Fieldherper.com » Field Herping

Tiny sidewinder with a fancy tail

Bryan — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:14:09 +0000

I found this little guy in the Spring, barely the size of a pencil. I don’t even photograph most of them from the amount that are seen, but this one had a tail pattern turned 90 degrees, resulting in a single black stripe running the length. I hope he lives long enough to see him again one of these days out in that spot.

Sidewinder

Arizona Black Rattlesnake with a Fancy Tongue

Bryan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:44:04 +0000

I haven’t seen this before! Bright pink tongue coming out of that dark little venom-filled head.

Crotalus cerberus

Blah blah blah. Way behind on all counts. Upcoming trip.

Bryan — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 03:14:48 +0000

So, I’m way behind on this thing. I do have a few posts coming in on essentially maintenance mode (one per week, set well ahead of time) so that I had the freedom to not look at a computer for awhile and be out looking for snakes. It’s been a tough year so far with the ultra dry conditions, but still one of what I feel is personal growth in regards to finding these guys in the wild. The role that photographing them takes has changed as well, and I’m happy that the world still seems to be completely wide open with this hobby of mine.

I’ve come to realize this year that, with most of these species, I now am practiced enough that I could just go see one whenever I want (of course conditions being somewhat favorable), and I have more than enough photos of the same old diamondback pose to last several lifetimes sitting on my hard drive. I’m starting to favor taking less photos overall, and trying to do more to capture the environment and feel of the time/place of the observation than the animal itself. When I am hiking these days, my snake hook only serves as a walking stick, and very occasional annoying-blade-of-grass-mover to get a shot. The vast majority of animals photographed are disturbed not at all or very little. I don’t know, too much detail here? I’m just very happy that this thing seems to progress on its own.

In a week I’ll be traveling to the Grand Canyon area to spend several days looking for 2 of the last 3 species of rattlesnake I have left to see in Arizona, before going to South Western Idaho to look for Western Rattlesnakes (and visit some old friends). I’m realizing that I have posted very little of my finds from the year, but I need something to do in the winter! I’ll try to throw up some of the backup and at least get the ball rolling, and hopefully that will make this blog at least seem a little bit alive while I finish up my season.

I’ll wrap up this this bore-fest with a baby black-necked gartersnake, sitting as found on one of the driest days of the year.

T-cyrtopsis-1-062111

Diamondback with a Cool Pattern

Bryan — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:16:02 +0000

Looking for giant Diamondback Rattlesnakes with some Swedish friends visiting the US for the first time, we found this cool little guy. The diamond pattern on the latter third of her body had been reduced to a series of black blotches. This is part of the reason that no matter how many diamondbacks or sidewinders I see, it’s always good to take an extra look.

Crotalus atrox

Diamondback Crawling Through Brush

Bryan — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 19:03:51 +0000

Nothing too special about this one … a pretty typical looking animal for this area. I followed it for a short time but failed to get any good full-body images, as it was moving through thick brush. I did manage to get this shot of his head, however, as he crawled between shrubs.

Crotalus atrox

One of your horns is crooked

Bryan — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:12:15 +0000

For some reason, these sidewinders (Crotalus cerastes) just look cooler when found on sunbleached gravel.

A Baby Coachwhip

Bryan — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:09:02 +0000

We found this little guy out basking in the middle of a road … not a smart way to start life kid.

Sunset Sidewinder

Bryan — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:02:31 +0000

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

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

Basking Springtime Sidewinder

Bryan — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:15:56 +0000

In April, my wife Kelly and I had a great night West of Phoenix, and found over 20 live snakes in just over 3 hours. This is the first of the evening, a Sonoran Sidewinder, Crotalus cerastes cercobombus, soaking in the sun before the evening activities begin. We had pulled off the road to catch and photograph a horned lizard, and I spotted this snake about 15 feet away from where we were taking pictures. That’s a good sign.

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

Diamondback Rattlesnakes of Yavapai County

Bryan — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:59:34 +0000

Here’s a nice big diamondback I found on one of my favorite drives through Yavapai County, Arizona.

Crotalus atrox

diamondback

Western Diamondbacks near Congress, Arizona

Bryan — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:52:25 +0000

We found this guy on the crawl mid-morning on an overcast, warm day in April.

Crotalus atrox

… about an hour and a half later, we found another one on the move near a river. He posed nicely for us.

Diamondback Rattlesnake in Yavapai County, Arizona

Crotalus atrox

We also found this moth hanging out near the water’s edge.

moth

Diamondback

Bryan — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:29:37 +0000

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Desert Nightsnake

Bryan — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:45:12 +0000

Hypsiglena chlorophaea

The First Snake of 2010 – A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Bryan — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 01:07:04 +0000

I found a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Crotalus atrox, a couple of miles from my home in Anthem, Arizona. We’ve had a rather wet year, so temperatures have remained cool and I haven’t seen as much in the early part of the year as I did in 2009, but this year will be a killer! Lots of moisture means lots of snakes, and Spring is looking good.

Diamondback Rattlesnake in Arizona

C. atrox

Are You Threatening Me?

Bryan — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:26:28 +0000

I respect lizards. Unlike cowardly snakes that try and escape immediately upon discovery, many lizards will go just a few feet and turn around to engage me in the most terrifying aspect of their being: pushups. Oh the humanity.

