There is a Road...

There is a road down in Southern Illinois that closes each year to vehicle traffic so that wildlife (and specifically reptiles) can cross from the swampland to hibernacula up in the rocky cliffs. This road is a frequented spot for herpers across North America and a place I have visited fairly often on the Thanksgiving weekend. The border guard this year actually asked me "What about your family?!". Luckily my family is indulgent of my crazy hobby and we celebrate with a turkey dinner on a different weekend.

We drove throughout the night to get to southern Illinois from Ontario and didn't even try to get any sleep before heading out for a walk down the road. With the rain that had hit overnight and the continued spitting throughout the day we had a great day for amphibians. Our first sightings were Green Tree Frogs (Hyla cinerea). 

Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea)

Soon after as we walked further down the road we started finding Northern Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus), Eastern Newts (Notophthalmus viridescens) and Zigzag Salamanders (Plethodon dorsalis).

Northern Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus)

Zigzag Salamander (Plethodon dorsalis)

 We even found a little tiny newt beside a fully grown one. It was very neat to see the size difference.

Eastern Newts (Notophthalmus viridescens)

Eastern Newts (Notophthalmus viridescens)

After finding a salamander we were just standing around chatting in a circle and a lovely Copperhead just went straight in between us!!  It was quite surreal and surprising. They are so well camouflaged and we were all standing still but we caught the movement out of the corner of our eyes when it was actually beside us. A very pleasant surprise indeed!

Eastern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)

Eastern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)

Eastern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)

Eastern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)

One of my favorite finds of the day wasn't something uncommon but just a beautiful freshly shed Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus). The iridescence on this snake was breathtakingly beautiful. I am still working on my photography skills so I couldn't really capture quite how stunning it was so you'll just have to trust me. But hopefully these photos give you a little bit of a sense.

Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)

Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)

Normally this species will hide their heads under their body or tail so I was very happy that this one obliged me with a nice pose. They typically are noctural and will eat slugs, earthworms and salamanders among other things.

Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)

Northern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus) were one of the most common species we found on the road. They were actually coming straight out of the swamp and crossing the road in front of us. Sometimes they even dragged a bunch of wet vegetation with them! I am very grateful that this road gets closed to vehicle traffic for all the creatures that live there because we saw over 10 of them right on the road! It was a great day for them to move.

Northern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus)

Northern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus)

Northern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus)

Northern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus)

 At one point we looked up and saw a Gray Ratsnake (Pantherophis spiloides) coming out of a hole in the cliff just like you saw all the snakes doing in Indiana Jones.

 Other cracks had lonely little toads peeking out of them.

 On almost every single one of these trips I manage to see a Timber Rattlesnake, BUT they are always deep in the cracks and I have NEVER seen their face or gotten a decent photo of one. This year changed that. It was still in a crack but at least not very deep and it was definitely looking straight out at me as I took a picture.

Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus)

 We also got to see a few Western Ribbonsnakes along the road over the course of the weekend.

Western Ribbonsnake (Thamnophis proximus)

We went out looking for more thing after dark and found Long-tailed Salamanders (Eurycea longicauda) and Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga).

Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga)

A Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus) was also just hanging out in a small puddle of water.

Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus)

 On our last night in Illinois we had another great night for Green Tree Frogs and even found a gorgeous Rough Greensnake (Opheodrys aestivus)

Green Tree Frog (Hyla cinerea)

Rough Greensnake (Opheodrys aestivus)

 You can hike up to the top of the cliff face and get a lovely view over the swampland below. The difference in feeling being in the swamp vs up on the cliffs is a bit indescribable but the sunset is beautiful to see from both spots. Down below you see the light slowly fading and creating light trails between the trees that tower above you. Up above you see the entire landscape stretching out below you and even the towering tees look small in the distance as they change colour with the glow of setting sun.

The Mississippi River is a natural barrier to species movement and a lot of different species occur  across the border in Missouri. We took a morning to go exploring in a different area that I had never been to before and it was amazing!

The holy grail we were looking for in this unique place was a Plains Hognose (Heterodon nasicus gloydi) and we managed to spot one curled up basking just at the edge of a clump of grass. They blend in so well it would be easy to miss. We also saw Six-lined Racerunners but they were far to fast for me to get a photograph of!

