I went up in September of 2011 to visit some friends, and of course spent some time hiking the grasslands looking for rattlesnakes. I managed to find a den of Great Basin Rattlesnakes, Crotalus oreganus lutosus, but only got to photograph one of them that was out a good distance from the others. I’ll be back.
Here’s another shot, fashioned up HDR style.
… aaaaand the milksnake mentioned in the previous post. Another very common snake in Pennsylvania, but of course the first (and only) I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing to me how much the pattern and color converge with non-Lampropeltis genera (such as Pantherophis) of similar lifestyle. Not the most colorful of the species, it was a really nice diversion on the way to the 20 or so Timber rattlesnakes we saw that day.
Saw this weird little thing just after photographing a milksnake in Pennsylvania in May. I’m sure they’re common as dirt out there, but it’s new to me.
The first of these I’ve seen, on a 2011 trip to Pennsylvania. It was cold enough outside to see my breath that night, which isn’t something I’m used to looking for herps in back in Arizona.
On a night time desert hike, taking part in a herpetological survey of a local mountain range, a friend of mine found this tiger rattlesnake sitting in in the rocks. The orange coloration is atypical for this locale, so it was cool too see, not that I’m not happy to see any tiger rattlesnake at all.
Here’s a pretty, young male Banded Rock Rattlesnake I found one night out crawling around. He was just over a foot long, but he didnt’ seem to know it … probably the most aggressive of this species I’ve ever seen. I escaped with all fingers intact.
This is one of the many small den sites we found in a few days during Spring of 2010, and this was a typical site. In the middle of the rocks are just a pile of very large rattlesnakes. This trip was my first time experiencing timber rattlesnakes at all, to see them just laying around in piles was a great way to let that happen. Here are a few photos.
After many miles hiking the area above the North rim of the Grand Canyon, without finding much, I got close enough to this pretty Great Basin Collared Lizard to get a few shots.
I’m not sure who this snake was trying to fool, but it wasn’t me. A bright orange rattlesnake sitting on top of a rock caught my eye from a good 50 feet away and brought me over, and yup, it’s a speckled rattlesnake out getting some morning sun. I found a good spot and watched her do her thing for over an hour, during which time she moved very little. Eventually it got too hot, and she retreated to an area I am guessing is where she eventually had her babies – a spot I will return to and hopefully see her again.
We had a great night after this shot was taken. This was the first of many we’d see in the next few hours.
These long-nosed snakes can be found about anywhere that sleeping lizards can, and I see a lot of them. This kind though, not so much. The clarus phase is lighter and the red bands between the black are completely missing, or in this case faded to a few rosy hold-outs near the last third of the snake.
Long-Nosed Snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei
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