A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

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AndyO'Connor
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A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by AndyO'Connor »

With all of the debates, arguments, and flame wars that occur in online communities, the positive aspects are some times forgotten. Through FieldHerpForum, I have met some great people, amazing herpers, and friends that I expect to be the life-long variety. I have been to a herper's wedding, seen one through a divorce, and spent countless hours on trips with people I met here. This has been a great change in my life, and although there are plenty of great animals and scenery to be had in Washington, it has helped the few of us up here connect, and set goals for other parts of the country, and made expensive trips feasible by sharing the costs with others.

For the last 3 years, Mack, Josh, and I have visited parts south of here in search of not just the species that are new to us but common in those areas, but the tough ones that even the local herpers have had a tough time locating. We've had successful trips to Southern Oregon, Northern California, and most of the state of Nevada. We've fallen in love with Nevada for the state offering many of the species that California and Northern Arizona has to offer, with little chance of running into another person, let alone herper. We set our sites on finding a Gila Monster in one of the more difficult parts of their range, but also had high hopes for locating a couple rarely seen Nevada snakes such as the Southwestern Black-headed snake, and the Western Diamondback rattlesnake. We knew the chances of some of our targets were slim to none. We planned this trip nearly a year in advance based on researching Gila monster activity patterns in the Mojave, and how that would coincide with the best combination of roadcruising and daytime hiking conditions. The guys made it to my house in Mill Creek, Wa. by 9 PM on Saturday night, and we were on the road. Just a head's up; Each of us took over 400 pictures. I managed to narrow it down to around 90 of my favorite. Most of those will be in this post. There are many species I didn't photograph, whether it was a hike without a camera, or I already had a ton of pictures, or Josh or Mack had it pretty well covered. They might add to this thread, or make their own and post links here, mine is gonna be pretty long though, so strap in, it's worth the ride.

Gas station herping may seem laughable, but I suggest that you give it a shot if you haven't before, with permission if possible, as some great finds can be surprisingly close to the pumps when you think you are in between one herping destination and another. A stop in Southern Idaho yielded this Yellow-bellied racer, our first snake of the trip.

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The greatest things about trips like this is sometimes not the animals, but experiences along the way. On an isolated highway in the middle of nowhere Nevada, we came to a roadblock of Sherriff deputies, semi trailers, and other travelers. When we rolled the window down the Sherriff informed us that the highway would remain closed for about another 30 minutes for an exotic car race in the desert. Heavily modified cars, exotic Italians, over-powered muscle, and even a NASCAR stock car were tearing up the tarmac. While we didn't see a part of the race, we did see many nice cars on the side of the road after we passed through. We took the unexpected delay to our destination as a chance to stretch our legs. There were sagebrush lizards all over the place, and we managed to turn up this nice leopard lizard.

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We were back on the road towards our first destination. We have a spot to camp that Mack and I found last year that is a ways enough off the paved road that you can't see it without going offroad to it, has animals slithering and running through camp, and is close enough to paved roads that cruising is possible within a couple of minutes. On the way in, we were greeted with a pair of collared lizards keeping watch of the campsite.

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I was able to get my hands on this nice female with the help of Mack and his fishing pole (that dude is a noose ninja!) HerpNation plug: That shirt is available on the HerpNation website, and if you haven't subscribed, do so!

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We setup our beds (consisting of a cot, a sleeping bag, and a pillow) and went up into the rocks to look for lizards. We were greeted almost instantly with chuckwallas.

