By Plato Stefanopoulos
2021 was not an easy year. Due to the 7 month lockdown, my lack of a driver’s license until fall and my leg injury, I missed countless opportunities to herp in the first half of the year as well as early summer. Nevertheless, even under these circumstances, I still managed to push through and find some notable animals, and on top of that, I managed to take advantage of most of the fall peak season. With 20+ lifers, several items crossed off my bucket list, 150+ photographed snakes, but also many missed animals as well as field work and invaluable experience, 2021 ended up being the perfect blend of some gratification along with the triggering of desire to get out in the field again with my newfound knowledge to find all the targets I missed.
It oftentimes would get very demotivating to herp, whether it was because I was finding virtually nothing during the peak season, because of the fruitless days spent creek walking, or because I hiked 20 or more km a day in early spring just to miss my target species. However, I never quit, since the very thought of finding animals like those in this list is what drives us herpers to keep searching.
These are my favorite snake finds of 2021, ranked according to 3 criteria: the significance of the find (relative rarity according to conditions, location, phenotype, how secretive a snake is, etc.), the emotional payoff, and in how cool of a way the animal was found.
The list
5. 145 cm adult male Eastern Montpellier snake in Attica
While a large adult Malpolon insignitus isn’t that special of a snake for Attica in and of itself, this is a snake I had been wanting forever and it was by far my top target for over 8 months in a row. I sacrificed so much to find a snake exactly like that in the spring that this one felt like tying loose ends. The way this animal was caught was almost comically unlikely – while creek walking in 35 degrees just a breath away from Athens city limits. The animal itself was absolutely mesmerizing and handling it and photographing it was an unforgettable experience.
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| The gigantic Eastern montpellier snake of 145 cm |
4. Aberrant dark grass snake from the Peloponnese
I have seen hundreds of grass snakes (Natrix natrix) in the almost two years I have been herping, but none have been as strange as this. It is neither a typical persa individual, nor a charcoal individual. It also was not in shed. This snake goes to show exactly why grass snakes are my favorite snake in Greece – with their seemingly limitless variation, you just never know what oddball individual you’re going to come across next. Not only that but the way it was caught was just as remarkable – we flipped it under a huge piece of wood, I missed it, and when we flipped it again the following day, it was there again.
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| Aberrant dark Natrix natrix |
3. Attica dice snake
This find is so special because while Natrix tessellata is easy to find in a very specific site, it is nearly impossible to find anywhere else in Attica. This aberrant individual, the phenotype of which is almost reminiscent of populations in the Middle East, was found in a spring-fed creek in a completely different basin than the known population.
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| Dice snake |
2. Attica cat snake
Knowing the secretive lifestyle, low population density and wide windows of activity of Telescopus fallax, even finding one at a known site (I had found a dead one there the previous year and tried for a live one as well) on foot at night in July felt like chasing ghosts. Nevertheless, while effectively road cruising on foot, I found this juvenile stretched out on the curb. Not only did I find a cat snake though, but it was also a spectacular aberrant individual. Truly felt like winning the lottery.
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| Aberrant Telescopus fallax from Attica |
Honorable mentions (in no particular order)
Giant Athens city limits grass snake
To this day this is one of the largest snakes I’ve found. Some other things that made it special were the weather in which it was found (17 C), how close to Athens it was, as well as the way it was caught. I saw it swimming in a creek, and remembering the one that got away, I went all in, dove and stuck up to my neck, barely catching the snake by the tail. It too felt like tying loose ends and it was an amazing and very memorable experience overall.
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| Huge grass snake |
Biting grass snake
This grass snake was big, beautiful, but most importantly, out of the 100+ grass snakes I have gotten my hands on over the years, this is the only one that has bitten me. It also didn’t just bite once, it bit twice. It didn’t hurt. It was found while sampling in Attica.
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| Grass snake |
Lifer leopard snake
My first Zamenis situla was long awaited and the realization that I had cruised this snake is forever engraved in my memory. While the individual was a very typical adult, knowing how much of a pain this species is to find, every living, photographed specimen should be celebrated. On top of that, it is allegedly the first individual found at that site, which has been intensively herped for decades. (Also included in One Flew Over The situla’s Nest – Herper in Wonderland Part 2)
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| Leopard snake |
Mesogeia Eastern Montpellier snake
While it is known that Malpolon exists in all of the towns of Mesogeia, even in suburban and industrial habitats, it is not exactly easy to target them there. The xeric conditions and habitat degradation, paired with my inexplicable incompetence in finding adults of this otherwise common species made it a challenge. When we finally flipped it I was ecstatic, the payoff was huge and it is perhaps my favorite moment of April 2021, if not the entire spring season. (Also included in Middle Earth: Shadow of Malpolon – A Messogeia springtime flipping and hiking extravaganza)
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| Eastern montpellier snake |
Attica Caspian whip snake (DOR)
Finding Dolichophis caspius in Attica was at the top of my bucket list and I studied intensively and applied a whole year of knowledge and experience to find the right habitat without knowing of any published location. The one I found was dead but it was hit just a few minutes prior. While it was depressing to find it like that, it was still a very valuable record and good things may come out of it in the future.
Dahl’s whip snake at an urban park in Athens
Think of Central Park – but in Athens. And smaller. In this sad, xeric, biodiversity-inhibiting Pinus halepensis plantation surrounded by dense city on all sides exists a small reproducing population of Platyceps najadum. The first specimen I could photograph was found basking during the peak of a long warm spell in January, it was my lifer, the first snake of the year and it was the only adult I have managed to find at the site as of yet. It would have been in the top 5 but I have found 4 individuals in total there and they can be found somewhat reliably, on top of that there is evidence to support they exist in other urban parks too.
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| Dahl's whip snake |
Metro Athens grass snake (no photo)
While turtling, I found a small adult grass snake swimming in a creek in urban Athens. I tried to catch it but it was fast and it escaped deep into a root system. It was a fairly typical individual, but grass snakes are essentially unheard of in urban Athens nowadays. Sadly, I have no photographic evidence, but I’ll probably revisit the site next summer and knowing grass snakes, finding another one doesn’t seem impossible.
Lifer javelin sand boa
It all started when I found a shed under a rock. It was at a completely new site in Attica where the species had not been recorded. After my leg injury had mostly healed, even though I was still limping, I very carefully picked a day so that the weather was perfect and I revisited right at the end of the peak of Eryx jaculus season, as these snakes are not just uncommon but also a pain to find. In a legendary herping session that to this day remains one of my favorites of all time, I managed to find not one but two juveniles, and one was found not 4 feet away from where I had found the shed a few months back. After all the hard work and sacrifice, it is safe to say I absolutely earned these snakes.
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| Eryx jaculus |
And finally, the snake to rule them all
1. Athens city limits giant striped Zamenis situla
There is simply no topping this snake. This part of Mesogeia has been extensively herped for many years and while it was sort of expected for situla to exist in the general area, we were not expecting it there of all places. In comically open habitat, under a sad aggregation of boards that I could only find toads under. And not only did I find a situla at this new site, but it was striped and massive as well! When I herp in Attica with my friends, a snake like this is literally the joke of the conversation as in “oh, this board is totally gonna have a giant striped situla under it”. We do not even consider the probability of this happening while we’re out looking. But apparently, one can achieve the unachievable.
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| Gigantic striped leopard snake from Attica |