Rob radio tracking fox snakes in northeastern Illinois

For the past month, I have been radio tracking a small group of western fox snakes in Lake County, Illinois (exact location has to be kept a bit secretive for now). Each day, I pack my gear including radio telemetry equipment, PIT tag device, GPS, Kestrel weather station, and my data sheets. I also bring waterproof boots, raingear and an extra change of clothes as my field clothes will be quite dirty after a day in the field. This project is a collaborative effort between myself, Dr. Michael Corn of the College of Lake County and Gary Glowacki, Wildlife Biologist with the Lake County Forest Preserve District.

Ideally, I try to get to the site every day to track the snakes that have surgically implanted radio transmitters (a big THANKS to Dr. Steve Barten for performing the procedure and donating much of his valuable time). On average, it takes about 2-3 hours to recapture the animals, however, tracking snakes is by far an exact science. Even when we know they are w/in a 12 foot radius, they can somtimes be impossible to find as they hide amongst layers of cattail marsh.

Why are we tracking fox snakes? In order to develop conservation management plans to save species, we first must better understand their natural behaviors. Little is known about the fox snakes of this area but thanks to Dr. Corn, we have accumulated nearly 10 years of data as close to 290 animals have been pit tagged during that time. Now, we want to determine their natural range, seasonal patterns, and much more. Although early in the study, we have found that these snakes have ranges that are far wider than we expected. They are covering a very large area while they look for mates, forage for food and find ideal nesting areas…so many secrets that we have yet to learn! I’ll keep you posted on our progress on this website.

PICTURE: This is a picture of a male that we were able to racapture last week (in shed)

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 6:35 am and is filed under Herp Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Rob radio tracking fox snakes in northeastern Illinois

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