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While we were chasing lizards, I noticed a couple of pickup trucks parked at the entrance to the dirt road that leads to camp. Just a couple of kids riding a dirt bike and a 4-wheeler. They even came up the hill right next to me and we gave passing nods. They rode around all day while we started noticing the effects of the solar eclipse darkening the landscape. We walked around for a bit looking for ground snakes but failed to turn one up, so we started cruising. Halfway through our first pass we cam to the dirt entrance towards camp, and saw the kids loading their ORVs, and they stopped and gave us a strange staring glance, the kind that lasts a couple seconds longer than usual, but unfortunately we didn't act on our instincts and said nothing to each other. We decided to complete our pass and stop at camp at the end of the night. This decision provided us with one of the highest highs, and the lowest lows of the trip, all in the first day. Cruising started off slow the first night, not a lot moving besides banded geckos. On our first pass up the road though, we passed the kids in the trucks, and immediately after that, found a still twitching squished sidewinder in our lane (they swerved to hit it, they were the only other cars we saw) and then right after that, a nice panamint that appeared to have crawled out after they passed as it wasn't flattened, and had no signs of injury, until we went to move it and noticed some bloody spots on its belly. We held it overnight hoping for the best, but unfortunately it was dead in the morning... Anyways, we managed a live sidewinder, Josh finally got the live longnose snake monkey off his back (the 3 of us had made a few trips as previously mentioned, and managed twitching, dying longnose snakes multiple times), a night snake, and a pretty gopher snake. As activity was dying down, we were caught by surprise when Mack jacked the brakes, and I hadn't seen anything... He backed up and said he thought he saw something on the very edge of the shoulder that he wanted to check. Thinking it was another curved piece of grass, or more horse crap, I just looked ahead waiting for him to stop and identify the culprit. He kept backing up and said, "I don't think it was that far back..." At that exact moment, I looked ahead and a very small snake was squiggling across the road in a manner that didn't match any of the previously seen species. I had a good feeling of what it was, but waited until we saw it up close to say it, so as not to jinx it. We all scrambled out and had ourselves one of our main targets on the first night, a Southwestern black headed snake! Without seeing anything else out, we headed for camp riding our high utopian feeling that only a rarely seen, targeted find can bring, and it all crashed down as we pulled up to camp.

Remember the kids in the trucks, the ones with the dirt bikes who had purposely hit a couple of snakes earlier, which had given us a wary stare when they were loading their machines? Well had we trusted our guts and gone to camp earlier at that moment, we wouldn't have seen the Tantilla hobartsmithi, but we also would have stopped them from stealing Mack and Josh's cots and sleeping bags... It was an odd feeling to have such an awesome snake find, and then only minutes later, a punch in the stomach of having your personal space violated, and items that are fairly important to a week in the desert stolen from you. Mack and Josh made due for the night by sleeping in the truck, and I slept alone outside, which I was fine with, except that Mack had probably one of the spookiest encounters with a deer while taking a leak, the eye shine spooked him and he reacted as if it was bigfoot, or a cougar or something, RIGHT before we all went to sleep.

We decided to take a few pictures, release animals, then head towards Vegas to replace some sleeping supplies as people sleeping in the truck all week would smell even worse than if we just hiked in the desert for 8 days without showering, let alone the back and neck problems that could be had...

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During our daytime venture, I saw an orange flowers running over a gravel burm and wanted a closer look. It was a spiny lizard eating an orange buttercup type of flower. It was the first time I'd seen this species eating plant life. This was the best photo I could manage, it kept running to the other side of the yucca...

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This bold, large male zebratail posed nicely and let me get within a couple of feet of it.

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Can anyone identify this HUGE bumblebee? We saw a couple of them, it's metallic blue-black, almost an inch and a half long and sounded like a howitzer in the air, the only thing bigger were the tarantula hawks. Sorry for the not perfect pictures, it was a "busy bee" and would move to a new flower if I exceeded a certain distance, usually JUST beyond my camera's max focus reach with macro on.

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We started cruising early and I realized a huge blunder, I had only taken a single underbelly shot of the blackheaded snake!!! I needed another one, but you can't expect to find a second specimen of one of the least encountered snakes in the region can you?!? Well the first snake came later when it was getting cooler, and we had warmer weather loving snakes to be found. We stopped by a creek alongside the road and from in the car, I saw Mack stop mid-step and jump back into a sumo wrestler meets Karate Kid stance. I got out of the truck laughing wondering what the hell he almost stepped on, and it was this panamint sitting in wait... I liked how it looked with no flash as the last of the sunset cast a blue shade over the landscape.

