NW Oregon Banana Belt

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Richard F. Hoyer
Posts: 639
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 1:14 pm

NW Oregon Banana Belt

Post by Richard F. Hoyer »

During the month of December, is very uncommon to have conditions of temperature and sunshine suitable for making searches for reptiles in NW Oregon. Perhaps about 20 years ago I was able to make successful searched locally during December.

On Nov. 30th, the high for the day was about 66 but totally overcast. Then yesterday (12/1), it was mostly sunny with a high of about 63. I made searches at three site and did encounter one adult S. All. Lizard. Today, was mostly cloudy but the sun briefly came out in the afternoon with a high of 56. Bingo! I was able to come across two juvenile Common Sharp-tailed Snakes.

With sunny conditions and temperatures in the upper 60’s to mid 70’s in the Bay Area and along the Calif. coast, I suspect a good number of species of reptiles could be encountered at this time of year.

Richard F. Hoyer (Corvallis, Oregon)
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Porter
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Joined: March 19th, 2011, 7:43 pm

Re: NW Oregon Banana Belt

Post by Porter »

Sounds tempting… 🤔

I can say this for the Northern Central Valley: We’ve been getting a lot of dense fog lately. So thick I could barely see a couple cars ahead of me while driving at work. It’s like that tonight. The ground is sopping wet from it. However, I think I may be done with videos for the year. There’s too low of a turn out expectancy. I haven’t even flipped any of the gopher snake spots from my previous 2020 videos. It was a good year to leave those fields fallow… Assuming selfish degenerate Herpers were thinking the same 🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️ It’s never good to continually hit the same spots over and over. You gotta leave them alone for a while. Let them develop. That’s my opinion on it… Otherwise, they never grow back.

Also, as a video creator… I don’t want to film the same species over and over and over to the point that it becomes stale subject matter. So, bay area serpents are definitely on my radar for future videos. I hope to do an Arizona series next year as well. So saving money for that, I think, may keep me home for the holidays

Glad to hear you had some success up there Richard 👍🏻
mark buck
Posts: 102
Joined: March 30th, 2015, 11:01 am
Location: Bakersfield, CA

Re: NW Oregon Banana Belt

Post by mark buck »

Thanks for the report Richard. I can picture the Sharp Tails shining in that Oregon sun :)

Hope you're able to turn up more Charina/Contia between rainstorms in the coming months. Supposed to be a wet winter for you guys up in the PNW.
We still need a lot more in the way of rain down here in Central Calif.
Richard F. Hoyer
Posts: 639
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 1:14 pm

Re: NW Oregon Banana Belt

Post by Richard F. Hoyer »

Mark,
Rained up through Jan. 8th. Totally overcast on the 9th, 10th, and 11th here in Corvallis with highs of 39, 46, 54 respectively. Started out mostly sunny today and the ‘official’ high was 55. I headed out at around 2 with my pickup thermometer showing 58 degrees.

Got out to my former Common Sharp-tailed Snake study site at about 2:20 but then totally overcast and at 57 degrees. Still very wet under the cover objects and no Sharp-tails. Traveled to a boa site near Wren, Oregon and encountered an adult male Southern Alligator Lizard and an adult male boa. The latter is a recapture first found in Feb. 2018 and encountered a few more time since then. So my 2022 field season has ‘officially’ begun.

As for the two ‘self taught’ courses, Sfcb – 101 and 102, (Search form Charina bottae), the more individuals ‘entered’ in those fictitious courses the better. I am hoping that before I have passed on, someone will find and retain a boa from San Luis Obispo County so some data can be recorded and the specimen vouchered. And with only 4 vouchered specimens from Monterey County, the same applies there as well.

Richard FH (Corvallis, Oregon)
mark buck
Posts: 102
Joined: March 30th, 2015, 11:01 am
Location: Bakersfield, CA

Re: NW Oregon Banana Belt

Post by mark buck »

Richard:

Sounds like a nice start to the year for you. Crazy to think 57 degrees is enough to get an adult Boa up and moving in January, I'm assuming he was under tin. Fascinating little serpents either way.

My field season started a few weeks back on January 6th in Western Riverside Co. Temps had been in the high 50's, low 60's leading up to that day but on the 6th temps hit 75 degrees and the sky's were clear and blue . The first small "heat wave" after some winter rains. I started looking under rocks at some new sites around 12pm. After a few hours I had turned up 3 or 4 Skinks, and a Banded Gecko under rocks, also saw 2 or 3 Granite Spiny lizards basking. Finally a few minutes after sunset I flipped an adult female Rosy Boa under a large granite stone.

Also about a week ago I encountered a juvenile Coast Garter snake on a quick hike near Santa Cruz. The snake was out basking under mostly cloudy skies, temps in the low 60's.

Gonna try to make some trips to SLO/Monterey counties this year and look for Boas. Hoping for more rain in the meantime.

-Mark
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