Here’s a Plateau Fence Lizard, Sceloporous tristichus, upon being discovered.

Plateau Fence Lizard

… and then, halfway around the tree, an attempt to scare me away. It worked; I left.

Ahhhhhhh!!!!

My First Desert Patchnose Snake

Bryan — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:34:31 +0000

Here’s the first Desert Patchnose Snake (Salvadora hexalepis hexalepis) I encountered in the wild from several years ago. He appropriately bit the hell out of my finger and escaped up a sheer dirt wall before I could get any better photos. I love these guys; they’re like mini-coachwhips.

Salvadora hexalepis

Round-Tailed Horned Lizards

Bryan — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:15:45 +0000

Here are a few pictures of one of my favorite Arizona-native lizards, the Round-Tailed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma modestum). They always look so damn serious, which is even funnier when you meet one in person.

Sorry for the poor photos … these were taken quite awhile ago before I had decided to get into this as a full-on nerd activity.

Yoda

Little dude

Camouflage Fail

Bryan — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:18:28 +0000

I watched this Canyon Treefrog, Hyla arenicolor, crawl out of a stream and climb a rock to do as they do, and take on the approximate color of the rock for an afternoon snooze. It takes awhile to take effect, it seems, as this little guy was not at all hidden at first. I set up on a rock and had lunch while I watched it gradually get darker and darker, but left before the change was complete.

Hyla arenicolor

Busy Body Tiger Whiptail

Bryan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:20:30 +0000

This big Tiger Whiptail, Aspidoscelis tigris, was foraging for food in the mesquite roots while Kelly and I watched. I’ve always thought whiptails are a bit entertaining, as they always seem to be extremely busy doing whatever they’re doing, and just can’t be bothered to run away. Not now, not while there are bills to pay and bugs to catch.

Tiger Whiptail

Elegant Earless Lizard

Bryan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:02:55 +0000

An adult Elegant Earless Lizard, Holbrookia elegans, from Santa Cruz County, Arizona.

Elegant Earless Lizard

Crazy Prairie Rattlesnake

Bryan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:46:13 +0000

Late at night just inside New Mexico in August of 2009, my sister and I found an adult Prairie Rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis, on the side of the road. It was pissed; clearly something was wrong with it. When adjusting my head lamp it escaped into some bushes, and came back out again as fast as I’ve ever seen a rattlesnake move.

It was acting really strangely … striking into the air in different directions, all of which opposite of where we stood, watching. Then it turned and bit itself on the side. Whoa, this snake was crazed.

If you look closely, you can see a spot of blood where it had bitten itself.

Crotalus viridis

While going to the car to get a different lens for my camera, the snake lunged at me, straight into the air, completely clearing the ground. This is the second rattlesnake I have encountered, ever, to “jump” like this. The snake was clearly disturbed, perhaps being crazed by a car earlier in the day and in pain.

Prairie Rattlesnake from New Mexico

… and one last shot with a clearer image of the facial markings of the animal. These are the larger version of the same species, Crotalus viridis, found earlier in the year in the series of posts outlining our trip to find Hopi rattlesnakes.

Crotalus viridis

Eastern Collared Lizard

Bryan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:52:22 +0000

Here’s a young Eastern Collared Lizard, Crotaphytus collaris, found basking one morning in June.

Collared Lizard

Hot & Dry in the South East, Part 1

Bryan — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:16:31 +0000

We spent a little time in the Santa Rita mountains South of Tucson in mid July to see what there is to see. The weather actually was pretty horrible for what we were trying to do, but we had to go to Tucson to pick up a few enclosures and thought we might as well make the most of the trip. What we found were 5 rattlesnakes, one of which was the largest rattlesnake I have ever seen in Arizona, as well as a new one for my life list.

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 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

Prickley Royalty

Bryan — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:42:36 +0000

Here’s a pair of Regal Horned Lizards, Phrynosoma solare, found in June basking on a dirt road. Neither tried to run away at all, and let me just walk up and grab them for some photos. Cute little guys.

Phrynosoma solare

Regal Horned Lizard

Bumble Bee Rattlesnake

Bryan — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:27:20 +0000

This is by far one of the coolest snakes I’ve encountered. It’s a relatively large Black-Tailed Rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus) in the mountain phase coloration. I most often find the less dramatically patterned desert phase molossus, and the differences between the two are obvious.

This particular rattlesnake shows some extremely high contrast between pattern elements, but had the calm, almost boid steadiness that I think is so cool about molossus. She didn’t rattle, even when I tried my best to get her to coil up for some photos. We let her continue her way to the rocky cliffside. About an hour later, we saw her again, coming back down the other way. It was just a good experience all around; one that sticks out in my mind of the hundreds of rattlesnakes I’ve seen in the last couple of years.

Of course, I took way more photographs than is necessary.

Crotalus molossus

Mountain Phase Black Tailed Rattlesnake

Blacktail Rattlesnake in Southern Arizona

Crotalus molossus

c-molossus-23-090608

Eastern Collared Lizard

Bryan — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:42:05 +0000

Another example of an Eastern Collared Lizard, Crotaphytus collaris, that I believe is a female.

