We ended up seeing a great variety of species; much more than I had planned on. The most impressive to me were the timbers, but I have to say I was most excited for the two Eastern massassaugas we got to photograph. The weather was cold and very wet most of the time (I learned ‘rain gear’ isn’t all created equal), and it was very strange to me to even be out looking in such conditions … May in Arizona is already too hot in the daytime to be looking beyond a few hours after sunup.

Within 2 hours of stepping off the plane in Buffalo, we’d seen 9 rattlesnakes. Incredible! What is great to mention as well, as that this was made possible because of this blog I’ve been keeping for awhile. The couple of guys that hosted me and showed me the amazing sights originally had contacted me a few years back about meeting up here in Arizona, and we’ve kept in contact since then and get out fo see some snakes once a year. This site has helped me meet not only many herpers all around the world, but the right kind of them; conservation minded, animals-first kind of people. This Springtime trip to PA symbolizes all that for me.

Anyway, just a bit of an explanation before I start posting all these East coast animals. I’ll still be posting lots of animals from Arizona and New Mexico, but I need to start getting these into the mix as well. To wrap it up: a few timbers.

He’s pretty cool looking, too.

Crotalus cerberus

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

I spend so much time looking for these guys that it’s amazing that people don’t see a bright yellow, 3.5′ animal as big around as a coke can laying in the middle of the road. I realize that quite often hitting a rattlesnake is the intentional act of the cowardly miniscule manhood crowd of the American Southwest, but sometimes it’s not. Birders are notorious for it … not that they mean to, but they’re looking UP and just miss whatever’s on the road. In the South East, there have been plenty of times I’m caught behind a binocular-faced duo in an economy car leaving writhing, dying reptiles in their wake. Just last May I found a nearly 7′ gophersnake crossing the road … just massive, brightly colored … impossible to miss. I stopped the car before they ran over it, and they said they were glad I did because they didn’t see it at all. Can’t blame them though … when I’m out looking for snakes I can’t say I’m looking in the trees.

Hope this guy is ok.

C-m-molossus

This is the same snake as I featured recently, sitting in a crack in a rock. We saw him there, and returned later to see him sitting out, and got some more photos. These are probably my favorites from the trip, and I must again say that this is my favorite species

Northern Black Tailed Rattlesnake

I can’t believe how awesome this snake is; blacktails make me pretty happy to be around. The latter half, as you can see, is more or less patternless, while the front half has a simplified pattern reduced to single yellow chevrons fully encased in that rich brown. It’s very different than what I’m used to here in Arizona, and I hope to visit this individual again next time I’m out that way.

I love this thing.

Fast forward 3 days, and in a different burrow, with a different tortoise and different snake, not even 50 yards away:

I returned to the area every day for the next couple of weeks (except a few lazy days). The tortoise was always there, but the diamondback moved on. Still … it’s not common you get a chance to make up a missed shot.

Dust storms: New Mexico does them right. My first night there, winds were over 50 mph and dust stung my eyes … I still found snakes though.

Here’s a big old boy I found one evening just before the sun went over the Guadalupe mountains.

Here’s another one from a few years back. What a beautiful snake …

My parents live in Carlsbad, so even though I didn’t find everything on my list, I know I eventually will.

For comparison, here is a young, higher-contrast individual from the same area

The only reptiles I saw that day, aside from a beautiful red prairie rattlesnake that was hit by the car in front of me later on, were a big group of spiny lizards out catching some sun. The temperature up there in the snow was only in the mid-40′s, but the rocks themselves were warm enough for basking. I count 9 lizards in this photo; only a fraction of the ones that scattered away as I approached.

The sidewinders were out in force this night. We eventually just stopped pulling over for them, even though I had some out of state friends here to see them.

sonoran sidewinder

Sidewinder

Here are a trio of diamondbacks found along the way:

Diamondbacks

diamondback

atrox

diamondback

Here are a couple of the many canyon treefrogs we saw as well.

Frog

canyon treefrog

… and some indian art on a rock, right near where we parked.

art

Here’s about the scariest thing you can find in Arizona, an open nest of bees. Fortunately, these guys usually make enough noise so that you can see them well before you piss them off.

bees

And finally, a patchnosed snake we found on the way out to our next location.

Patch-Nosed Snake

Crotalus molossus

blacktail rattlesnake

rattlesnake in the superstition moutains

black tail rattlesnake

molossus

We got back to our car just before dark and found this baby Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Crotalus atrox, right away. We didn’t take too much care with the pics on this one. Photographed and moved off the road.

