Field Herper.com

Field notes and photography by Bryan D. Hughes
Feb
3rd
2017

Camel “Spider”

These guys are great, as long as they aren’t on my pant leg while I’m photographing a snake. That happens way more than you’d think.

Feb
1st
2017

Blacktailed Rattlesnake from S.E. Arizona

Feb
1st
2017

Lower Colorado River Desertscrub

Jan
30th
2017

Costa Rica: Eyelash Vipers

Common, pretty, and extremely variable, the (many) eyelash viper’s I’ve seen in my time in Costa Rica are are always exciting to find and photograph. Here are a couple.

 

Jan
28th
2017

Northern Elevation of the Great Basin Rattlesnake

This area is the Northern-most area I’ve ever seen the Great Basin rattlesnake. In fact, it is slightly outside of the documented range by several miles, depending on how sloppy the lines are on the rangemap you’re looking at. I had the pleasure of spending a day here observing them move around the rocks that make up their densite.

 

Jan
26th
2017

Night Life: Cottonmouth

One of a series I’m working on of nocturnal snakes in low light settings.

Jan
24th
2017

Snake Road – Cottonmouths everywhere

As with the previous Costa Rica post, since I took a little break (laziness) from posting here, I’ve been able to travel to many places. One of which is the famous Snake Road in Southern Illinois. Here’s I believe the second cottonmouth I’ve ever seen, out swimming across duck weed that I’d be pulling out of my dryer filter for weeks after the trip.

And another, showing off that famous “cotton” mouth. Despite their famed reputation for being aggressive, I found them to be anything but. If I got too close and really stressed one out, this defensive posture is about all I expect to happen.

 

Jan
22nd
2017

Hard to be a Young Male at the Den

There are many social layers at a Winter densite. Some of the most obvious are the clusters of large males here and there, each with several females that court and sometimes mate. Alongside all of this, are younger, smaller males that don’t seem to have figured out their place. They stay nearby, and spend the morning activity period moving around, trying to court females at the outer edge of each larger male’s area. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they are chased away.

Being chased away is the nature of most of the male/male confrontations that I have seen. The more familiar combat, where males stand up to fight eachother for dominance, I have actually never seen in its full glory. I’ve seen a lot of quick battles; mismatched males spending a few seconds to rise up, followed by a (relatively) high speed chase from the area. The young roving males seem to get it the worst in this case. I have watched 2 of them (one was actually a Great Basin Rattlesnake, but a similar situation) off of high rocky ledges to the rocks below, and one off of a cliff, landing in a tree.

Here’s one of my favorite examples of just how tough it can be to be one of these little guys. This little guy actually found a female to court, though in 2 days of trying, he did not succeed in actually mating. A big male shows up, chases him out and attempts to combat, and he flees to another rock. The problem, is that this rock is also taken, by another larger male, and the female he is trying to mate with … he is promptly chased away. Out of the frying pan, into the fire..

Jan
22nd
2017

Costa Rica: Red Eyed Treefrog

I’ve had the pleasure and luck to visit Costa Rica twice now, each time spending about a week in the mid-elevation rainforest around the Arenal volcano, then heading to the drier, hotter portions of coastal Guanacaste to search for the Middle American Rattlesnakes that live there. I’ve been fortunate (and tired!) to have found several of them, and a lot of great stuff along the way. There’s no way to sum it all up into one or even a dozen posts, so I’ll just be adding photos from Costa Rica to this feed, maybe with a tag or two if necessary. To kick that off, here’s one of the most iconic amphibians from the area, the Red Eyed Treefrog. They were everywhere in the gardens surrounding the hotel.

Jan
20th
2017

Mojave Desert North of Palmdale, California

Home of sidewinders and mojave rattlesnakes, and an effective physical barrier that separates Northern Pacific and Southern Pacific rattlesnake ranges.

Jan
18th
2017

Western Diamondbacks at the den in late November

This is a large den, as far as Western Diamondbacks go in central Arizona. It has about 40 individuals that I’ve counted so far. In the Spring, they are easier to see, since they spend more time staging to different areas of the den site and are generally more active. During ingress, even when conditions are near-perfect, they’re mostly stuffed into cracks and activity is limited to slowly revealing a coil or two to the sun. Regardless, it’s important to check on them during this time, as it helps confirm the actual sites and hierarchy of individuals that may be harder to understand when they are moving around all over the place.

Jan
16th
2017

A few more great basin rattlesnakes