Hello guys! This post is about the herps that I have seen over the past months. Southern California has been getting a ton of rain, so the snakes are popping! Also, the salamanders have been out, so it has been an altogether great year so far!
These beautiful Monterey ensatinas were all over the hills of Cambria during the winter. Here are a few habitat shots of the area:
Anyway, it was a very wildlife rich area. I also managed to find some arboreal salamanders, with the help of Spencer Riffle.
Earlier this year, during the summer, I was up in Marin County for a little while, and with a little help from Zach Lim I found a few beautiful garter snakes. The infernalis there were incredible
I also found quite a few intergrade el diablo/santa cruz/oregon garters, such as this one
Also, you couldn't go without a few coast garters
In the Santa Monica mountains, the winter provided few snakes, but I managed to find a few kings, rings and gophers.
Another juvenile king
a habitat shot of the general area
I only found like 6 gophers in the winter, such as this feisty one
One thing that shocked me was the plethora of ringneck snakes this year produced. By mid-January, the San Bernadino rings were firing
At the beginning of February, one unusual find for the Santa Monica Mountains was this rare San Diego night snake
In the valley at this time, rings were producing incredibly plentifully. Thanks to my friend Jaden for taking me with him to these snake loaded tin lines in the valley.
The Santa Monicas were producing multitudes of snakes in February.
Very recently, my friends and I have been taking trips down to San Diego, and we have not been disappointed. A few weeks ago we found 30 snakes, one of them being this helleri
Los Angeles was not doing so well for me at that time, but I managed to turn up some snakes
This king was beautiful
Very recently, rings have been slowing down a bit, but they are not out completely.
Last week, a few friends and I were down in San Diego, and we managed to find 32 snakes. Of them, we found 11 kings, 9 of those being stripers. Here are a few pics:
This is one of my favorite pictures of 2017. A helleri:
Anyway, it has been great so far, so enjoy!
Awesome herps from these last few months
Moderator: Scott Waters
Re: Awesome herps from these last few months
Good stuff! Love the helleri pic!
Re: Awesome herps from these last few months
Thanks Lou!LouB747 wrote:Good stuff! Love the helleri pic!
Re: Awesome herps from these last few months
Nice finds!! I enjoyed the pictures, we need more posts like this. I really like the first shot of the ensatina. Keep it up!
Nicholas
Nicholas
Re: Awesome herps from these last few months
Thanks Nicholas!Nicholas wrote:Nice finds!! I enjoyed the pictures, we need more posts like this. I really like the first shot of the ensatina. Keep it up!
Nicholas
Re: Awesome herps from these last few months
Field Herping Medallion of Artistic Quality by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr
The vibe and tone of this medallion in unmistakably captured in this rendition of the original Zelda theme performed by one of my favorite guitarist. You should hear this music in your head and feel this vibe anytime anyone receives this California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation medallion of appreciation. Herp on brothers and sisters
The vibe and tone of this medallion in unmistakably captured in this rendition of the original Zelda theme performed by one of my favorite guitarist. You should hear this music in your head and feel this vibe anytime anyone receives this California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation medallion of appreciation. Herp on brothers and sisters