Crotalus atrox

Then we found one of my favorite Colubrids, the Sonoran Lyresnake, Trimorphodon lambda. He had kind of a jacked up lower jaw as if he had swallowed part of it, but it looked to be healing, and it had some food in the belly, so it looks like he’ll be fine.

lyresnake

Trimorphodon lambda

popeye face

Sonoran Lyresnake in Arizona

On the way out, we found the last thing I expected, a Couch’s Spadefoot Toad. These are pretty common during the monsoons in the flats, but we were still well within the foothills when we found him. Weird.

Couch's Toad

Final pictures of the series, the first Hopi Rattlesnakes, Crotalus viridis viridis, formally Crotalus viridis nuntius, found by Kelly and myself in the summer of 2009.

Crotalus viridis

C. viridis viridis

Hopi Rattlesnake

Hopi Rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis.

Hopi Rattlesnake

Hopi Rattlesnake

Crotalus viridis viridis

In the early morning I photographed several snakes out in a cold lightning storm. I have to say, taking pictures of a big pissed off diamondback while lightning strikes all around is a great way to get the blood pumping. (a few of these will reappear in another post in a special about C. atrox variation).

Crotalus atrox

Crotalus atrox

Crotalus scutulatus

Some vultures …

vulture

vultures

… and while I’m posting birds:

falcon

Here’s another Mojave Rattlesnake:

Crotalus scutulatus

… and another.

Crotalus scutulatus

Crotalus scutulatus

Back into New Mexico, I found several Ornate Box Turtles out in the rain.

Ornate Box Turtle

Ornate Box Turble in New Mexico

Ornate Box Turtle

In the evening, I found a tarantula hawk wasp the size of an adult mouse dragging a paralyzed, but still living, tarantula to a nest.

Tarantula hawk

Finally the rain cleared, but I decided to call it an early night, after a long, long day of not seeing a whole lot. The last snake I had seen was at about 10am, and the day was an adventure of car issues in the middle of nowhere, hiding from monster storms, and dodging flash floods. I got one last shot of the Animas mountains of New Mexico, opposite of the sunset, as the last of the hail clouds broke up to a chilly night sky.

New Mexico

Happy Halloween!

More Hopi Rattlesnakes, Crotalus viridis, from North Central Arizona.

C. viridis

Hopi Rattlesnake

Hopi Rattlesnake

Here are a few I’ve found within 2 days in 2009, within 70 miles of eachother.

This one was found in an interesting area along the New Mexican border with Arizona, where I have seen much more variety in this species than in other places. It has a beautiful red coloration.

Red-Phase Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

This second snake was MASSIVE. It was probably the largest diamondback I’ve ever seen; right around 5′. Although this isn’t too uncommon in other places like Texas, here in Arizona this is seldom achieved. The snake also has a reduced pattern, and a nice pink tail. It was also kitten-tame, which just makes it difficult to photograph. I was really impressed with this big girl.

Diamondback Rattlesnake

Western Diamondback

Here’s one with a very clean pattern with more typical coloration, and a bad attitude, resulting in the clasic “S” pose the diamondback is famous for. I had to snap these quickly, as the storm you see in the background was dropping lightning all around us. This is definitely one way to get some adrenaline into the bloodstream.

Back off man!

Crotalus atrox

Crotalus atrox

Crotalus atrox

Here’s another with a minimal pattern, which would have appeared a nice pink color in the daytime.

Crotalus atrox

Here is a very young neonate, only about the size of a pencil.

Baby Rattlesnake

… and another young snake, this one with a year or two under its belt.

Crotalus atrox

Here’s a very dark individual with a great deal of speckling in the pattern.

Crotalus atrox

… and another tiny baby with seemingly too many diamonds, and strong white bands separating them.

baby rattlesnake

You may want to note the button on this snake if you currently believe that baby rattlesnakes are born without a rattle. It is true that the thing is useless at this point, though the snake tries his little head off to scare you away by shaking it regardless. Rattlesnakes are born with a prebutton, which gains a rattle-able link by the second shed.

Baby atrox

… and one last baby just to make this post way too long.

Baby rattle snake

Even though these were found within a very short time of one another, this is only a small fraction of the incredible number of diamondbacks we found on this trip. We found a total of 82 snakes on this trip all in all, the majority being diamondbacks that were just escorted off the road. I made the mistake in the past of not photographing these snakes as often as other, less common species. In the meantime, I’ve grown a great deal more knowledgeable about rattlesnakes, and it only occurred to me after examining these pictures upon returning from this trip where I’d made a point to photograph more diamondbacks that I had been missing out on a great deal. I think that I’ve stumbled upon the shape that this hobby will take once I’ve reached the goal of seeing one of all of the reptiles in the state. That goal is finite, in fact, I am sure I’ll be able to do it within the next few years (except for maybe one or two that in all likelyhood probably don’t actually exist within Arizona), but learning about and observing the variation between each species in different localities will be endless. I’m looking forward to it.

