Time for a February in Review Post

Nicholas · Post by **Nicholas** » March 9th, 2017, 8:56 pm

Well this one is a bit more on time than the last. February was pretty sweet. I found a good number of snakes and other cool stuff. The rain has made the grass really lush and green.
February started off strong, early in the month I headed out to Riverside and within fifteen minutes of exiting the car, I fipped my first snake of the year for me.

Coastal Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Coastal Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

I also found a few ruber visually, as well as a nightsnake under a rock.

Red Diamond Rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

San Diego Nightsnake (Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha klauberi) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

San Diego Nightsnake (Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha klauberi) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

A couple days later I got to see this legless lizard.

Southern California Legless Lizard (Aniella stebbinsi) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Southern California Legless Lizard (Aniella stebbinsi) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

The following weekend, we headed back to Riverside County with Jeremy where I found a couple more rosies as well as some other critters.

Coastal Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Coastal Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Jeremy flipped this gorgeous gecko.

San Diego Banded Gecko (Coleonyx abbotti) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

San Diego Banded Gecko (Coleonyx abbotti) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

That evening we spontaneously decided to search for Spadefoots with Daniel Smith.
We found a lot of eggs which seemed like a good sign.

Western Spadefoot (Spea hammondii) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

At last Jeremy spotted this little guy.

Western Spadefoot (Spea hammondii) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Western Spadefoot (Spea hammondii) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

On the drive out Daniel spotted a second lighter one on the road.

Western Spadefoot (Spea hammondii) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Western Spadefoot (Spea hammondii) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

After school midweek I found a nice arboreal under an unexpected log as it was situated in the sun. Just goes to show how much rain we've been getting.

I would like this shot if it wasn't for the ring flash reflection in the eye.

Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

I flipped another unexpected whiptail. This time I had a better camera.

Coastal Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris stejnegri) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

In the later part of the month, I hit the field with Greg Litiatco (Gopher) and we headed to Riverside yet again where I flipped another two rosies.

I thought this one was very orange, at least for me.

Coastal Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Coastal Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

#2

Coastal Rosy Boa (Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

San Diego Banded Gecko (Coleonyx abbotti) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

On the last weekend of February, Jeremy and I went down to SD county to check some ac in a couple different spots. We actually flipped between twenty and thirty snakes, mostly ringnecks but also some other species.

San Diego Ringnecked Snake (Diadophis punctatus similis) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus organus helleri) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

The highlight of the day was this striped king that Jeremy flipped. It was both of our first live striper. It proved to be a difficult snake to photograph, but I squeezed a couple nice shots out of it.

Ball python by NicholasHess, on Flickr

California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

That's all herp wise, here are some non-herps.

Fiddle-necks by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Can anyone ID this birdy?

Birdy by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Western Black Widow (Latrodectus hesperus) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Wild Mustard and European honey bee (Apis mellifera) by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Mustard and Fiddle-necks by NicholasHess, on Flickr

Cloudy Sunset by NicholasHess, on Flickr

So it's safe to say February was a pretty great month for me. Unfortunately it appears that the rains have died down a bit, but hopefully it'll pick up again in March.
I hope you enjoyed!
Nicholas

daniel · Post by **daniel** » March 11th, 2017, 4:32 pm

Nice post Nicholas, it was fun hanging out with you guys!

Can anyone ID this birdy?

Yellow-rumped warbler

Speckled Rosy · Post by **Speckled Rosy** » March 13th, 2017, 8:52 pm

Awesome! I enjoyed the post..

NACairns · Post by **NACairns** » March 14th, 2017, 3:49 pm

Great post, as always lovely photos. I agree on Daniel's bird ID.

JAMAUGHN · Post by **JAMAUGHN** » March 14th, 2017, 7:53 pm

Excellent, Nick. Very, very excellent.

JimM

Nicholas · Post by **Nicholas** » March 14th, 2017, 10:01 pm

Thanks for taking the time to respond everyone, I appreciate it! And also thanks Daniel and Ncairns for the ID!

Nicholas

mark buck · Post by **mark buck** » March 14th, 2017, 10:58 pm

Boa fever!

Dig the spadefoots too

huck · Post by **huck** » March 15th, 2017, 9:37 pm

wow! Great post! Love the rosys and striper

Brian Hubbs · Post by **Brian Hubbs** » March 16th, 2017, 11:16 am

Nice pics as usual. The birdie is a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

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