a previous post.   Nipper Wildlife Sanctuary, just south of Loami, is the place to go.  The place is an absolutely stunning restored prairie.  Part of the appeal is that it is entirely privately-run and thus actually can afford to have a nice building and plantings. Even in fall post flowering season, the area is exquisite.  Before I strain for another adjective, have some photos:

A map of part of the grounds.  This just shows about a third or fourth of the place.

It was a picture-perfect day, what some people might refer to as a Pixar day. ( You know who you are)   The goldenrod was in full flower, as was the ragweed.  I'd like to make a brief service announcement.  Goldenrods (Solidago spp.) , aka those yellow things that grow everywhere, are not the cause of hay fever.  Ragweed is responsible, and ragweed is a common green scraggly thing found in similar habitats that blooms at the same time.  Goldenrod allergies are a nature myth, of which there are many.  Superstition never ceases, nor do people stop saying this incorrect message. This has been a service announcement and rant that needed to be ended as soon as possible.

(The Plant Shown Above Does NOT Cause Allergies*) 

*Yes, I know there's a beetle, center.  It's called a soldier beetle.  It spends its life mating and drinking  nectar on flowers. There are three soldier beetles and two bees in this picture. Have fun finding them.

 This is an example of a very nice wetland trail located on the property.  This is all done with private funds, and no state funding whatsoever.  In any other state, that wouldn't be something to brag about.

When was the last time you could look and see nothing but grasses to the horizon?  (The correct answer is always, as corn (Zea mays) is a type of grass.  One of the perks of central Illinois, I guess)

A prairie pothole is important for migrating animals, as well as filtering out agricultural toxins. Our streams and ponds were once clear, if you can believe it.  This preserve has a chain of ponds that filter out most pollutants at an impressive rate.  The prairie preserve here is large enough to attract large migrants, such as short-eared owls, to stay here in the winter.  That's impressive. What's even more impressive are the Silphium plants that grow here and throughout central Illinois and the midwest.  Here is a picture of one, compared to a man of average height who will be furious with me when he reads this and sees that I'm using his picture without his permission.  I've done worse.

This particular species, cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) grows over twelve feet tall when happy.  They can live for fifty or more years and have leaves a foot long.  That pales in comparison to a close relative, however.  The boringly-named prairie dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum, (I dare you to try spelling that a half-hour from now) has leaves up to two feet long, stems up to ten feet long, and a taproot about fifteen feet long.   The leaves are an excellent sandpaper substitute also.  Prairie dock can live over a hundred years and is nearly impossible to kill.  See a picture below:

For those of you who need the help, it's the plant going from bottom middle up to the top middle.  Sorry, I'm not a professional photographer, just a professional at ranting and going off on tangents.  Alright, it's time for me to cease ranting,  turn off Waltz of the Snowflakes ( by Tchaikovsky, another fun name to spell), and go to bed.  Visit Nipper Wildlife Sanctuary!  Good night.