How ironicly exciting that this realization has come with our most common, and most iconic, rattlesnake.

More beautiful little Hopi Rattlesnakes from our first outing in search of them.

Hopi Rattlesnake

Crotalus viridis

Crotalus viridis

We were discussing which other rattlesnakes we could possibly see on a hot, dry evening, and no sooner did the words “there’s no way we’ll see a tiger tonight” leave my mouth did we see a Tiger Rattlesnake, Crotalus tigris. Whoa! Of course I took way too many pictures.

Crotalus tigris

Tiger Rattlesnake

Crotalus tigris

Crotalus tigris

Then we saw an angry young Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Crotalus atrox.

Crotalus atrox

A big tarantula out looking for a mate or meal:

tarantula

… and then another Black-Tailed Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus.

Crotalus molossus

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Crotalus molossus

We were pretty satisfied with this and called it a night after activity seemed to tail off. In the morning we got a couple shots of one of my favorite Arizona lizards on the way out, Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus jarrovi.

Sceloporus jarrovvi

Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

Sceloporus jarrovvi

Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

The last picture for this trip was a very large moth we found doing its best lichen impression.

moth

On the way to our evening target area, we found a few lizards.

A couple of Elegant Earless Lizard, Holbrookia elegans.

Elegant Earless Lizard

Holbrookia elegans

… and a Regal Horned Lizard, Phrynosoma solare.

Phrynosoma solare

After dark, the first snake we found was a MONSTER Black-Tailed Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus. This is my favorite species of rattlesnake, and to see one this size was incredible. We did not measure it, but it was at least 4.5′ long. My snake tongs, for instance, are 46″ long, and the snake was longer even not entirely stretched out.

Crotalus molossus

Crotalus molossus

… and then another huge snake. This one was not quite as large as the first, but still much larger than the average rattlesnake encountered in Arizona. The hardest part of working with these snakes was getting them to sit still long enough to photograph them. They did not seem to be bothered by us, even when picked up, and were content just going on their way.

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Crotalus molossus

The previous night we didn’t see much, except for a pissy Sonoran Gophersnake, Pituophis catenifer affinis, or two.

Sonoran Gophersnake

Pituophis in Arizona

Gophersnake

We also found some Sonora Mud Turtles, Kinsternon sonoriense.

Sonora Mud Turtle

Sonora Mud Turtle

Sonora Mud Turtles

We also found a couple of frogs. The invasive American Bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana, and the protected Chiricuahua Leopard Frog, Rana chiricahuensis.

American Bullfrog

Chiricuahua Leopard Frog

The dry and the heat gave us an uneventful first evening and early morning hike, except for this Ring-Necked Snake, Diadophis punctatus. It was the first either of us had ever seen of this snake, despite it being fairly common throughout much of the state.

Ring-Necked Snake

A look at the brilliantly colored underbelly.

Diadophis punctatus

Conditions were a little shakey as we got our hotel room for the night. It had been downpouring all day, and the streets were flooded with 6″ or more of water. The same was true for the habitat that we could see. Temperatures were also 10 degrees below where we wanted them, and it was only 4:30pm. Our hope was that our search area, 20 miles away, had not been hit as hard, and the ground would regain some heat in the final hours before dark.

Things went well, to say the least. In our first outing looking for Hopi Rattlesnakes, we found 5 of them. I did as I always do with something new to me; I took way too many pictures. I’ll split them up over the course of several posts. Here is the first.

Crotalus viridis viridis

Crotalus viridis

Hopi Rattlesnake

Here it is as it was found, sleeping in a rock cut

Crotalus cerberus

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

I left to search further into the canyon, but found nothing. On the way out, as the sun had just gone over the edge of the mountains, I found the same snake in a different location, about 100 feet from the original hideout. It was sleeping in the middle of the wash. I was able to once again sneak a few photos without disturbing the animal, and left without it even knowing I had found it both times.

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Crotalus cerberus

Here’s one I moved off the roadway, which covered itself (and my hands) in it’s own poop and blood along the way.

Rhinocheilus lecontei

Long-Nosed Snake

The first is a young Greater Short-Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) enjoying the early evening sun.

Phronosoma hernandesi

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Greater Short-Horned Lizard

The second is the first Madrean Alligator Lizard (Elgaria kingii) I’ve been able to photograph. I’ve seen one other one, but it slipped through my fingers in tall grass.

Madrean Alligator Lizard

Elgaria kingii

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Here was my view at about 8 a.m.