Plains Hognose (Heterodon nasicus gloydi)

After our traditional all you can eat friend chicken dinner that makes me feel like I need to be rolled out of there and get my heart checked. We checked out a spot at night for Salamanders and  had a lot of luck! Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum) are obviously banded with white and black

Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum)

Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum)

This species lives in damp woodlands and requires seasonally flooded areas to breed. Unlike other Ambystomid salamanders they don't deposit egg masses in the spring within vernal pools. You can see these are actually present in the fall and deposited under moist logs in seasonally flooded areas. This gives Marbled Salamander hatchings a bit of a head start in the spring.

Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum)

 Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) are derpy looking. I don't know what else to say about these guys. I love them. They are stocky and have a much larger head than you would picture them having. They look derpy and they make me smile. 

 Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum)

 Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum)

 Small-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma texanum) are also unproportioned, but don't really look as derpy because of it. They have a characteristically small head for their body size and of course are aptly named for their small mouth. 

Small-mouthed Salamander (Ambystoma texanum)

 Our last day down in Illinois we went to a cyperes swamp area surrounded by deciduous forest. There are lovely walking trails and a boardwalk that takes you a bit out into the swamp.

While we were in the swamp we saw a Cottonmouth swimming in the water. It left a trail right through the duckweed so you could tell exactly where it came from. There were a lot of basking sliders along the river but it was a fairly warm day and they spooked before we could get anywhere close to them.

As we walked around we found a few cool things including:
Common Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina)
Crane-fly Orchid (Tipularia discolor)
Northern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus)
Plain-bellied Watersnake (Nerodia erythrogaster) 

Plain-bellied Watersnake (Nerodia erythrogaster)

Exploring Central Frontenac and Lennox-Addington

Our first stop on a weekend spent exploring the Central Frontenac and Lennox-Adington region was Puzzle Lake Provincial Park. This is an area that my mother surveyed years ago and thanks to her work it was made into a Provincial Park. There are no facilities in the park but there are a few campsites that are only accessable by canoe.

Puzzle Lake, Ontario

Puzzle Lake, Ontario

Puzzle Lake itself is the first lake that you would launch your canoe on. This connects to other smaller lakes including Gull Lake, Loyst Lake, Norway Mud Lake, Norway Lake and Little Norway Lake.  Small portages link all the lakes together. The portages are flat and quite easy to transverse.

Portage from Puzzle Lake to Loyst Lake, Ontario

Loking out onto Norway Mud Lake, Ontario from the portage

Typicaly lakes experience a mixing between surface and deep waters at least once a year. A dimictic lake is one that mixes twice a year and this can be noticed by a change of temperature of the water in spring and fall. Loyst Lake is a meromictic lake surrounded by high cliff faces. Meromictic lakes have no physical mixing between the surface and the deep waters. A meromictic lake may form because the basin is unusually deep and steep-sided compared to the lake's surface area or because the lower layer of the lake hase a high salinity (salt content) and denser than the upper layers of water. Other examples of meromictic lakes in Canada include McGinnis Lake in Petroglyphs Provincial Park and Pink Lake in Gatineau Park.

Cliffs on Loyst Lake, Ontario

The lack of mixing between water layers creates radically different environments for organisms to live in. The bottom layer of meromictic lakes are higher in salinity, devoid of oxygen and high in phosphorus and notrigen. The lakes are often a beautiful clear green colour from the presence of algae or bacteria and have very little vegetation growth.

Loyst Lake, Ontario

The day we visited Puzzle Lake Provincial Park was a miserable cloudy day with threats of thunderstorms. We didn't let this sway us from making the trip and it also didn't affect our mood during the day.

Puzzle Lake, Ontario

Despite the terrible weather we had an amazing day botanizing around the lakes. We saw so many cool plants I won't try to speak too much about anything since we saw to much to go into details about each plant but this list is of some of what we saw:

Lesser Spearwort (Ranunculus flammula) lined the rocky riparian edges of the lakes in green mats with little yellow flowers. 