Eastern Collared Lizard

Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnakes

Bryan — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:18:31 +0000

Here are a couple of orange and pink phase Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnakes, Crotalus mitchellii phyrus, I found the other day. The bright salmon one with blue eyes currently resides in my office. Truly beautiful snakes.

Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake

Crotalus mitchellii phyrus

Speckled Rattlesnake

Rattlesnake in Arizona

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Bryan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:00:53 +0000

After 10 hours of hard hiking and searching in the June heat, I found my target: the Arizona Black Rattlesnake, Crotalus cerberus. This is only the third I’ve ever seen, and the darkest coloration of my experience with them.

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

Crotalus cerberus

The Worst iPhone App Ever

Bryan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:10:46 +0000

Although this isn’t nearly the smallest Sonoran Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes cercobombus) I’ve ever seen, it was the one I saw on a night when I was bored enough to try and make it sit on my phone for maybe the nerdiest photo I’ve ever taken. Here they are, and yes I’m a dork.

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

Sonoran Sidewinder

Greater Earless Lizard

Bryan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:53:45 +0000

Another example of a colorful Greater Earless Lizard, Cophosaurus texanus, one of the most common lizards I see out there. They’re usually the first interesting thing I see on a trip, and I’m anxious to come away with something to show for my long drive to wherever. One of these days I’ll stop taking so many pictures of them, or at least so I tell myself.

Cophosaurus texanus

A Big Desert Spiny Lizard

Bryan — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:32:44 +0000

This is the most colorful Desert Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus magister, I have ever seen. While not displaying a lot of variety, the head is solid red-orange. It was also very large. In fact, upon first seeing it, I thought it was a squirrel. Cool lizards.

Desert Spiny Lizard

Hazards of Love

Bryan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:09:50 +0000

One morning awhile back I spent the afternoon sitting behind a wall just North of Congress, Arizona, and watched the Greater Earless Lizards (Cophosaurus texanus) in great tumult over a female. Over the course of an hour or so, many males came, danced, and were either driven off or just ran away in apparent frustration. The males can be wonderfully colorful, and they brought their best that morning.

Greater Earless Lizards

Cophosaurus texanus, mating behavior

Greater Earless Lizards in Love

Finally someone made a move. Sorry for the blurry crap photo.

Lizard Porn

Oh, and the title of this post is from the album I’m listening to right now, The Hazards of Love
by the Decemberists. Fitting, so there it goes.

Desert Grassland Whiptail

Bryan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:44:59 +0000

I had to follow this little Desert Grassland Whiptail, Aspidoscelis uniparens, around for 15 minutes before it would hold still long enough to get a quick photo. Like a lot of whiptails I encounter, it didn’t much mind my presence, and felt just fine continuing to root around in the soft soil looking for small insects.

As the species name may suggest, uniparens, this species is entirely female; each baby being a perfect clone of the parent. This of course also renders them unable to change with their habitat or adapt to new challenges, ultimately leading to the demise of the species.

Desert Grassland Whiptail

Sonoran Gophersnakes

Bryan — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:14:43 +0000

I found 2 large, adult Sonoran Gophersnakes (Pituophis catenifer affinis) within 50 feet of eachother in the early evening in April. Neither wanted to fight, which was a little uncommon for these guys. It left me a little disappointed, because it’s fun to see these large constrictors put on their impressive show of puffing, hissing, and strikes.

Oh well, still good to see them.

Sonoran Gophersnake

Pituophis catenifer affinis

Sonoran Mud Turtles

Bryan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:33:33 +0000

An unsuccessful trip to the S. E. portion of Arizona on the hunt for Green Ratsnakes and Brown Vinesnakes ended up yielding some worthwhile byproducts. A cattle pond full with one log and a good number of Sonoran Mud Turtles , Kinosternon sonoriense, basking in the sun. These are the first that I’ve seen of this species. One more for the life list. There is one time that I found several empty shells of these turtles in the Superstition Mountains, in the rocks near the bank. Some bird had a good meal.

Sonoran Mud Turtle

Kinosternon sonoriense

Sonoran Mud Turtles

Juvenile Mojave Rattlesnakes

Bryan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:08:00 +0000

Here are two young mojave rattlesnakes (Crotalus scutulatus) I found within a quarter mile of eachother. I’ve seen my share of drab individuals, but these snakes are highly variable in color and pattern, and each seems interesting for this reason. I’ve seen them range anywhere from lime green to nearly black.

These are fairly typical of the type you’d find West of Phoenix, but they show some of the pattern variation that occur in individuals that live in the same area.

Crotalus scutulatus

c-scutulatus-1-042409

Mojave Rattlesnake

Sonoran Whipsnake

Bryan — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:12:45 +0000

Here’s an example of one of the large, diurnal snakes I often see while looking for other snakes, a Sonoran Whipsnake (Coluber bilineatus). They’re really fast, hard to get your hands on, and extremely aggressive if you do manage to catch one. Fun stuff.

Coluber bilineatus

A Couple of Arizona Lizards

Bryan — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:34:52 +0000

Since moving to the Northern area of Phoenix (Anthem), I’ve been looking forward to getting into some higher elevations to look for some of the species that live there. Here are the first and second.