Bradshaw Mountains

It is a bit on the venomous side, though a bite to humans won’t do more than potentially hurt like hell for a few hours. I took this one home with me, where it immediately devoured a greater earless lizard.

Trimorphodon lambda

Trimorphodon lambda

The rest of that day and evening were uneventful, unfortunately. We left the Superstitions and headed way out West of Phoenix to try and see some other species of Crotalus. To make things worse, temperatures were way down, even from the previously cool days. We started our hike in the Harcuvar mountains with overcast skies and temperatures just under 60 degrees. We saw a lot of great habitat, but no snakes sitting where they might if the sun were warming the adjacent rocks that day. Just to stick a fork in it, the wind was gusting bad enough to keep my hat in my free hand when anywhere near the ground. Two of us retreated to the flats to check low-lying washes since nothing was working up in the rocky hills.

Soon after, I heard a faint voice yelling something but couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from because of the wind. Eventually I heard it more clearly: “Gila Monster!”. Whoa.

Heloderma suspectrum

This was my third Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectrum) I’ve ever seen in the wild, and my second of this trip!

Gila Monster

After that we kept to the washes where temperatures were warmer and there was little wind. We saw a large zebra-tailed lizard (Callisaurus draconoides) hiding in the sand.

Zebra-Tailed Lizard

Zebra-Tailed Lizard

At that point we were doing more aimless wandering and talking than herping, so we decided to call it good. In a few days time, despite cool temperatures, high winds and a full moon, we managed quite a bit. Of only two rattlesnakes found, one was the trip target, the Black-Tailed rattlesnake. We also saw 2 of the more elusive and arguably cool venomous reptiles we have here in Arizona, in the coral snake and not one, but two gila monsters. This was definitely a trip to remember, and I was glad to have been able to share it with some new friends from the East.

The last snake we found was this desert patch-nosed snake (Salvadora hexalepis) I found laying across the road on the way out.

Salvadora hexalepis

The ground temperatures eventually got higher and we decided to head back to try another wash that had more cover, where I’d previously seen many of our target species, the Black-Tailed Rattlesnake (Crotaluss molossus). On the way, I jumped up and across a large boulder, setting off a short, barely audible “chk chk chk” in the darkness below which one of my herping partners was able to hear. I jumped off the rock and saw a loop of a large, desert phase Black-Tailed Rattlesnake disappearing into the depths. Finally our target species!

Crotalus molossus

This is my favorite species of the rattlesnakes that I have encountered in Arizona. They’re fairly common, but I never get tired of seeing them and the amazing variety of colors they seem to come in. This one was typical of the greenish, moderately contrasted animals I encounter in the Superstition mountains.

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Crotalus molossus

Crotalus molossus

It was released back to the boulder where we found it, and we went back to hike the originally planned upon wash, to no result other than another group of perfectly camoflaged canyon treefrogs (Hyla arenicolor).

Hyla arenicolor

After finding nothing else enjoying the morning sun, we started hiking an open, rocky wash I had spotted the day before as a possible place to find our target for the trip and my favorite of the rattlesnakes I’ve encountered so far, Crotalus molossus, the Black-Tailed Rattlesnake.

Within 50 yards from our point of entry, one of my herping partners saw a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) hiding in a rodent activity area under a large rock. Finally the first rattlesnake of the trip!

Crotalus atrox, in situ

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Continuing up the wash, well’camoflauged canyon treefrogs (Hyla arenicolor) were everywhere in various forms.

Hyla arenicolor

Canyon Treefrog

Canyon treefrogs display some amazing camouflage. There are 2 hiding in this crack doing their best rock impression.

Canyon Treefrogs

The stream still had some moving water, in which each puddle was home to a good number of these lowland leopard frogs (Rana yavapaiensis).

Rana yavapaiensis

I spent a good part of the day exploring the Northern end of the mountains, where it was too cold to find any animals, but productive nonetheless as I found some great places to visit later in the year. The desert was in bloom and the colors were surprizing.

Superstitions In Bloom

Superstition Mountains

After an uneventful night cruise we decided to get out the flashlights and hike around the stream bed near the campsite, hoping to see some of the amphibians making all that noise. We found quite a few Canyon Treefrogs (hyla arenicolor) and Red-Spotted Toads (Bufo punctatus) active in the colder, moist air.

Hyla arenicolor

I also found this confused Ornate Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus) wandering around the rocks at night. Normally pretty quick, I was able to just reach down and pick this one up. I seldom see these out at night … I wonder what he was up to.

Urosaurus ornatus

The next morning we went for a quick cruise up the canyon to see if any reptiles were awake and warming from the cold night. We didn’t see any snakes, but some big horn sheep climbed up over the road from a nearly vertical cliff on the other side. They let us take photos and didn’t seem at all spooked by the two cars that had stopped to stare. I haven’t seen these before in the wild so it was a nice treat.