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A couple more panamints including one on the dirt road by camp, a sidewinder, and a few gopher snakes, and we were starting to wonder if we'd see something a little different, hoping for a kingsnake, lyre snake, or something cool we didn't even know about. Well we were approaching the spot we found the blackhead the night before, and all were tense, and slumped in disappointment as we passed it with nothing on the road. We turned around shortly after and started the second half of the pass back up the road... Within 100 feet, and 8 minutes from the previous night, a familiar, frantic, squiggle of a snake appeared in the road... a second black headed snake!!! We held onto it for photos along with largest panamint and sidewinder of the night. I won't apologize for the number of photos for each, they were all divas.

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During this shoot, the sidewinder crawled into a small bush. I've heard of this happening before, but it made for some interesting shots...

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I know Mack loves the silvery gray cheeks on these guys, and I do to, what do you think?

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So with this area not offering much better of a couple of nights, the road slapped us with a freshly hit patchnose snake on the way out to our next set of herping spots. This has become the MO for this area of the country for us.

Last year Mack and I only saw a single Southwestern speck as it snuck into a crack. With no photos, we really wanted to get these taken care of this year. They quickly became one of the most common species in the area, with several being shined in cracks, found lying next to trails, crossing paths, and roadcruised at night.

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Can you see me?

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How 'bout now?

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Cruising new roads led to a few new species popping up on roads, and more of the same of others, with a really pretty long nose snake, lots of baby mojaves ( a surprising lack of subadults or adults), and at one point, a double... We passed a monster of a glossy in the opposite shoulder which I thought was a gopher snake, and as we stopped I looked out on our shoulder and a sidewinder was just about to slither onto the road.

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I liked how these shots without flash came out, one with headlamps and one without.

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During one day hike looking for atrox, Mack saw a large kingsnake up over his head on a rock slip into a crack. I climbed up to it and gave a couple light prods with my small snake hook, and got it lodged in the crack. While I was working on getting my hook back, having given up on the kingsnake I never saw, Josh yelled music to my ears "Coachwhip!" I told Mack to go help him and come back later as I was more or less hanging off the rock by one hand with the other hand on the snake hook handle. When Mack returned, he said I wasn't going to believe how red the coach was and that they bagged it because I would literally not have believed them. All of the coachwhips we had seen from the area previously were a drab yellow/tan/brown mix with little to no pinks or oranges as is a little more common closer to the coast. We used a second snake hook to dislodge my hook and went down the hill for photos, and my jaw dropped.

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That is the nicest coachwhip I've ever seen, and rivals the best I'd seen photos of on here before. I asked if they would wait while I airshipped my coachwhip from home to trade for that one as I didn't have room for both...

After the coachwhip, we started looking under willow trees for atrox per a tip from another herper. This isn't where we found this little guy, but after trying to photograph him in the open, this is where he stopped moving, and I like the pseudo-in-situ shot of him better than any other I took.

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When we are camping on these trips, I am usually not the first out of bed, but I will never be the last out of bed after Thursday morning. I woke up around 7:15 to an empty camp. I walked around camp commando hoping for the awkward wary early hiker to walk by and see me at my best, and right as I was getting dressed I heard faint whoops and yelling from up on the hill. Josh called me and said hey we're coming back down, and knowing there was a faint hint of glee in his voice asked if they'd found anything. "one snake, we'll bring it down", "what is it?", "You'll see" and he hung up. I knew it was something special for him not to say. I was thinking maybe they tripped over a boa, or found a Gila, but then I thought, nah, they wouldn't bag a Gila, we all agreed we'd keep our mits of 'em if we found one, they would have called and told me to get my butt up the hill... They handed me a small snake bag and said "Don't look inside, just reach in and grab it, we promise it won't bite you" The species list for Nevada was rushing through my head in milliseconds, a boa? a blind snake? a king? nah that might bite, they said it wouldn't. A recant of The Snake Charmer Joe Slowinski bite even rushed in my head and I second guessed trusting other's judgment, but I went with it, and out popped the only species that I hadn't thought of. In my hands was the one species we joked about after our first two nights was the only snake we had 0% chance of finding, a species that I coincidently had just posted in the I Wish list thread on the 16th, just days before the trip. I held in my hand, a beautiful greenish grey, 23" regal ringneck snake. Josh has a picture of my expression on my face the first second I saw what it was. It's a look of joyous disbelief. I wished he'd videotaped it because the dialogue was pretty funny. I will post photos of this snake later in the story.