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

Phronosoma hernandesi

Desktop Wallpaper Version:

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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

Desktop Wallpaper Version:

1650 x 1100 wallpaper

Here was my view at about 8 a.m.

Bradshaw Mountains

Sonoran Lyresnake

Bryan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:45:04 +0000

This is probably my favorite of the native colubrid snakes we have here in Arizona: a juvenile Sonoran Lyresnake (Trimorphodon lambda). They usually inhabit rocky areas in the mountains, but this one was found on flat ground many hundreds of yards from the nearest rocky outcropping.

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

Western Banded Gecko

Bryan — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:37:45 +0000

The Western Banded Gecko (Coleonyx variegatus) is very common in the Sonoran desert, and can easily be found under rocks during the day, where they lie in wait for dark. At night, they’re easily encountered as well. The pattern can be pretty variable as well. I’ve seen them with such diminished patterning that they look almost a solid tan/pink color, as well as banded, spotted, and any combination of both.

The tiny bead-like scales and flexible skin give them an incredibly soft texture. They’re also capable of vocalizing, which is unique in lizards to the geckos. When scared, they will sometimes chirp.

They are easily sexed, as males have large, visible bulges to either side of the tail base. This one is a female.

Westen Banded Gecko

Springtime Sidewinders

Bryan — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:30:41 +0000

The Colorado desert scrub that makes up much of the wild areas to the West of Phoenix are absolutely crawling with Sonoran Sidewinders (Crotalus cerastes cercobombus) on warm nights in the springtime. They all look incredibly similar as well, for the most part. When they’re moving I typically see 5 or more in an outing. I always photograph the first one, and then just check to make sure the others don’t have some cool mutation or something, and let them be on their way. Here are a three of the 10 instances of these small rattlesnakes I found within 2 evenings in April.

Sonoran Sidewinder

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

Quality, Not Quantity (Part 6, Crotalus molossus)

Bryan — Sat, 02 May 2009 04:45:18 +0000

Continued from part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5

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

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

Quality, Not Quantity (Part 5, the Rattlesnakes)

Bryan — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:32:05 +0000

Continued from part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4 …

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

Quality, Not Quantity (Part 4)

Bryan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:41:14 +0000

Continued from part 1, part 2, and part 3 …

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.

Quality, Not Quantity (Part 3)

Bryan — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:59:58 +0000

… continued from part 1 and part 2.

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.

Lots of Hiking, Not Much Herping

Bryan — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:10:10 +0000

I spent the weekend putting miles on my legs/car without seeing many animals. It didn’t surprise me being the third week of march in less than ideal conditions. It was still nice to get out and do some exploring, no matter what the results were.

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

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

A Pair of C. atrox

Bryan — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 06:12:27 +0000

Kris and I went on a hike up the Agua Fria river to do some herping, but moreso to just get out a bit and enjoy the nice day. Pretty quickly, Kris spotted a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) under a fallen boulder. I was excited to see a second snake coiled just behind the first. This is the first time I’ve seen 2 snakes share a location like this, so it was pretty exciting.

A pair of C. atrox

We assume they’re a mating pair. They did not seem to take notice of us at all, and we were able to take a seat right next to them and watch their behavior for awhile. The male (in back) continually attempted to get the attention of his pal, or was otherwise approaching her head with twitchy head movements and a flickering tongue.

I\'m watching you.

Closeup

A couple other critters from the trip:

Desert Patch-Nosed Snake

Greater Earless Lizard

Another ’08 Ridge-Nose Rattlesnake

Bryan — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:34:53 +0000

Last year I was lucky enough to see a few willardi out and about in South East Arizona. Now that I know what to look for, I hope to see a good amount more this year. Here’s another photo of a large male from my second productive trip into willardi range.

Crotalus willardi

Lowland Leopard Frog

Bryan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:29:53 +0000

Here’s a Lowland Leopard Frog (Rana yavapaiensis) from Santa Cruz County. I’ve seen this species before, but did not realize that it was not the very similar-looking Chiricuahua Leopard Frog until I had returned home and found my half-ass photos weren’t good enough to salvage … not that this one is spectacular or anything. I like frogs.

Lowland Leopard Frog

Here’s some habitat in the area. This is typical for this part of Santa Cruz County. People that visit for the first time are usually very surprised by how green and lush it is 3-4 miles from the Mexican border.

Santa Cruz County

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Funny Looking Stick

Bryan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:10:18 +0000

One of these sticks is not like the others.

Banded Rock Rattlesnake in Arizona

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

Ridge Nosed Rattlesnake

Bryan — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:14:08 +0000

Here’s another shot of a Ridge Nosed Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi) we found last August. Cool little snakes, and very enjoyable to search for.

Crotalus willardi in South East Arizona

Springtime Sunsets North of Anthem

Bryan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:14:53 +0000

I’ve recently been getting out a bit into the hills immediately North of my new home of Anthem, Arizona, and recording coordinates of good places to check for snakes later in the year. Other than some Chuckwallas and signs of snake activity, I haven’t found much. As always, when snakes are scarce, sunset photos fill my card. I’m having a great time with the HDR technique and learning more about my camera. Fun stuff.