Big Horn Sheep

Desert Bighorn Sheep

Ovis canadensis nelsoni

I know they’re not reptiles, but all part of the experience. Always cool to see animals out in their natural environment.

In the morning, the first thing I found was a biggie for me. It was a Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum), only my second find of this animal.

Gila Monster

Heloderma suspectum

I took a lot of pictures. I’ve only seen 2 in so many trips to the desert, who knows when the next one would be.

Gila Monster in Arizona

Gila Monster

Although they’re venomous, the bite is most likely not going to be fatal to a human unless there’s some other problem going on. Unlike rattlesnakes, their bite is purely defensive. They’re slow moving animals who just want to get away, and will face you and slowly back up to cover if bothered. I tried my best to keep my distance and let this one do what he was doing and get my photos without hassling him. It was on its way somewhere and I was pleased to follow it for awhile as it did what Gila Monsters do.

Also found with the earlier-mentioned coral snake was this big gross desert bug, the Arizona Desert Centipede (Scolopedra heros arizonensis). They’re the largest centipede in the U.S., capable of reaching up to 12 inches in captivity. Always cool to see, they are one of the few things out here that just creep the hell out of me.

Arizona Desert Centipede

Scolopendra heros arizonensis

Here’s one crawling on a boot, just so you can see how big these things are and why they make me feel like a scared little girl when I’m around them.

Gross dude.

I went back to town at this point to meet up with a couple of guys from Pennsylvania who were out in Arizona to see some desert animals. Right away, we were able to photograph this young adult Sonoran Gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer affinis) enjoying the warm dirt roads of Apache Junction.

Sonoran Gophersnake

Pituophis catenifer affinis

More to come.

I was really happy to have found this Sonoran Coralsnake (Micruroides euryxanthus) out on the move.  This is the 5th I’ve seen, and I was happy to be able to show my new friends from Pennsylvania one of the more elusive venomous snakes we have here in Arizona. This is one of a handful of snakes that can be the only one found on a trip and I’ll still feel completely satisfied seeing it alone.

Sonoran Coralsnake

… and a couple more of the same animal.

Micruroides euryxanthus

Sonoran Coralsnake

Superstition Mountains

It was a good sign when I saw this Ground Snake (Sonora Semiannulata) within minutes of arriving on location.

Sonora semiannulata

Groundsnake

Here he is again without the Flash, in the dramatic late-afternoon lighting. I prefer this sort of shot than the ‘field guide’ style above.

Ground Snake

Sonora semiannulata

When I was done photographing, I watched it crawl into a crack in a rock cut, which was also inhabited by a sub-adult Chuckwalla. The only part visible was the tail; evidence that somebody isn’t as sneaky as they think they are.

Chuckwalla

That's a weird looking root.

The evening lighting can be quite dramatic in the canyon. I haven’t been able to accurately portray how this place looks with my photos.

Superstition Mountains

One last photograph for this portion of the story; a large Red Spotted Toad (Bufo punctatus):

Red Spotted Toad

Bufo punctatus

The temperatures were in the high 70s, but the air and ground was bone dry.

Cochise County in Spring

Springtime in Cochise County

The one animal found in 2 days searching Northern Cochise County and Southern Graham County turned up one neonate Mojave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) out wandering the flats in relatively cold conditions. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but this little guy was only about as long as a dollar bill.

Crotalus scutulatus

Mojave Rattlesnake

Mojave Rattlesnake

A tiny baby Mojave Rattlesnake

After hiking an area in Southern Graham county with a new friend from Sierra Vista, I went to the Santa Rita mountains to try and find a green rat snake with no luck. I started the 4 hour drive home and decided to make one last-ditch attempt to put something my CF card at a location between Tucson and Phoenix: I saw 4 snakes within 15 minutes. Go figure. These were a large Sonoran Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes) and his deceased friend just down the road, a young Sonoran Gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer affinis) and an injured Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) that I did not photograph.

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus in Arizona

Sonoran Sidewinder

One of 2 Sidewinder subspecies found within Arizona

Sonoran Gophersnake

A Sonoran Gophersnake found West of Tucson, Arizona

We did see a couple species of gecko, and brown anoles were everywhere in town. The pictures aren’t the best, as my preferred lens for these type of shots was killed by a wave while I was taking pictures of a crab. Whoops.

Brown Anole

Mourning Gecko

We got up before the sun and headed South to take the long way in hopes of seeing some snakes warming themselves in the early sunlight. No such luck. That set the tone for what was a pretty herp-free trip. Here’s some pictures from the first day.