Mack had gotten his lifer atrox, but it was a puny little 18-20" snake. He wanted a monster, but I told him that I had read that atrox in Nevada rarely exceeded 4 feet and the average adult was between 3-4 feet long... Kudos goes to Josh for wandering away from us to check out a rock pile, we might not have seen this beasty 5 foot atrox.

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While checking out a spot we visited last year, I had GPS'd a tortoise and her burrow. I wanted to find her again, and on my way there managed to fall, hit the elbow of my right arm on a rock, shooting pain all the way to my finger tips, and flinging my GPS off a cliff, never to be seen again. I later found the burrow, but she was either in an alternative home, or out foraging. I met back up with the guys who said they had just found a nice adult male, which was almost a consolation prize for my GPS. (If you find it, the only thing saved was the female tortoise spot, and if you find the GPS you should have found the tortoise signs by then, you can keep it, but I'd like it back)

A long ways away, can you see it, Mack had to point it out to me.

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Closer

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A parting shot

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When you are hiking, whether you are alone or not, and you get that "something's watching me" neck hairs standing up type feeling, don't ignore it. Unless you are overly paranoid, it is your body's prey instinct kicking it, a feeling many have lost touch with. I was getting this feeling walking up a wash. I turned around to meet up with the guys and on my way back down, saw this print, right in the middle of my foot prints, it WAS NOT there before, and judging by the lack of other prints, looks like it jumped down into the wash, and one foot landed in the sandy gravel and the other on a solid rock, and it cleared a 12-15 gap to the other side of the wash as this was the only print. My mirror is 4.5 inches in diameter.

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It was at the other end of this same wash while hiking with the guys that my biggest personal find of the trip, and the group's second occurred. We were searching for a Gila. The day had been cool and overcast and we felt that the weather was right to not force them into their homes by noon. We had been in the wash all day. The tracks were clear, we had been a few minutes later on some of the monsters, and saw clear evidence of basking, foraging, and even male combat in the sand. I was following a track and looked up ahead and saw it leading toward a modest sized rock with a small burrow at the base and some yellow grass growing out of it obscuring the entrance. I walked up to the rock, and used my foot to move the bush to the side of the hole to shine a mirror into it. One of the "straws of grass" that was lying next to my foot twitched, and my eyes focused on a snake. In the lighting, I thought I was looking at a racer, and then realized we weren't in their range, this was too long and skinny, and I had just found a second regal ring, on the crawl, at 4 PM!!! I started screaming and laughing maniacally. Josh was at the back and thought I'd been bit, and Mack thought I'd found a Gila at first. You see, I didn't react that way with the first because although I counted it as a group find, and a lifer, a bucket list species of sorts, I was disappointed that I had slept in and wasn't there right when it was found. But now, I had found one, personally, and it was even more unexpected than the first. I know the anticipation has been eating some of you up, so here are photos of both snakes. Notice the slight differences in dorsal color, a faded ring compared to complete lack of one, and the second snake has interesting white spots separating gray from yellow and red where the first does not.

1st ring

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2nd ring

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With our week up, and cooler weather on the way (we had only cruised 1 snake the night before and knew it wasn't going to improve until Monday) We packed up and headed home early. Mack has a tendency to always end up with missing chunks of finger whenever spiny lizards are involved, so I was surprised to see him playing this gamble with a stout 11 and a half incher...

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We made it to Northern California by early morning Sunday and decided since we were a day ahead of schedule, we should try one last time for that kingsnake. We got a couple of racers in the early am under cover.

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A big gravid female

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This cold skink held still for a shot.

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And the sun came out and snakes started to bask and crawl around. After the in situ shots, I gently hooked this snake onto the rock slab above it to discover it was gravid. I placed her back near the crack after a couple of shots to reduce the unneeded stress I had already caused.

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This female alligator lizard had a full original tail and nice markings. After a couple shots she climbed a bush.