North of Anthem Arizona

More HDR Shit

The Official Start of the 2009

Bryan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:57:25 +0000

It’s been on the warm side lately; being the end of February, we’ll have 90F daytime temperatures in a couple of weeks. The snakes are waking up, and they’re hungry and want to meet some girls. Although it didn’t quite hit 80 degrees here in Anthem today, I had tons of energy to burn off and thought I’d go for a little sunset hike in an area north of my new home I have yet to really explore.

Here’s a fancy pants HDR picture from my new lens:

Desert North of Phoenix

I hiked around awhile and found some cool places with a lot of flat, chipped rock that looks to be good on an afternoon sometime. On the way home, look who I found out cruising around:

Crotalus atrox

It’s the second Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) I’ve seen this year. Something that’s immediately apparent in the two instances of atrox I’ve seen up here in the Anthem area that is different than the Mesa variety I’ve seen the most in the past is the higher amount of pink coloration; especially in the face. I look forward to seeing what other variations might be present in some of the common locals.

Crotalus atrox

Young (metamorph) Canyon Treefrog

Bryan — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:51:48 +0000

Hundreds of these were swimming in shallow pools this September in Santa Cruz county, along with many more less-developed tadpoles of various species. This is the southern-most example of a Canyon Treefrog I had seen.

Canyon Treefrog

Also out in vast numbers were these big lubber grasshoppers. They were so big that I first mistaked them for tarantulas crossing the road when I saw them.

Lubber Grasshopper

… some habitat:

Santa Cruz County

Ridge Nosed Rattlesnake, My First

Bryan — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:14:03 +0000

Here’s a picture from an early August morning with my first instance of this snake, the Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi). We found a few more that month, but there’s never a snake like your first. This picture just feels like someone slept in the driver’s seat of their car in the middle of nowhere to get it. Well, it does to me anyway.

Crotalus willardi

Neonate Mojave Rattlesnake

Bryan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:15:57 +0000

Found this little baby last July. Feisty little guy.

Crotalus scutulatus

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake and Bad Photography

Bryan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:06:08 +0000

A Diamondback I photographed in July 2006 with my little point and click, out on the road.

Rattlesnake in Arizona

Crotalus scutulatus (archive)

Bryan — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:13:25 +0000

Here’s another old photograph of a Mojave Rattlesnake found road-cruising in Arizona.

Mojave Rattlesnake from Arizona

Hands On with a Snake that Hates Hands

Bryan — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:37:28 +0000

I love coachwhips (Coluber flagellum). They’re big, fast, aggressive, and will bite you several times more than may seem prudent … all the good stuff in a snake. Kelly and I managed to find this one as it sprinted across the road early in the morning just North of Tuscon. We see lots, but the trick is catching them. They’re fast and have the best disappearing act of about any snake out here.

When we got there, it froze and then tried to go right through me. As soon as it was obvious that wasn’t going to work, it reared up like a cobra and decided to go the other route. I managed to get to where I was sitting on it without being bitten, but I can’t say the same for my poor hat.

Anyway, after awhile we got some decent pictures. These snakes have a notoriously nasty temper so we did what we could.

Coluber flagellum

Coachwhip

Some hats were harmed in the making of these photographs.

catching-a-coachwhip

The plan was basically “you hold it by the tail while I keep it’s toothy attention with my hat until it’s tired”. Those feet belong to my brave girlfriend.

Mojave Rattlesnake

Bryan — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:10:29 +0000

Here’s a Mojave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) I found a year or two ago. Clean and pretty.

Crotalus scutulatus

Arizona Toad

Bryan — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:28:45 +0000

I’ve seen a ton of toads, but this is my first Arizona Toad (Anaxyrus microscaphus). I wish I would have realized it then … I would have taken a few more pics!

Arizona Toad, Anaxyrus microscaphus

California Kingsnake

Bryan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:56:51 +0000

A dirty Lampropeltis getula californiae from a few years back. This one was a total jerk and bit my arm.

Lampropeltis getula californiae

Regal Horned Lizard

Bryan — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:51:01 +0000

A Phrynosoma solare found after a sprint-time hike a year or two ago.

Phrynosoma solare

Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard

Bryan — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:45:48 +0000

Here’s a Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovii) from the Western side of the Chiricuahua mountains in Eastern Arizona. Late in the summer there are babies jumping around on about any rock you put your eyes on.

Excuse the crappy photo. It’s an old one, like most of the Wintertime pics I’ve been posting.

Sceloporus jarrovii

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Bryan — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:15:38 +0000

This greenish Black-Tailed Rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus) was actually the first I had been able to take pictures of. The previous year I looked all over for them and really wanted to see one. In late October I finally found one, but it was on a busy mountain road in a severe thunderstorm and it wasn’t safe to leave the car. I had to watch it crawl off the road in front of me. This picture was taken the next March, the first snake I found that year, and my first molossus.

Crotalus molossus

Banded Rock Rattlesnake (Crotalus lepidus klauberi)

Bryan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:08:11 +0000

With the rain come the animals, and then me out after them. Trips have been productive, and I’m proud to say I’ve knocked several species off my life list.

