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Posted by Hawker on 09:53:12 09/05/08
Mossy was getting cabin fever on her first day of retirement. She requested a wander to the Holey Land for a Bird and Herp. We slid into the Harold A. Campbell parking lot about 18:00 hours (6:00 pm). Moss found a doe and two fawns on one of the dirt trails, along with a pair of Poor Joes and an Arsenicker, which are the names given to green herons and the great blue heron respectively by Florida s pioneer Conchs and Crackers. We also espied a snail kite, several ospreys, and a brace of red-shouldered hawks. We saw no white-tailed kites today.
On the way in from Bloody 27, I studied a parked car and two pickup trucks along the paved road. The water level at the moment is so high, the archery deer season has been suspended by the Florida Wildlife Commission. The thought crossed my mind that these vehicles might belong to snakers rather than outdoorsmen, since hot air and high water are the conditions that snake hunters favor.
As we turned out of Campbell and headed east, I caught a glimpse of a peninsula ribbon snake (Thamnophis sauritus sackenii) and an eastern garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) on the asphalt. We agreed to drive the road slowly, waiting until dark to see if more snakes would appear. The snakes did show, in numbers I have not seen in south Florida for decades.
The first three reptiles that we encountered were striped crayfish snakes (Regina alleni), a species that Jeff Weber had alerted me to last year in an email. This was a lifer find. The next snake was a South Florida swamp snake (Seminatrix pygaea cyclas) also a lifer. We saw a southern ringneck (Diadophis punctatus punctatus), another ribbon, and eight Florida water snakes (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris). An additional half dozen snakes shot off the road before I could positively identify them.
It was both a thrilling and a disheartening night. The other vehicles on the road were indeed occupied by snakers. One of them stopped to talk to us. He makes money at it, by catching these native snakes, and then trading them for more profitable non native snakes, like boas.
Try as we might we could only shoo off the road a small fraction of the snakes present. Looking ahead we could see brake lights flash, and interior lights come on as the driver got out. Yet another snake was bagged, destined for a shallow, sterile, tended life in a cage, far from the Glades, and forever removed from its vital role in nature s convoluted web.
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