I took this site to Wordpress a few years ago ... so if you've ended up here, please head to my newer, much more updated and current sites:
Field Herping: http://www.fieldherper.com
Phoenix Snake Removal: http://www.phoenixsnakeremoval.com
Monday, October 4, 2010
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Tough ID in the Huachuca Mountains
... from a trip with Kris late in 2007.
We were making our way down steep talus on the East end of the Huachuca mountains looking for C. lepidus when Kris saw something blue/black in a rock. It was too far to see in detail. The best I could do was take a zoomed photo and hope it worked out later. Click to make it big.
Finally this morning, when cleaning out some old photos, a Yarrow's Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovi) appeared after some adjustments in photoshop. Nothing crazy, but it was driving me nuts.
We were making our way down steep talus on the East end of the Huachuca mountains looking for C. lepidus when Kris saw something blue/black in a rock. It was too far to see in detail. The best I could do was take a zoomed photo and hope it worked out later. Click to make it big.
Finally this morning, when cleaning out some old photos, a Yarrow's Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovi) appeared after some adjustments in photoshop. Nothing crazy, but it was driving me nuts.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Year's End
Kelly and I moved into a new house last week. My free time will thus be spent pulling tape from boxes and crushing fingertips for the remainder of this season, unfortunately. Hopefully I'll get out to the new-to-me mountains I see to the West each morning to catch some herps laying out in the last warmth of the year. If not, I'll begin posting again in February or so.
This year has been good. I've added many animals to my life-list: C. molossus, C. lepidus klauberi, C. cerberus, C. Willardi, Gyalopion canum, Thamnophis cryptosisotalus, and Heloderma suspectrum. The molossus was my first find of the year, while the tigris was my last.
My goals for next year include getting out to Eastern New Mexico to look for anything within range of my parent's new home, and perhaps a trip to Costa rica. Who knows.
This year has been good. I've added many animals to my life-list: C. molossus, C. lepidus klauberi, C. cerberus, C. Willardi, Gyalopion canum, Thamnophis cryptosisotalus, and Heloderma suspectrum. The molossus was my first find of the year, while the tigris was my last.
My goals for next year include getting out to Eastern New Mexico to look for anything within range of my parent's new home, and perhaps a trip to Costa rica. Who knows.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Relocation 08-16-07
I got a snake call on the 16th from the AHA and went to pick up a very aggressive diamondback. A big storm blew in just as I was leaving the house and I decided it would be better to return the next day for the release. I found a nice area about a half mile away with lots of cover. It was cloudy and the temperature was 88 degrees. I'm surprised I didn't see something else on-route to the release spot.
Click the pictures to make them big.
Online Videos by Veoh.com
Online Videos by Veoh.com
Click the pictures to make them big.
Online Videos by Veoh.com
Online Videos by Veoh.com
Monday, September 10, 2007
Tiger Rattlesnake
Kelly and I went out for a quick trip to the Superstition Mountains Saturday night, not expecting to see much due to the clear sky and weekend traffic. Surprisingly, the traffic wasn't bad at all, though things were still slow. We saw one snake once the temperature got down to reasonable Crotalus-loving levels. The one and only snake of the night was our first Crotalus tigris (Tiger rattlesnake).
I'd seen (smelled, rather) a dead C. tigris while hiking South Mountain with Floyd a few years back, not too long before I started treating field herping like a serious hobby. Of course I didn't consider it a 'first', since it was dead. Still, I've always wanted to see a live one.
Crotalus tigris has the most potent venom of any rattlesnake. The snake was very calm, though alert, through nearly all of the photography and handling (tongs). That lasted until I slid my camera through the gravel towards it on a time-delay to get a good macro shot. It didn't like the vibration and went apeshit. Good time to go home and watch a really stupid movie, or about 30 minutes of it anyway. We should have stayed in the mountains.
I'd seen (smelled, rather) a dead C. tigris while hiking South Mountain with Floyd a few years back, not too long before I started treating field herping like a serious hobby. Of course I didn't consider it a 'first', since it was dead. Still, I've always wanted to see a live one.
Crotalus tigris has the most potent venom of any rattlesnake. The snake was very calm, though alert, through nearly all of the photography and handling (tongs). That lasted until I slid my camera through the gravel towards it on a time-delay to get a good macro shot. It didn't like the vibration and went apeshit. Good time to go home and watch a really stupid movie, or about 30 minutes of it anyway. We should have stayed in the mountains.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Huachuca Mountains, September 1-3, 2007
I've been down to the South East end of Arizona several times in the past two years in search of what I've gathered by reading posts by other herpers on the AHA and Fieldherp forums are some of the more sought-after snakes around town. The last three trips I've limited the search specifically to Crotalus lepidus klauberi, the banded rock rattlesnake (or green rock rattlesnake, depending on the date of the book you're reading, as informed by Jerry Feldner). The last two times were no good, though we did end up scouting out the areas in the process where I'd eventually find them. My girlfriend Kelly and I went to the Huachuca mountains and spent a few days searching, and eventually found three lepidus.
The first animal seen was an unusually dark Crotalus scutulatus (Mojave Rattlesnake).
There were many of these neonate Sonoran Gophersnakes (Pituophis catenifer affinis) around. All but this guy were hit by cars, unfortunately.
Early the next evening we found our first C. lepidus in habitat looking nowhere near what I had expected and searched earlier. I flipped out, hard.
... then we found another.