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

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Bryan — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:31:06 +0000

On a slow night, we found a young Black-Tailed Rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus) out and about. I got a few pictures, but the area wasn’t pose-friendly. Oh well … a nice snake regardless.

Crotalus molossus

New Mexico Trip, July 2008, Part 5

Bryan — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:50:37 +0000

… continued from parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.

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).

New Mexico Trip, July 2008, Part 3

Bryan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:57:07 +0000

… continued from part 1 and part 2.

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

New Mexico Trip, July 2008, Part 2

Bryan — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:16:39 +0000

… continued from part 1.

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

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.

New Mexico Trip, July 2008, Part 1

Bryan — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:14:57 +0000

We left at about 2 in the afternoon to take the long route to the border, and then use some backroads to get to El Paso for the night.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Red-Spotted Toad

Bryan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:42:11 +0000

Here’s a picture of a Red-Spotted toad (Bufo punctatus) I took a few years ago. Just cleaning out some old stuff in the sort folder. In October, these guys can be found in great masses in the hills and mountains surrounding Phoenix, Arizona. This one is from the Superstition Mountains, where every overturned rock will produce 4-5 young toads when the time is right.

Red-Spotted Toad

Some Early Rain

Bryan — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:09:51 +0000

It rained on the 26th. It’s a little early, and we really wanted to just get out of the house. I knew we wouldn’t see much, if anything, but a night out cruising with no snakes is always better than a boring and hot Thursday evening hiding inside from the sun.

The clouds and smoke made for a really nice bright sunset that gave the usually colorful Superstition Mountains a desaturated, grey-green color. It was a really nice drive.

Superstition mountains sunset

We did see a couple of young atrox out and about. This is the first one. The second was on a tight, blind curve with a cliff off to the side in an area where dumbasses regularily speed around corners without regard to which lane they’re in. He looked about the same as this one, so I just got out long enough to hurry it off the road.

Anyway… here’s the little guy. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t pay attention to the depth of field while photographing.

Crotalous atrox

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

We also found an adult Red-Spotted Toad (Bufo punctatus) out enjoying the bump in humidity from none to almost none. I remember I hiked near this area in October, 2006, and young punctatus absolutely covered the ground. I took some time to see how many I could stack on top of eachother from big to small.

Bufo punctatus

Red-Spotted Toad

… and this last picture isn’t any good, but I always think its funny when one of these ends up on the card when trying to photograph a toad. Position the shot, shoot, look in the viewfinder and I have a nice picture of empty dirt. Escape!

escape!

Thats it for now. Hopefully I’ll get up to the task of uploading pictures from a recent trip to Utah and a fairly unproductive trip down south in the ultra-dry air of May.

Diamondback Rescue While I Wait for Rain

Bryan — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:24:29 +0000

The herping has been on pause these last few weeks. In late May, Kris and I had quite a trip down to the South East part of the state and really didn’t see much of anything. The air is extremely dry at this time of year, leaving a lot of reptiles in their holes until things become a little more favorable with the rains in late July or so. With gas so expensive, I’d rather just wait it out and then go crazy for a few weeks when I’m likely to see things.

Here’s a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake rescued awhile back from a home in Cave Creek. Nothing spectacular about this guy except how old it seemed. The tail was very long, and had broken off long ago, and was STILL one of the longest rattles I’d seen. He had a great temperment, and never struck or really rattled to speak of.

Crotalus atrox

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Crotalus atrox

Memorial Day Hike in the McDowell Mountains

Bryan — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:14:39 +0000

After a couple hours of difficult hiking in the White Tanks on the 25th, I was looking forward to a nice and calm stroll over flat land with Kelly for Memorial day. We slept in late and left the house around 1, and only planned to be gone a few hours. Temps were in the low 80′s and lizards were everywhere.

Callisaurus draconoides

On the way out we found a big, old Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) crossing a wash. It was a good opportunity to try out a new lense and work out some kinks in my daytime exposures. Ya, I could just practice on inanimate objects in the backyard or something, but uh, not as fun.

Crotalus atrox

Diamondback from Arizona

Desert Night Snake

Bryan — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:01:26 +0000

Kris and I went out the other night, but the low-pressure system moving down on us made it too cold to herp pretty quickly after sundown. On the way back to town we did find a cool little Desert Night Snake (Hypsiglena chlorophaea).

Desert Nightsnake

Ugh (Except for the molossus)

Bryan — Sat, 24 May 2008 04:21:57 +0000

The weekend looked good for a trip up north to see what there is to see. We got a hotel room and headed out and were justified 10 minutes into our hike with a beautiful Black-Tailed Rattlesnake. It was my second in 2 weeks of my favorite rattlesnake, and Kelly’s first experience with one. I probably saved too many photos of it, but oh well. I had fun.

Crotalus molossus

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

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.

Superstitions Black-Tailed Rattlesnake (continued)

Bryan — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:46:09 +0000

Here are a few more pictures of the snake from Mother’s day.

Crotalus molossus from Arizona

Blacktailed Rattlesnake found Field Herping in Arizona

Crotalus molossus

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake found outside Phoenix, Arizona

Superstition Mountains Black-Tailed Rattlesnake

Bryan — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:39:06 +0000

Here’s a Black-Tailed Rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus) from a few ago. I found him after a long hike in the Superstition mountains, Northeast of Mesa, Arizona. He’d just finished swimming across a creek and was heading into the bushes at the base of a large tree when I found him. This is my favorite rattlesnake, and my first of the year.

