Bay Area Summer Trip

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by jonathan »

Okay Natalie, here's another NorCal thread. :D

Last weekend my wife and I drove up to the Bay Area for an all-weekend conference my wife had to go to. It was basically a road trip together both ways, with her conferencing and me herping while we were up there. :thumb: I dropped my wife off with a couple of hours of daylight left on Friday and headed for a coastal marsh to look for red-legged frogs. The fog was so strong when I got there that I almost brought my flashlight, even though it was only 6:30pm. Once I got to the water, I found that California red-legged frogs were EVERYWHERE. It felt like the easiest lifer I've ever seen - red-leg after red-leg jumped into the water. Unfortunately, I never saw them until they jumped into the water. The big frogs were so spooky that I couldn't manage to get a picture, and the marsh was so full of reeds that they disappeared immediately upon hitting the water.

One frog-eater was a little better at posing for a picture. I wasn't used to seeing snakes out in such cool conditions.

Coast Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans terrestris)

Image




Neat bird in the area.

Image




I also saw a juvie garter and heard sierran chorus frogs calling. Finally, at least 50 frogs in, I found one who stuck himself a good 15' from the water and decided to duck down in the grass rather than try to reach the water:

California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii)

Image

Image



habitat shot:

Image




On the way out I saw some stuff to flip. The moisture led to 50+ slender salis being found in only a 40' stretch, though I didn't find any other species. The first one was the biggest attenuatus I've ever seen.

California Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus)

Image

Image



habitat shot

Image




Now that it was getting dark I headed to a stream to see if I could nighthike a larval giant salamander. Newts turned out to be common in the stream's main body:

Rough-skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa)

Image

Image



habitat shot

Image




Whereas I had to hike about 40' up a very small tributary to find my giant:

California Giant Salamander larva (Dicamptodon ensatus)

Image



habitat shot

Image




The next morning I went out to meet some friends who were nice enough to show me around the Bay. On the way out I heard some chorus frogs and flipped some slender salis, as well as stopping for some interesting roadkills. ID on this guy?

Image

Image




Once I managed to meet up with the guys we hit our first spot, which was freaking smörgåsbord of herps. My first flip under a board was an arboreal salamander.

Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris)

Image




I barely had time to take a voucher pic before Sam was calling me over to flip a "nice" board. Sure enough, there was a garter/boa double under it. This was not an anomoly - in very short order we found 4 rubber boas and 12 coast garter snakes.


Northern Rubber Boas (Charina bottae)

Image

Image

Image




Coast Garter Snakes (Thamnophis elegans terrestris)

Image

Image

Image



habitat shot

Image




We also found a racer double under one board.

Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon)

Image




And the most prehistoric, beefy, nasty-looking alligator lizard I've ever seen.

California Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata)

Image

Image




From there we headed for some ponds to look for atratus. Instead we found another coast garter, along with some red-legged frogs:

California Red-legged Frogs (Rana draytonii)

Image

Image



habitat shot

Image



Inside an old backpack I found the much prettier local alligator lizard:

San Francisco Alligator Lizard (Elgaria coerulea coerulea)

Image




And there were also a few fence lizards in the area:

Coast Range Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii)

Image




At another lake we were disappointed to spot bullfrogs, though we did see a coast garter and a gopher snake.

Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer)

Image




We kept going back to the same pond over and over again. On about the seventh pass, I found a coast garter:

Image




And then finally hit the aquatics that we were looking for, which I found to be quite pretty. Crazy that after finding zero of them on the first 6 passes of the pond, we found EIGHT on the 7th pass. Sometimes conditions have to be just right...

Santa Cruz Garter Snake (Thamnophis atratus atratus)

Image

Image

Image



comparison shot - T. atratus atratus and T. elegans terrestris

Image



habitat shot (don't these all look the same?)

Image




Having hit up most of the target species, we went our seperate ways. I drove out into the boonies to try to spot a lifer yellow-legged frog. Despite a lot of searching I was only able to find tadpoles.

Foothill Yellow-legged Frog tadpoles (Rana boylii)

Image

Image

Image



habitat shot

Image




Unfortunately they were not the only tadpoles there. It was sad to see bullfrogs in both red-legged and yellow-legged spots on this trip.

American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)

Image




I also was able to see a sagebrush lizard, at a much lower elevation than they occur in SoCal.

Western Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus graciosus gracilis)

Image




Hot herping got to be a little much and I called it a day. But when night fell Sam and I hit the roads. Here's a little of what we found:


Northern Pacific Rattlesnake DOR (Crotalus oreganus oreganus)

Image




California Toads (Anaxyrus boreas halophilus)

Image

Image




Sierran Treefrog (Pseudacris sierra)

Image




Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer)

Image




California Night Snake (Hypsiglena ochrorhyncha nuchalata)

Image




California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae)

Image




There was one particular target we were looking for more than the others. A little frog hopped by, and as Sam said, "what was that?" I answered "I think it's what we're looking for!" This was my metamorphized lifer, having only found tadpoles earlier in the year.