Bullfrog

Whiptail

Fur Bug

We camped at the base of the mountain and got up before sunup once again to see what we could find. We ended up hiking to the top of the mountain before noon, climbing a full mile up over 5.2 miles of trail. What to do when you get up there? Hurry your ass back down before dark!

First, however, you have to wake up and find the will to put on your boots.

The filthy underbelly of herping

Lots of nice scenery, which you can’t look at much without ending up part of it.

Supertrail

Supertrail

Supertrail

Supertrail

Supertrail

This is why you don’t want to get struck by lightning. Someone should have told this tree.

Lightning-gutted tree

No snakes, but we saw lots of lizards who didn’t seem to mind people very much.

Yarrow\'s Spiny Lizard

Yarrow\'s Spiny Lizard

Yarrow\'s Spiny Lizard

Yarrow\'s Spiny Lizard

Yarrow\'s Spiny Lizard

When snakes are hiding, expect to see plenty of tree pictures.

Sometimes its better than others, but it’s always a premier find when you can knock something you’ve only seen in books and on the internet off the list, and say you’ve seen it. Some, like these three, were found while looking for a different target. For this one, the target was the Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi), which is a protected, endangered species and maybe the most highly-prized field herping find in the U.S. I am sure lots of herpers would have something to say to that statement, but there’s a reason herpers flock to S.E. AZ every monsoon season, and it has a lot to do with willardi.

These are 3 lucky lifers found on the search for willardi this year.

An Eastern Patch-Nosed Snake; my first.

Salvadora grahamiae

A Mexican Spadefoot Toad (Spea multiplicata); also my first one of these.

Spea multiplicata

… and a Chihuahuan Black-Headed Snake (Tantilla wilcoxi); my first, and probably my last for a very long time, if ever again.

Tantilla wilcoxi

4 life-listers in one trip is a good weekend in any herpers book. What’s the 4th? Crotalus willardi, the Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake. I’ll post that one in a few days.

Rather than post a bunch of mega-threads, I’ll just throw out my 2008 monsoon season one animal at a time. It seems easier on my seldom-seen free time that way as well.

So here’s the first … a morning Banded Rock Rattlesnake (Crotalus lepidus klauberi) from the Santa Rita Mountains.

Banded Rock Rattlesnake from the Santa Rita Mountains

Banded Rock Rattlesnake from the Santa Rita Mountains

Banded Rock Rattlesnake from the Santa Rita Mountains

“Oh, hi! Let me take a picture of you!”

“Hmm, a little out of focus. let me try agaaaIIIIIHHH!!!!”

~ The End ~

Here are some more pictures from the drive back to Arizona.

Cloudcroft, New Mexico

Near Silver City, New Mexico

HDR Photo in New Mexico

That night we stayed just inside New Mexico, and spent a few hours along the border.

sunset

… when herps are few, you’ll get scenery pictures.

In the night, we found a couple toads … a Great Plains Toad (Anaxyrus cognatus) and a male Couch’s Spadefoot Toad (Scaphiopus couchii):

Great Plains Toad

Couch\'s Spadefoot (male)

The amount of bugs flying all around us was just unreasonable at this point. There are usually a lot of creepy things flying around my head out there, attracted to the head lamp, but this night was just ridiculous. I was pulling crawling things out of my hair a full hour after getting back in the truck for the last time.

Anyway, that being said, here’s a little longnose snake we found who was as annoyed to be found as we were by the bugs we had to endure to get a picture. He wasn’t cooperative, and neither were we. This is the best we could do:

Long Nosed Snake

In the morning, I got up early to do a little hiking and see if anything was awake. I found a snake pretty quickly. It was a young Sonoran Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer affinis) of the usual high-pink color I usually find on this side of state.

He wasn’t happy about being woken up.

Sonoran Gophersnake

I spent some time hiking and didn’t find anything else, but it was hard to be disappointed.

Chiricuahua Mountains

Chiricuahua Mountains

I’ll end this series the same way our trip ended. While driving back to the hotel to get Kelly up and go home, I found the writhing body of a Mojave Rattlesnake. Both head and tail had been removed while the animal was still alive. Blood was splattered all around. This happened within minutes of my arrival.

Everything\'s Dumber in Texas

This is the kind of macho bullshit perpetuated by the idiots of Sweetwater Texas in their yearly redneck festival, where hundreds of dusty people too arrogant to realize they’re internationally recognized as personified ignorance gather to see who has the biggest hat. Of course this was not in Texas, but Rodeo, New Mexico.

It’s very hard to spend so much time with these animals and not become absolutely furious when finding something like this. This is, to me, similar to how most would feel if they found a dog in the street missing its head, somehow still moving. This was in my thoughts for days. I’m not kidding when I say I hope that the severed head got off one last bite. Sad to say these were my thoughts … but I guess I don’t prefer to be out in the desert whenever I can because I like people.