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Near the water's edge was one of the craziest bug sightings I have ever witnessed. A massive dragonfly, damselfly, and other water bug hatch.

Multiple types were found and they were ALL OVER the place.

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Halgrimites (sp?)

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Every bush was like this, fishing was probably awesome that day.

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Another shot of a rock shows how many dragonflies were emerging, but this pesky turtle ruined the shot.

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I decided to give them more attention, though my camera is strained at distance.

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At one final spot, I spotted another ring on the crawl, those this was less regal. A nice northwestern x coral-bellied intergrade.

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Although we found FRESH getula sheds at several spots, not kings were verified. A garter eluded Josh's capture. The last verified snake was the first snake of the trip, a racer.

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Totals were decent given the cool weather the last half of the week. 62 snake, only 6 DOR, and 37 total species for the trip. Josh can correct me on numbers if I am wrong. I part with this shot of us one night before we left, enjoying some of our finds, and a nice brew. The expressions on our faces are funny to me, I took 3 pictures like this and each guy had a good face in each shot, but not all in the same shot. I will share all 3 just for giggles for all...

Mack startled by the snake in the dark before the flash went off

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Me having my count off by a second so when I gave the countdown, the flash went off as I was saying 2...1... and the gopher snake really wanted to try Sam Adams Summer Ale from Mack

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Josh decided to throw it back right when Mack and I got our business together...

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So there you have it, call it luck, call it skill, we don't care, we found 2 of each of some of the most difficult to find and/or rarely seen snakes in Nevada, and all of the Southwest for that matter. Sure the Tantilla were roadcruised, but show me a field herped hobartsmithi without cruising, and I will show you two fieldherped regal ringneck snakes without cruising or flipping. Am I a little cocky about it now, yes, and after 3825 miles in a truck, with an underestimated 15 miles hiked per day, I'd say we earned the right to be a little fuller. Both regals appear to be range extensions as well, so while we can't say we targeted them and knew we'd find one, we can say we were in the right place at the right time, which seems to happen to us on these trips frequently. Thanks if you made it thus far. Seeya in the Field!
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RenoBart
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by RenoBart »

Great post. NV is a great state...except for Vegas. LOL.

Bart
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monklet
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by monklet »

Not to get too locale specific but, are we on the same planet er what? :shock: :lol: 8-) Awesome, and BIG CONGRATULATIONS on the Regals :beer: :beer: :beer:
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Neil M
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Neil M »

Epic post to summarize an epic trip! Nice finds, and congrats on the regals. Oh and sweet closeup photos of the crotes!
-Neil
hellihooks
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by hellihooks »

Now that was a killer post, start to finish... :thumb: The ONLY thing that made it a little less enjoyable is having to scroll, to read the excellent narrative. I tried reducing the whole pg, but by the time I get to where all the text fits... it's too small for me to read.... :roll:
Still... one of the best posts I've seen all year... Big UPS on the lifers, both great and small... :thumb: jim
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monklet
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by monklet »

Finally got a chance to read the stellar narrative. Great job Andy, thanks for that!
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Ribbit
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Ribbit »

Great narrative, really enjoyable and communicates the feel of the trip beautifully. It was clearly an awesome trip (sucks about the thieves at the beginning though). I also really enjoyed the many in situ photos.

I have a naive question: are regal ringnecks rarely seen throughout their range? I ran into one in NM once and didn't think of it as a particularly special find, because the Pacific ringnecks in my part of California seem relatively easy to find.

John
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AndyO'Connor
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by AndyO'Connor »

To be honest, I don't know, I believe they are more commonly seen in AZ and NM than in Utah, NV, or CA. I've seen some range maps show them in Idaho, and I would like someone to verify that those are regals and not northwestern or some other subspecies... I would still count it as a significant find though, From what I've gathered, they are not as easy as any of the west coast species and even AZ and NM guys enjoy turning one up occasionally.

I am glad you all are enjoying the narrative, I spent a good chunk of time on it. Jim, sorry you had to scroll so much, I thought about making the pictures smaller, but I really enjoy them on my 22" LCD lol.
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JAMAUGHN
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by JAMAUGHN »

Epic is an understatement. Great post!