Lesser Spearwort (Ranunculus flammula)

Lesser Spearwort (Ranunculus flammula)

Naked-flowered Tick-Trefoil (Hylodesmum nudiflorum)

Naked-flowered Tick-Trefoil (Hylodesmum nudiflorum)

Naked-flowered Tick-Trefoil (Hylodesmum nudiflorum)

Densetuft Hairsedge (Bulbostylis capillaris)

Densetuft Hairsedge (Bulbostylis capillaris)

Densetuft Hairsedge (Bulbostylis capillaris)

Rock Harlequin (Capnoides sempervirens)
Merritt Fernald's Sedge (Carex merritt-fernaldii)  
Fireweed (Erechtites hieraciifolius)
Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine)
Rock Polypody (Polypodium virginianum) 
Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata) 
American Groundnut (Apios americana)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) 
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) is a very aptly named plant for its beautiful cardinal red colouration.  It is one of my favourite native plants.

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

The spike of red flowers is t the top of a tall stem. This was also found on the rocky riparian edges of the lakes.

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Common Pipewort (Eriocaulon aquaticum) is an odd looking shoreline plant that grows in the water along the edges of the lakes. They have odd looking white flowers at the top of a stem that emerges from the water. The leaves are under water.

Common Pipewort (Eriocaulon aquaticum)

Common Pipewort (Eriocaulon aquaticum)

Common Pipewort (Eriocaulon aquaticum)

Swamp Loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus)

Swamp Loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus)

Swamp Loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus)

Flat-topped Goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia)
Yellowseed False Pimpernel (Lindernia dubia) 

Yellowseed False Pimpernel (Lindernia dubia)

Yellowseed False Pimpernel (Lindernia dubia)

Dwarf St. John's Wort (Hypericum mutilum)

Dwarf St. John's Wort (Hypericum mutilum)

Dwarf St. John's Wort (Hypericum mutilum)

Slender False Foxglove (Agalinis tenuifolia)

Slender False Foxglove (Agalinis tenuifolia)

Slender False Foxglove (Agalinis tenuifolia)

Little Green Sedge (Carex viridula)
Fraser's Marsh St. John's-Wort (Hypericum fraseri)

Fraser's Marsh St. John's-Wort (Hypericum fraseri)

Side-flowering Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

Side-flowering Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

Side-flowering Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora)

White Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba)
Three-way Sedge (Dulichium arundinaceum)
American Bur-Reed (Sparganium americanum)
Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum)  
Eastern Teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens)
Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia) 
Bear Oak (Quercus ilicifolia) is a small almost shrubby species of oak that grows on granite rock barrens.

Bear Oak (Quercus ilicifolia)

Bear Oak (Quercus ilicifolia)

 The leaves of Bear Oak are light coloured and hairy on the underside.

Bear Oak (Quercus ilicifolia)

Bear Oak (Quercus ilicifolia)

Rather than camping in the rain we stayed overnight at a cottage on Sharbot Lake. The weather had cleared and we started spotlighting fish from the dock and had a Stinkpot Turtle go past. I had really been hoping to see one that weekend so it was a perfect ending to an amazing day.

On our way back toward the GTA we stopped in for a hike around Sheffield Conservation Area. This conservation area also is granite rock barrens with wetlands and lakes. The trail we did was a beautiful loop. We saw much of the same things we had seen at Puzzle Lake Provincial Park.

Sheffield Conservation Area

Sheffield Conservation Area

There were a few asters blooming including White Flat-topped Goldenrod (Solidago ptarmicoides). Shining Sumac (Rhus copallinum) was a frequent low lying shrub on the rock barrens.

 Shining Sumac (Rhus copallinum)

Sheffield Conservation Area

Sheffield Conservation Area

Sheffield Conservation Area

 The trail was lovely and fairly easy to walk but had some breathtaking views from the open rock barrens. It took us a while to do the full loop since we stopped a lot to look at things but I am sure you could probably do it in an hour or two if you wanted to go faster.

Sheffield Conservation Area

Sheffield Conservation Area

Sheffield Conservation Area

Sheffield Conservation Area