Crotalus molossus

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake from the Superstition Mountains, Arizona

Blacktail Rattlesnake

HDR Photo from the Superstition Mountains

Bryan — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:42:17 +0000

Superstition Mountains, Arizona

“No Herping Weekend” = FAIL

Bryan — Tue, 13 May 2008 05:45:41 +0000

Last weekend was supposed to be the weekend where I don’t go herping. My brother is in town and I planned on wasting the entire time drinking and eating horrible things. Friday night went well, but by Saturday morning at 8 a.m. I was halfway up a mountain North of Phoenix.

The place kind of sucked. There was automatic gunfire from pretty much every direction. I realize they were most likely shooting at targets placed up against hillsides, but that’s a lot of trust to place in people. The other established trails were equally occupied with the most redneckingest redneckmobiles and douchy mountain bikers with their silly little hats and “I’m so much better than you” neon spandex.

I only found two things that I felt like taking pictures of.

First was a nice tarantula crawling across a wash; the first I’ve found this year. I’ve since seen two more, and will see hundreds more by years end. I wish I knew how to differentiate species.

Tarantula

The next thing was this Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister) that I was able to sneak up to within a foot or two of before he woke up and bolted.

Desert Spiny Lizard

I also saw a lot of Tiger Whiptails, though I didn’t stop to photograph them. I like them. They don’t seem as good as the other lizards at disappearing into the brush. Usually when I’ve disturbed one, it crashes loudly through the grass and makes no attempt to hide its location.

Mojave Shovel-Nosed Snake & Sonoran Sidewinder

Bryan — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:15:23 +0000

A couple of snakes from a slow night on the West end of Maricopa County. We found the usual bunch of Sonoran sidewinders (Crotalus cerastes) out and about. They don’t have a lot of variability, so if you’ve seen one you’ve pretty much seen them all. I usually get out to get some pictures of the first one, but after that they get an escort off the road and that’s about it.

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus, the Sonoran Sidewinder:

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

We also found a Mojave Shovel-Nosed Snake (Chionactis occipitalis occipitalis). We haven’t seen one of these since the spring of 2006, so it was nice to get some photos. It was a little over a foot long, and that’s about their upper limit. They’re tiny little sand-loving snakes that spend most of the time in or under the loose dirt in the desertscrub.

Chionactus occipitalis occipitalis

Mojave Shovel-Nosed Snake

Recent Outings

Bryan — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:16:09 +0000

The last few times out have been a little slower. On the 13th, Kris and I went up to Yavapai County to look for some Speckled Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Mitchellii) or maybe a Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata), but struck out. Even that night cruising back to town in the lower elevations that all indications showed would be nice and warm dropped down into the 60′s within minutes of the sun setting.

We did find a young, sleepy Regal Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma solare) laying in the road. He sat perfectly still while we played with our cameras. The only other notable critter of the trip was the bark scorpion that I posted a picture of awhile back.

Regal Horned Lizard - Phrynosoma solare

A few nights later Kris and I again had a dead night West of Phoenix. We found one decently-behaved Long-nosed Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei).

Long-nosed Snake

Then, my girlfriend Kelly and I went camping near Payson for the weekend. It was pretty cold all weekend, but I did find a couple of Wandering Gartersnakes (Thamnophis elegans vagrans) near the stream. 2 would have been 4 if my hands were a bit faster and I werent’ so worried about dropping my new camera into the water.

Here’s the first one:

Wandering Gartersnake

The next 2 pictures are of another one resting in the shade maybe 20 feet away.

\"Can I eat this big biped coming this way?\"

\"No! Hisssss spit fft!\"

… and that’s pretty much it for the last week. Hopefully the rest of April will treat me a little better.

moon

Evening in the White Tank Mountains, April 14th

Bryan — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:29:59 +0000

Kelly and I went out for a casual evening hike in the White Tank Mountains, West of Phoenix tonight. The goal was some fresh air, but reptiles were welcome to join us of course.

The usual butt-ton of Common Side-Blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana) lept from rock to rock trying their best to ward off the intruding apes with their terrifying display of pushups and twitching. Somehow we carried on. It was interesting to see that quite a large portion of them were missing their tails.

Uta stansburiana in the White Tank Mountains

On the way out, we decided to drive through the rest of the park for the hell of it. We found some old people, and a nice young Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox).

Crotalus atrox

We got kicked out of the park and ended up slamming on the brakes a half mile out the gate for a Mojave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus).

Crotalus scutulatus

While taking pictures of the Mojave, Kelly looked up and saw a Sonoran Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes cercobombus) scootching his way towards us. I went and got him for some pictures and for a few minutes had the luck of two species buzzing at us at the same time. The cerastes calmed down long before the Mojave did. Here’s a picture and one a little closer up.

Sonoran Sidewinder

Crotalus cerastes cercobombus

Total time from our front door out and back to home with dinner was only 3 hours. It was a good ending to a shit of a day.