JimM
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Joshua Wallace
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Joshua Wallace »

I love the write-up Andy. You really have a gift for the words and you captured the spirit of the Trip perfectly. When I get home tonight from work I will post up my pictures. I took a bunch of habitat and herper pictures and since you took amazing pictures of most of the finds they will make up the bulk of my post.

The regals out in the mountain ranges of the Mojave and Great Basin have rarely been reported with usually a sighting or two at each range they have been found in, however I feel this is more an indication of how few of ranges have been effectively sampled for Diadophis. I think that once we get a good grip on the movement times and micro-habitat preferences that they will prove to be quite abundant in the Basin and Range.
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by mikemike »

Good job on the Regal and Tantilla, fellas! I've found regalis and hobartsmithi in Arizona, but they're a much bigger find in Nevada I'm sure.
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Neil M
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Neil M »

Shoot I forgot to mention this in my last comment. That coachwhip is unbelievable!! It's insane nature can produce such a beautiful specimen. Awesome find!
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John Martin
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by John Martin »

Wow, "epic" somehow falls way short in describing this post! :beer: I could make many comments but I'll limit them to just a few; 1) I'm fairly certain your large bee is a species of carpenter bee, a wood boring type, 2) That coach certainly is vivid!!, 3) I love regals, beautiful snakes and I've always had a real interest in them. I once just missed a DOR in southern AZ that measured 31 1/4".
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Fieldnotes
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Fieldnotes »

Fantastic!! That is the first “western” Regal that I’ve seen with a ring, granted it was a semi ring. I'm going to be morning walking much more often after reading your post, unlike you I am usually the last one up from bed and hiking around. When discussing Regal Ring-necks with Chris Feldman, author of a detailed paper on Diadophis (sorry forget the precise paper name and internet link), he mention to me he found a Regal Ring-neck in Idaho. He knows Diadophis well. *side note, I have flipped three hobarsmithi, so it does happen now and then --- but not from Nevada. Those Tantilla finds may also be range extensions. After reading your post I have the herping itch to get back out there. With you guys driving as far as you did, a 4 hour drive for me to Nevada doesn’t sound so bad. Almost forgot that bee is likely a Carpenter. I agree with the others best Nevada post ever. There needs to be more reports from Nevada – how about someone finding a Sonoran Lyre Snake in Nevada, or better yet California.
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Chris Mac Donald
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Chris Mac Donald »

WOW!!! nice nice job Andy I need to ad nothing!!!!!!!! Thanx for sweet awesome time down in nevada --- its one of my favs I hope to do it again !!!! You and Josh are great company and I couldnt ask for better herping companions! thanx for the great time!!! :beer:
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M Wolverton
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by M Wolverton »

Great post and photos.
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Mulebrother
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Mulebrother »

Best post in a while right here! Great stuff and narrative...you inspire me to write more...you kept me interstested but never bored. Good work.
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Will Wells
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Will Wells »

Looks like you had a fun trip and saw lots of herps. Thanks for sharing!!!
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Joshua Wallace
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Joshua Wallace »

We definitely have to look into how our finds down there work in with the current records for some of the species. I know with the hobartsmithi the Range in which we were herping in is right on the edge of what is show in Stebbins. It is a long drive down there however it is worth it to spend a week in a location where there are so many potential species compared to the 5 species of reptiles that I can find around my place. We did find one DOR Sonoran Lyre Snake on the trip. The habitat in which the DOR was found, is not what I would consider Lyre Snake land, the habitat was mainly flat with a few rolling ridges and no rocks bigger than a small boulder. Last year Andy and Mack found a live Lyre Snake on a separate range which might have been a Baja California Lyre. That trip was stellar as well, it was a shame that I missed it just for my honeymoon :mrgreen: . Will you have to get back out to Nevada, it is a very rewarding place to herp. One of my favorite finds for the trip was the Atrox in the Silver State, unlike most of the south west Atrox are very restricted in NV and appear to have the smallest range of any NV snake.
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MichaelCravens
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by MichaelCravens »

Nicely done Andy, great photos and narrative!

