Wilton Wildlife Preserve

Located in Saratoga County New York, this preserve and park is home to endangered species such as the Karner Blue Butterfly. This butterfly and other wildlife make their home in a unique habitat called sand plains. Created from glacial outwash containing mostly sand, this area produces a very specialized combination of plants and animals. For instance, the sandy environment supports scrub oak, butterfly bush, pine and the lupine plant, the specific food source for the Karner Blue.

The Karner Blue butterfly is the focus of the Wilton Wildlife Preserve, however, there are other endangered or species of special concern. At a meeting of local volunteers this evening (9-12-12), a naturalist, Kenny Barnett, lectured about one of the other denizens of this preserve, the Eastern Hognose snake. The EHS is protected and is an enigmatic species, not colobrative (check meaning and spelling). A relic species, the EHS, returned from the southern US over 13,000 years ago after the glacial retreat.

Interesting notes:

scarce in US (can be found only in wisconsin, texas, massachusettes, long island and NY)

comes in black & grey; black & orange, or jet black

looks like a small rattlesnake

has a little upturned nose and a flat head - good for digging in sand and patting down sand

has fangs in back of mouth (heterodon=different teeth) with which to transmit venom specific to salamanders, toads and frogs.

not aggressive

uses muscle to grab, stay and press pray down -has constrictor likeness in this regard, but is not a constrictor - then bites to still it.

has ability of endure the toxins of certain amphibians it eats (check on how much, I think he said EHS has ability to process more toxins than 19 men?)

is opportunistic, i.e., prefers live, but will eat dead amphibians

not interested in rodents

will raise up and widen, flatten its neck area like a cobra, will hiss

when threatened will defecate and vomit, using the toxins of the amphibians (newts) it has eaten to protect itself

hangs out in groups

39" adult length

will use (even share) chipmunk holes to over-winter with mate

will make a nest in south-eastern exposure of a dune, raming itself into the dune to make the hole, laying eggs 7-9 inches deep, then pack the opening and exit holes down with its flat nose/head

mating now (September); lays eggs next year, to hatch in August

Check out facebook for "the naturalist guy" = Kenny Barnett

http://naturalistguy.com/