… and if any residents of Sweetwater end up on this site due to some Googling … please, please, please … buy your kids a book or two, and make Wednesday “No Beating!” day.

We went for a short hike along the Delaware River in the afternoon. Temperatures were a little too hot to see much other than some whiptails. I did get some pictures of a softshell turtle. It was my first, so I was quite satisfied with this being the only notable animal of the trip.

First, a picture of what is probably a dinner-plate sized painted turtle making its way across the river.

Painted Turtle

Here’s a large spider making friends with a damselfly.

Best Pals

Another spider hanging out in the grass … this one a little more pointy than the other.

Potential Afternoon-Ruinner

The soft shelled turtle:

Spiny Softshelled Turtle

Here’s an HDR picture of evening clouds moving in from the South.

Standing in a big shadow

After watching the bat flight from the caverns, we went out again. Pretty quickly, we found the second of the really interesting diamondbacks on the trip. A big chocolate-brown Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox).

Crotalus atrox

A young male tarantula out and about:

Tarantula

… and last for the night, a Red-Spotted Toad (Anaxyrus punctatus).

In the morning we went to see the caves. I’ll keep this post separate, since it’s a lot of cave pictures, and this site isn’t called caveexplorer.com.

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

If you want to see more, I uploaded the full set to my Flickr account.

That’s it for this one! I have a few more posts to go.

We eventually arrived at my parent’s house in Carlsbad mid-morning. After relaxing a bit, we went out to an area near town to see what there is to see. I brought my parents with me as well.

Here’s my mom holding a Red-Spotted Toad (Anaxyrus punctatus formerly Bufu punctatus), followed by another picture of him.

Mom and Red-Spotted Toad

Anaxyrus punctatus

Then we found my favorite of the desert toads, a female Couch’s Spadefoot Toad (Scaphiopus couchii) out and about. They look so weird, with the huge eyes and bony spurs of a true desert specialist. I was glad to find one and show my parents some of the cooler stuff that lives out here.

Scaphiopus couchii

Then we found the first vinegaroon I’ve ever seen in the wild. We ended up seeing a few others, but didn’t stop. The body was a few inches long … bigger than I thought they’d be. Completely harmless, other than his looks and smells.

vinegaroon

If you try and touch them, they get pissed quickly.

vinegaroon

We crossed into New Mexico about a half hour after dark and headed East. We found another young Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) pretty quickly. It had a pretty minimal pattern on it, and had more pink coloration than I’m used to seeing in the Phoenix area.

Crotalus atrox

Then we found another Desert Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula splendida), this one a good deal larger than the last one. The first picture is Kelly holding him up.

Kelly with a Kingsnake

Desert Kingsnake

Desert Kingsnake

Next we found a pinkish-looking Western Diamondback Rattlesnake with a very washed out, light pattern.

Diamondback

The last snake of the evening was another nice, clean Diamondback.

Crotalus atrox

… and that’s that for this one! I’ve got a few more posts yet to make of this trip.

The area along the Arizona/New Mexico border was just finished being pounded by monsoonal rain. The air was in the upper 70′s, which is a little on the cool side for late July. Everything was washed in glowing orange as the sun set, so we stopped to get some dramatic pictures of the rocks and road before the rain started in again.

Sun-lit rocks in Arizona

Sun-lit rocks in Arizona

Just Northeast of Douglas, Arizona

Just Northeast of Douglas, Arizona

It didn’t take long to find a Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox) with the decently clean pattern we usually find in that area.

Crotalus atrox from Eastern Arizona

Crotalus atrox from Eastern Arizona

Then we found a nice yellow Desert Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula splendida). I didn’t really get a good picture of him though because I didn’t see the pile of fire ants that I was standing on. One made it up my pant leg and stung me a good dozen or so times on the knee before I was able to kill it. Fire ants suck. When I’m done posting this I’m going to see if Amazon has any specials on magnifying glasses. Anyway, I got a decent picture of the snake before being driven back to the truck.

Desert Kingsnake

Desert Kingsnake

We were expecting the giant storm to our East to end our herping early, but it fell apart after it got dark, leaving smooth skies and lightning here and there in the distance.

With my entire leg throbbing from fire ant venom, we found a neonate Mojave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) out trying not to be eaten in his first few days of life.

Crotalus scutulatus

Crotalus scutulatus

Here’s a second picture zoomed out a little so you can see how tiny this little guy was. Coiled, he was about the diameter of a beer can.