Michael Cravens
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David O
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by David O »

Halgrimites (sp?)
Stoneflies, actually.

Cool post.
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AndyO'Connor
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by AndyO'Connor »

Joshua Wallace wrote:We did find one DOR Sonoran Lyre Snake on the trip. The habitat in which the DOR was found, is not what I would consider Lyre Snake land, the habitat was mainly flat with a few rolling ridges and no rocks bigger than a small boulder. Last year Andy and Mack found a live Lyre Snake on a separate range which might have been a Baja California Lyre.
Yeah 6 DORs in full week with cruising almost every night is a decent number, but it sucked that all 6 were fresh hit and 2 were species that we could not find live on this trip (lyre and patchnose). By fresh I don't mean hit within an hour and still pliable, I mean 2 were twitching, and the other 4 were hit by the opposite traffic on 1 half of 2 way passes (we were going downhill, snake came out after we passed, we turned around to go uphill and passed a truck that was coming down after us, and the lyre snake was dead in the road...) A sonoran lyre would have been a lifer for all of us to, I'd say the lyre Mack and I got last year was a baja.
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Norman D
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Norman D »

Great job! The big atrox looks very nice. Love the panamints and speckleds the most though. Thanks for sharing!
joeysgreen
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by joeysgreen »

Thanks Andy, that's an excellent post and sounds like a fun trip. Too bad about them off-road'n punks but it doesn't seem to have soured you guys to much.

Ian
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Indafield
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Indafield »

Nice work guys you killed it! Hopefully it warm up in our neck of the woods soon. That coachwhip is incredible!
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Gordon C. Snelling »

I agree with everything said. Yes stoneflies, and a carpenter bee, Xylocopa species.
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Gary2sons
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Gary2sons »

Well said in your first paragraph! :thumb:

Awesome trip and finds!

That red coachwhip was something else!

Congrats on a memorable outing!

Gary
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AndyO'Connor
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by AndyO'Connor »

Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I am glad that the story is as enjoyable as the picture, I put a decent amount of effort into it. Josh and/or Mack should have a few more enjoyable shots and stories, like I realized that I forgot to mention the longnose snake out on the crawl well after sun up, and many of the funny quotes and other happenings that I might have been asleep for or off in another part of the desert...
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by monklet »

Andy wrote:I forgot to mention the longnose snake out on the crawl well after sun up
:shock: :shock: :shock:
DanW
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by DanW »

Wow amazing trip and great pictures. Thanks for taking the time to write it all out.
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TravisK
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by TravisK »

Fantastic post Andy! You guys look like you had TONS of fun.

Great shots, those little rings necks were my favorites.
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DaveR
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by DaveR »

Nice post Andy. Nothing better than an expedition into unfamiliar areas with the boys. Very nice pics and narrative. Thanks.
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Tonia Graves
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Tonia Graves »

Great post! Awesome finds and wonderful photography! Thanks for sharing this.
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by reako45 »

Absolutely wonderful post and captivating narrative! The pics and narrative together really pull you right into you guys awesome trip like a mini documentary. Really glad you guys found that second Blackheaded snake. Kinda made up for the bad experience w/ the off-roaders.

reako45
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by justinm »

Hey buddy, just realized I haven't commented. What a great writeup, and some amazing finds. You guys really killed it. Hopefully you can make it back this way again sooner than later amigo.
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Carl Brune
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Carl Brune »

Great story, great finds, thanks for posting that.
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Dell Despain
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Dell Despain »

Right on Andy. I've been working non-stop and not able to keep up with herping, or the forum, so this is my first stop into the forum in awhile, and this post was a great read, and awesome photography to look over, thanks.

Your very first photo in the post, of the Racer, is outstanding. I see a lot of Racers over the summer, and don't give them much attention, but that photo will make me give them more regard.
The Coachwhip was the highlight in the post for me, really incredible looking animal, great photos too.
I have to admit I was waiting to see a Heloderma after reading it was a target species for the trip. Sorry you didn't find that target. That's "never" happened to Cole and I on our trips. :lol:

And just to point out what others have pointed out already.... Helgramites nymphs are black and nasty looking with lots of legs, adults are drab with big wings and pincer looking mandibles. Your Stoneflies look to be what I and many people call Salmonflies, and I believe their latin name is Pteronarcys californica, and have an orange hue to them as adults.
I only bore you with this information because I know you enjoy these kinds of details. :) Fish go ape sh!t over them.