We found this unfortunate Crotalus willardi willardi (Ridgenosed Rattlesnake) that had just been hit by a car. It was still alive, though I am sure not for long with the many owls and skunks we saw that night. I could have taken some better photos of at least the front end of it, but my girlfriend reminded me that I should probably leave it alone and let it die without some douchebag with a camera right in it's face. I agreed and we left disappointed to not have come across it minutes before. Crotalus willardi is arguably the most highly prized herp find in our state, if not the country. Field herpers come to monsoon-season SE Arizona from all over the country each year with willardi on their wish-list. I can't accurately convey how sad it is to see something for the first time that you've seen so often in books and posts by respected field herpers in real life for the first time, and watch it die. I am sure I will have plenty of experiences with willardi in the future, but the first is the one you'll always remember.
Awhile later we found a Chihuahuan Hook-nosed Snake (Gyalopion canum), my second of the year. This snake is one of two (the other being the Sonoran Coral Snake) that defend themselves by means of "cloacal popping" ... otherwise known as farting. Here are a few pictures and a video where you can hear these terrifying farts.
That was it for the night. In the morning, on the way home, I wanted to try some hiking in the area where we'd seen the lepidus the night before. They are primarily active in the daytime, so two in a night hints at some high activity in some previously unconsidered habitat, driven by many times on multiple trips.
Here's some habitat shots Kelly took. One has a fat animal of some sort ruining the shot.
After hiking for awhile through the grassland below the mountain, it took only a few minutes of searching on the first pile of rocks we saw to turn up this extremely green adult lepidus and a few Yarrow's Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus jarrovi). It was a good end to the trip.
The first animal seen was an unusually dark Crotalus scutulatus (Mojave Rattlesnake).
There were many of these neonate Sonoran Gophersnakes (Pituophis catenifer affinis) around. All but this guy were hit by cars, unfortunately.
Early the next evening we found our first C. lepidus in habitat looking nowhere near what I had expected and searched earlier. I flipped out, hard.
... then we found another.
We found this unfortunate Crotalus willardi willardi (Ridgenosed Rattlesnake) that had just been hit by a car. It was still alive, though I am sure not for long with the many owls and skunks we saw that night. I could have taken some better photos of at least the front end of it, but my girlfriend reminded me that I should probably leave it alone and let it die without some douchebag with a camera right in it's face. I agreed and we left disappointed to not have come across it minutes before. Crotalus willardi is arguably the most highly prized herp find in our state, if not the country. Field herpers come to monsoon-season SE Arizona from all over the country each year with willardi on their wish-list. I can't accurately convey how sad it is to see something for the first time that you've seen so often in books and posts by respected field herpers in real life for the first time, and watch it die. I am sure I will have plenty of experiences with willardi in the future, but the first is the one you'll always remember.
Awhile later we found a Chihuahuan Hook-nosed Snake (Gyalopion canum), my second of the year. This snake is one of two (the other being the Sonoran Coral Snake) that defend themselves by means of "cloacal popping" ... otherwise known as farting. Here are a few pictures and a video where you can hear these terrifying farts.
That was it for the night. In the morning, on the way home, I wanted to try some hiking in the area where we'd seen the lepidus the night before. They are primarily active in the daytime, so two in a night hints at some high activity in some previously unconsidered habitat, driven by many times on multiple trips.
Here's some habitat shots Kelly took. One has a fat animal of some sort ruining the shot.
After hiking for awhile through the grassland below the mountain, it took only a few minutes of searching on the first pile of rocks we saw to turn up this extremely green adult lepidus and a few Yarrow's Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus jarrovi). It was a good end to the trip.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Congress area & Bradshaw Mountains
Kelly and I went up to Congress, Arizona for the weekend. I'd seen the only two speckled rattlesnakes (Crotalus mitchelli) that I've ever seen up there, so I thought I'd give it a try and see if I could get some good photos before the year's out. We didn't find one, but did find some other cool stuff. Here's the trip:
Dozens of these Diamondbacks (Crotalus atrox). This one is a baby. The rest we just recorded our data and moved off the road.
One of a few mojave rattlesnakes from the trip. All were yearlings.
Found this young longnose snake with an interesting pattern (in my small bit of experience) for a snake this young. The photograph is terrible, as is the next one of a tiny night snake. Not sure what my problem was.
Last find of the night was an adult California Kingsnake.
The next day we went hiking a bit. We didn't see any herps other than a few whiptails and a skink that escaped my fingers. We did find a few cool mantids.
My first Black-necked Gartersnake.
More diamondbacks ...
I completely did not expect this Crotalus cerberus where we were at, but it was a nice find (my first). We had apparently wandered into their range. Slick.
On the way home we found a little pond full of THOUSANDS of hopping toadlets.
Dozens of these Diamondbacks (Crotalus atrox). This one is a baby. The rest we just recorded our data and moved off the road.
One of a few mojave rattlesnakes from the trip. All were yearlings.
Found this young longnose snake with an interesting pattern (in my small bit of experience) for a snake this young. The photograph is terrible, as is the next one of a tiny night snake. Not sure what my problem was.
Last find of the night was an adult California Kingsnake.
The next day we went hiking a bit. We didn't see any herps other than a few whiptails and a skink that escaped my fingers. We did find a few cool mantids.
My first Black-necked Gartersnake.
More diamondbacks ...
I completely did not expect this Crotalus cerberus where we were at, but it was a nice find (my first). We had apparently wandered into their range. Slick.
On the way home we found a little pond full of THOUSANDS of hopping toadlets.
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