Crotalus scutulatus

Crotalus scutulatus

That’s it for now; Chinese food should be here soon. I’ll post the rest from the trip in coming days, as I am able to work through the thousand or so photos I took in the last week.

Crotalus molossus

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Crotalus molossus

Crotalus molossus

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake in Arizona

The sun set and we left, and found a really aggressive Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) a mile or so away. It was a big contrast from the usual slow, solid demeanor of the molossus.

Crotalus atrox

The rest of the trip wasn’t so much fun. There were a lot of misses … a ground snake, a whipsnake, a few other odds and ends, and maybe the largest Sonoran Gophersnake I’d ever seen. I misjudged the situation and lost him into a hole in the ground. The only other photos I took were of this Zebra-Tailed Lizard (Callisaurus draconiodes) the next morning on the way out.

Callisaurus draconiodes

Thats it! Oh ya, and here’s the newly-fixed email subscription thingie, in case its easier for you that way.

First snake, a Long-Nosed Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei):

Rhinocheilus lecontei

Of course we saw a good number of Sonoran Sidewinders (Crotalus cerastes cercobombus):

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

Then beers, tequila, more beers, a mangy cat, and sleep. Somehow I still woke up at around 7 and took off to see if anyone else was waking up. I ended up knocking 2 animals off my life-list!

Here’s something I’ve never seen before … a cerastes out crawling around in the morning sun:

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

About 5 minutes later I found my first live Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum piceus). I’ve seen quite a few dead Coachwhips on the sides of roads and had glimpses as they fly across the road, but never had the chance to get close to one.

Coachwhip

Here’s a Tiger Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris) who for some reason wasn’t at all scared of me. He let me sit down right next to him and watch him root through the dirt and do other “busy lizard” tasks, and even came walking right up to me once.

Tiger Whiptail

Tiger Whiptail

Then a Desert Patch-Nosed Snake (Salvadora hexalepis hexalepis):

Salvadora hexalepis hexalepis

Desert Patch-Nosed Snake

Then a SECOND Coachwhip:

Coachwhip

Coachwhip

A Desert Iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis):

Dipsosaurus dorsalis

… and finally a female Long-Nosed Leopard Lizard; my first.

Long-Nosed Leopard Lizard

Habitat:

desertscrub

* Thanks to Jeff Williams from the AHA for the correct ID.

2 Western Diamondbacks (Crotalus atrox)
3 Mojave Rattlesnakes (Crotalus scutulatus), 2 DOR
2 Sonoran Sidewinders (Crotalus cerastes cercobombus), 1 DOR

… nothing spectaular, but a good turnout for a first night out, down in the low 70′s.

When we found the first atrox, I moved it off the road for some photos. When we got to the side of the road, the bushes to my right also started buzzing with the second atrox of the evening! Obviously we were pretty excited that our first snake of the year ended up having a buddy. We got a few pictures of the first one, and then a few of the second, and left them alone.

#1:

#2:

A pretty, young Mojave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) with an X on the tail:

A Very Calm Adult Sonoran Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes cercobombus):

I’ve got some night-time practice to do with my camera, but otherwise a productive start to the year.

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.

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.

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.

The first snake we found was my second Coral snake (Micruroides euryxanthus) for the year.

We went further and stopped for some of the local inverts that Sonny hadn’t seen before, and eventually found a young California Kingsnake.

The last thing we found was a big Blacktail rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus)

This last one I took some creative time with and photoshopped in a starry night scene. Kinda fantasy-ish cheesy but whatever. Click on it for the full deal.

Then Kelly saw her first snake. It was a very clean looking atrox, so clean in fact that I initially thought it was a C. Scutulatus until I got out of the car. Unfortunately, I had venom from the last atrox on my lense, which killed all my shots.

Blogger is being a retard and won’t let me upload any other pictures for some reason. I’ll post them later.

We found this as one of only a few snakes on what would have been a very productful night, if it weren’t for the heavy rain. Dedicated to taking the long way home to see a snake or two, we found what ended up being the only ‘cool’ snake of the trip, a small Sonoran Coral snake out in the rain.

Later on I saw a mystery snake (that I guessed was a Black-headed snake of some sort). As I was pulling over to get it, a couple of illegal immigrants with backpacks tried to surrender to us. I guess Kelly’s Jeep does look kind of like the border patrol trucks. Not wanting to deal with it, we took off. Hours later we nearly hit a huge California King snake and I failed to find it when I ran back.

Toads were everywhere. Here’s one of hundreds of Couch’s Toads we found:

And a huge Bufo alvarius (Sonoran Desert Toad):

At the very end of the night, we took a little side trip and found an average-sized Crotalus cerastes cercobombus (Sonoran Desert Sidewinder). Then it was time for sleep.