I watched my Arizona Black Rattlesnake shed his skin late last night, and this morning took him out for some photos with his fresh, new scales. My wife Kelly took the pictures, and got some of the amazing iridescence in the morning light. This is truly the most beautiful rattlesnake I’ve ever seen … awesome awesome awesome snake!
I had some friends in town to find rattlesnakes in April, and one of the locations we hit was the Agua Fria river. The various small canyons and rock cuts, along with the year-round supply of water, make a great habitat for all kinds of desert animals. We found 3 rattlesnakes this particular morning, and a variety of other cool stuff.
Here are a trio of diamondbacks found along the way:
Here are a couple of the many canyon treefrogs we saw as well.
… and some indian art on a rock, right near where we parked.
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.
And finally, a patchnosed snake we found on the way out to our next location.
Here’s one of two Western Shovel-Nosed Snakes, Chionactis occipitalis, from the intergrade zone, where three subspecies interbreed and any individual may show signs of two or more. Small snakes that dig around in the sandy soil looking for centipedes and other bugs.
My wife and I went on a quick trip to the Superstition Mountains and had a little success. We spent maybe the most productive hiking hour at Tortilla Flats eating hamburgers, which had to be done eventually. I’ve driven past the place more times than I can count, but I’ve always been on my way somewhere … so we stopped and it was well worth it. We got out in time to get to our location for a quick 30 minute hike before it was time to cruise, and it paid off immediately. Only a hundred yards into our hike we found a large Blacktail Rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus, cruising through a dry wash. It was my wife’s first blacktail, so we spent a lot of time with it and took a lot of pictures.
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.
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.
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.
Here are some of the other things I point my camera at while out looking for scaly stuff.
Stripe-Tailed Scorpion, Hoffmannius spinigerus
Harcuvar mountains, on a chilly snake-less afternoon.
The foothills North of my home in Anthem, Arizona.
An outcrop near New River, Arizona
… and the same hill in the other direction. It’s not snow, it’s a hill of crumbled white quartz, early in the morning.
Another Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake in Arizona from 2008.
Here’s a typical Long-Nosed Snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei, out and about. I see a billion of these every year and photograph very few of them. If they’d hold still for a few seconds I’d take a lot more pictures of them. Regardless, I always photograph maybe 20 a year.
I get asked from time to time what my wife thinks about my hobby. Well, Kelly’s often right there with me. Ten years ago, if you would have told me that I’d eventually be out chasing animals around in the desert with the girl I love I’d never have believed you. We’ve been married for a year today, and I couldn’t be happier. We have a lot of really good times out having adventures in what I’d say is a pretty unique relationship.
I was looking through old stuff today and found a photo of my very first ever Banded Rock Rattlesnake, Crotalus lepidus klauberi. I’ve only seen 3 at night, this being the first. I love these snakes.
… but it never works out. On about every trip I take a colorful Common Side-Blotched Lizard ends up on my CF card. As the name implies, these guys are about everywhere you look on warm mornings.
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