Fieldherper.com » Equipment

California Kingsnake

Bryan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:27:10 +0000

This is a both a completely horrible photo, and an example of why I love the camera RAW format. I did not check my exposure settings before taking pictures of this guy, and ended up with a card of pure-black trash. This is not an ideal photo of course, but I was able to salvage this from seemingly nothing. Fancy stuff.

Anyway, this is a California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) from North of Wickenberg. I’ve never seen one out in the daylight hours before, and this one was big, fat, and quite aggressive.

California kingsnake

New Stuff

Bryan — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:26:59 +0000

I went shopping last night for some new hiking boots and ended up getting the same pair as I had purchased last year:

They are touted as ‘rattlesnake proof’. I have no idea why, but some herpers view wearing this kind of thing as stupid. I personally don’t see how any extra caution could possibly be laughed at … it isn’t like looking for venomous snakes is like playing checkers and you can afford to ‘lose a couple’. Also nice, they’re CACTUS-proof, waterproof, and one long boot up the calf makes them pretty damn comfortable for driving long distances to my surprise. I absolutely wore out the pair I bought last year, putting a good 50+ miles on them from what I can estimate.

I also bought this hat:

It will make me look stupid, but not as stupid as the constantly sun-burnt ears and nose of last year. It is a welcome trade.

I also got a new maglight. I can’t find my other one, and I solve my problems irresponsibly.

Camera Practice

Bryan — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 02:07:30 +0000

I’m unfortunately stuck at home sick on the first really nice, herp-friendly weekend of the year. That leaves my pets to be the subject of lots and lots of bad photos while I practice with my new toys.

New Camera!

Bryan — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 02:51:40 +0000

Today I took a step away from just being a herp-nerd by spending $1700+ on camera gear for the upcoming year. After months of research and thousands of reviews (not kidding, unfortunately), I got some great advice from a couple of folks at the AHA Forums and ended up getting a Canon 40D DSLR and two Canon lenses (28-135 & 75-300) with a 3-year warranty.

It comes in the mail in about a week. I am flipping out inside, hard.