Thanks for the post it was great.

-Dell
Brian Eagar
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Brian Eagar »

Just returning to this post to admire your Nevada desert regalis again and noticed this statement:
So there you have it, call it luck, call it skill, we don't care, we found 2 of each of some of the most difficult to find and/or rarely seen snakes in Nevada, and all of the Southwest for that matter. Sure the Tantilla were roadcruised, but show me a field herped hobartsmithi without cruising, and I will show you two fieldherped regal ringneck snakes without cruising or flipping. Am I a little cocky about it now, yes, and after 3825 miles in a truck, with an underestimated 15 miles hiked per day, I'd say we earned the right to be a little fuller.
I don't want to discount your finds at all as they are awesome in so many ways. But to say that tantilla is one of the most difficult to find snakes in all of the southwest is just too inaccurate for me to let go. I've flipped over 10 in a day before in SW Utah (Mojave Desert) across multiple areas. I've only ever cruised one and that was in SE Utah. (Colorado Plateau).
I've also found 2 regalis in the field in a single day. (1 under a rock and 1 in the open). ;)

Not trying to boast just trying to point out that tantilla aren't so rare as you might think once you know their habitat and visit in the right week of the year under the right conditions. I've found them in at least 7 distinct locales across very different habitats and the most important factor was timing.

Regals on the other hand are still a mystery to me and one of my favorite snakes to try and figure out. It's an Extremely widespread species in Utah that is really hard to find on the surface. I'm at 3 flipped, 1 walked up on and 1 DOR in Utah. I just haven't figured them out yet and I've been working on it for about 12 years.

Oh yeah and to answer your question, Idaho has regal rignecks in the south near pocatello and northwestern ringnecks in the nw part of the state.
They are definitely verified as both occurring in the state and they are pretty well separated geographically.

Congrats again on your awesome finds!
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Jeff Teel »

I have flipped tantilla in the Hualapai mtns. az. In diff. years. Once two in a day. I have also flipped them in the Cerbat mtns, and night walked them in the Cerbat mtns. Both of those places are a bit diff than where you guys were but I do agree with Brian and think with a bit of "know" finding them could be semi easy. I know of one that was found surface active in the TA's also-(in Dec). To me, with that find, they gotta be in every range in the SW. Even in so. cal, I have seen them up around 3000ft in the San Bernardino mtns-(under rocks), and cruised one around that same elev. in the San Gabriel mtns. then all through the coastal areas of Riverside and San Diego Co. A very cool snake though. I also flipped them down in BCN-(catavina area) the last 2 years. I hear quite a few guys say they must be rare-(hate that word) then I know others who have seen 'em all over also. Either way, your post was awesome. I spent a bit of time in one of the ranges you found your regalis and although I was looking for something different I thought it would be a really cool find to see one there...so congrats on that!
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Dr. Dark
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Dr. Dark »

WOW! Absolutely KILLER post! Some super pics of some gorgeous animals. Especially love the first cerastes pic and the coachwhip is beyond belief!
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AndyO'Connor
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by AndyO'Connor »

Thanks to the recent views and comments guys. I will take back the all of the Southwest portion of that comment, and say that we were told by a Nevada resident with over 30 years of field herping year round and roadcruising that hobartsmithi is not a common sight. I don't think any of the species we saw are rare, which is why I carefully chose the term rarely seen.

I do believe they are probably a bit easier to find in cooler wetter times of the year, which was why we road cruised them instead of flipped them (we tried). But when you live in Washington state and the only time you get in the Mojave is a week or so, our scope or view can make every find seem more difficult, and more rewarding.
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

Great post Andy. I hate you and all your success.
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Re: A REGAL time in Nevada (DUW)

Post by devlin »

WOO This post is a fun ride! Great finds guys! :beer:
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