Memory Cards & Mojave

Bryan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:24:35 +0000

Things have cooled off a little so we haven’t seen much in the last week or two. We found ourselves out there on Saturday after a likewise bunk fishing trip and saw nothing but maybe 5-6 dead Coachwhips (Masticophis flagellum), a Mojave (Crotalus scutulatus) that we watched get hit by a car as we waited, and a nice longnose snake (first of the year). I got some decent pictures on my old camera and was surprised the next day to see they’d all disappeared from the card somehow.

We went for a little hike West of Phoenix today and found only one snake. It was nice to get out regardless. Temps were down to 71 or so already at 6pm, so we were surprised to even find what we did.

Pretty place:

arizona upland desert scrub

A little HDR:

hrd-road

Arizona Upland Desert Scrub

On the way home we found a baby Mojave Rattlesnake crossing the road. It was only about 70F out, so it was kind of a surprise.

c-scutulatus1-041008

My girlfriend Kelly has a few pictures of that longnose on her camera that I’ll try and steal so I at least have one of that speces on the site. Either way, there will be hopefully some more animals on here after the nice warm weekend coming up.

Western Lyresnake from 2007

Bryan — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 03:55:47 +0000

Here’s a Western Lyresnake (Trimorphodon biscutatus) I found with Bill Sloan from the AHA last summer sometime in the mountains South of Bagdad, Arizona. I’ll probably have a lot of these ‘found this in my old stuff’ kind of posts in the next month or so as I streamline my process on this computer with my new software.

Herping West of Phoenix, 03-28-08

Bryan — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:25:47 +0000

We went out tonight and found a good 10 or so snakes in the nice, warm air. The temperatures stayed in the mid 70′s for about an hour and a half after dark, and there was a lot of movement in that time. Here’s some of what we found:

Skunked: First of the Year :)

Bryan — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:45:59 +0000

Last night at around 5pm we got the idea to get our sick asses off the couch and maybe see if there’s something crawling on SVP. I didn’t think we’d see much, but hey … maybe. Even if I expect to see absolutely nothing, some time out driving with new music while the sun goes down is time well spent. Hopefully the sickness will end soon and I’ll actually be able to use that fancypants new camera on something out there.

Tough ID in the Huachuca Mountains

Bryan — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:53:02 +0000

… from a trip with Kris late in 2007.

We were making our way down steep talus on the East end of the Huachuca mountains looking for C. lepidus when Kris saw something blue/black in a rock. It was too far to see in detail. The best I could do was take a zoomed photo and hope it worked out later. Click to make it big.

Finally this morning, when cleaning out some old photos, a Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovi) appeared after some adjustments in photoshop. Nothing crazy, but it was driving me nuts.

Year’s End

Bryan — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:51:48 +0000

Kelly and I moved into a new house last week. My free time will thus be spent pulling tape from boxes and crushing fingertips for the remainder of this season, unfortunately. Hopefully I’ll get out to the new-to-me mountains I see to the West each morning to catch some herps laying out in the last warmth of the year. If not, I’ll begin posting again in February or so.

This year has been good. I’ve added many animals to my life-list: C. molossus, C. lepidus klauberi, C. cerberus, C. Willardi, Gyalopion canum, Thamnophis cryptosisotalus, and Heloderma suspectrum. The molossus was my first find of the year, while the tigris was my last.

My goals for next year include getting out to Eastern New Mexico to look for anything within range of my parent’s new home, and perhaps a trip to Costa rica. Who knows.

My First Tiger Rattlesnake

Bryan — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:49:31 +0000

Kelly and I went out for a quick trip to the Superstition Mountains Saturday night, not expecting to see much due to the clear sky and weekend traffic. Surprisingly, the traffic wasn’t bad at all, though things were still slow. We saw one snake once the temperature got down to reasonable Crotalus-loving levels. The one and only snake of the night was our first Crotalus tigris (Tiger rattlesnake).

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.

Huachuca Mountains, September 1-3, 2007

Bryan — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:48:35 +0000

I’ve been down to the South East end of Arizona several times in the past two years in search of what I’ve gathered by reading posts by other herpers on the AHA and Fieldherp forums are some of the more sought-after snakes around town. The last three trips I’ve limited the search specifically to Crotalus lepidus klauberi, the banded rock rattlesnake (or green rock rattlesnake, depending on the date of the book you’re reading, as informed by Jerry Feldner). The last two times were no good, though we did end up scouting out the areas in the process where I’d eventually find them. My girlfriend Kelly and I went to the Huachuca mountains and spent a few days searching, and eventually found three lepidus.

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.

Congress Area & Bradshaw Mountains

Bryan — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:47:41 +0000

Kelly and I went up to Congress, Arizona for the weekend. I’d seen the only two speckled rattlesnakes (Crotalus mitchelli) that I’ve ever seen up there, so I thought I’d give it a try and see if I could get some good photos before the year’s out. We didn’t find one, but did find some other cool stuff. Here’s 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.

Sonoran Coral Snake in the Rain

Bryan — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:42:42 +0000

Kelly and I left Friday (August 3) for Nogales, planning to herp along the way, and try and find a Brown Vine Snake the next day. We found a faded-looking Crotalus atrox (Western Diamondback) first. Great rattle on this one.

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.