Western Spadefoot (Spea hammondii)

Image




While that was being photographed, I wandered over to an adjacent stream and got to see why Mark Twain made these guys famous:

California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii)

Image

Image




On my last day in NorCal I only had part of the morning available, so I went further inland and looked for some drier species. I hiked up and down hills seeing nothing but fence lizards. Eventually I came down to a trail and hiked around a turn only to see two women hiking about 100' in front of me. Not wanting them to scare everything off the trail before I spotted it, I started jogging to pass them. But before I got there, something moved about 5' off the trail. Alameda striped racer! I tried to get into position to photograph it, but it moved a few feet over. I carefully stepped off the trail into position and worked out an angle to get a picture of a piece of its body, but it moved again. We played like that a couple more times, then it moved about 25' down the hill and stopped again. I climbed down the hill and looked around.....and there it was, trying its best to blend in and acting like I couldn't see it if it was still enough.

Alameda Striped Racer (Coluber lateralis euryxanthus)

Image

Image



habitat shot

Image




After a couple pics, I tried to get another angle and it shot down the hill suddenly, disapearing more than 60' away. They can really move when they want to.

Just a few yards further own I saw the first whiptail of the trip.

California Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris munda)

Image




I then decided to hike one last hill. It was a little unnerving - the dead grass was too long and I was staring intently at each step for rattlesnakes. About 90% of the way up the hill I saw the skin that I had been looking for - probably about 4' along the ground from my feet but it felt like it was only 3' line of sight from my head.

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus oreganus)

Image

Image

Image



habitat shot

Image




Having chanced it enough, I crested the hill and redescended along a last snakey path, then left to pick up my wife.

On the way back we made one quick stop to look for a species I had found there two years earlier. I wanted to get better pictures, but all I found in a quick 10-minute search was this juvi, who hardly shows the subtle differences that distinguish this species from its regional neighbors.

Gablian Mountains Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps gavilanensis)

Image

Image




Thanks for taking a look! It was a great trip for me - 25 species, including 4 lifers and 4 subspecies lifers, plus three herps that I'd never gotten a pic of before. And I had a great time looking at a variety of habitats that looked nothing like SoCal. Thanks a lot to Sam, Dave, and John for showing me around.


Total species count:

60 California Slender Salmanders
1 Gabilan Mountains Slender Salamander
1 Arboreal Salamander
1 California Giant Salamander
7 Rough-skinned Newts

3 Sierran Chorus Frogs (plus many calling)
55+ California Red-legged Frogs (plus 30+ tadpoles)
200+ Foothill Yellow-legged Frog tadpoles
4 American Bullfrogs (plus several calling)
10+ California Toads
1 Western Spadefoot

3 California Alligator Lizards
1 San Francisco Alligator Lizard
1 California Whiptail
15+ Coast Range Fence Lizards
1 Western Sagebrush Lizard

4 Rubber Boas
2 Western Yellow-bellied Racers
1 Alameda Striped Racer
2 California Night Snakes (1 DOR)
10 Pacific Gopher Snakes (8 DOR)
3 California Kingsnakes
17 Coast Garter Snakes
8 Santa Cruz Garter Snakes
2 Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes (1 DOR)
User avatar
Ross Padilla
Posts: 2666
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 6:29 pm
Location: I love L.A.
Contact:

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by Ross Padilla »

Wow, you did great, Jonathan. Very nice post. :thumb:
User avatar
rosy-man
Posts: 317
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:43 am
Location: East of san diego

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by rosy-man »

awsome john the only 2 snakes ive not seen in cali rubber and morman and you scored both very nice
User avatar
monklet
Posts: 2648
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:44 pm
Location: Ventura, CA
Contact:

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by monklet »

Very productive trip! Sounds like you worked your butt off.
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by jonathan »

Thanks much everyone!
rosy-man wrote:awsome john the only 2 snakes ive not seen in cali rubber and morman and you scored both very nice
You've seen a Baja rat?! :lol:


Those were actually two snakes I'd seen before, but never in Cali, so it was nice to get both of them (especially the racer). The Santa Cruz garter, alameda striped racer, and California night snake were all completely new for me. I still need lots more though - giant and checkered garters, sharptails, ground snakes, hobartsmithi, blind snakes, atrox, mojave rattlers, and lots of subspecies.
hellihooks
Posts: 8025
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 8:12 am
Location: Hesperia, California.
Contact:

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by hellihooks »

Goog job Jon,
My 2 trips up to SCruz this year only produced 2 snakes...(pit/contia) but lots and lots of slenders and yellow-eyeds. Looking for sallies actually sounds like a welcome break, right about now... gotta beat the heck outta walking a hot wash looking for Zebs... :roll: :lol: But now... I Gotta find them, just so's I know... :lol: :lol: again... cool post... jim
User avatar
Natalie McNear
Posts: 1147
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:54 pm
Location: Northern coast of California

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by Natalie McNear »

Great stuff, Jon! That boa with the dark eyes looks a bit familiar. :lol:
User avatar
David Jahn
Posts: 54
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:51 pm
Location: Norcal Bay Area

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by David Jahn »

jonathan wrote:Crazy that after finding zero of them on the first 6 passes of the pond, we found EIGHT on the 7th pass. Sometimes conditions have to be just right...
The difference in conditions on that last pass was going from dense fog to medium-dense fog, lol. You did great for being here such a short time here – that’s called focus!
David
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by jonathan »

No one's bit on the DOR ID yet. I'll go ahead with my guess - is that a muskrat?
User avatar
Natalie McNear
Posts: 1147
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:54 pm
Location: Northern coast of California

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by Natalie McNear »

Pretty sure it's some kind of weasel or other mustelid (muskrats have scaly tails).
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by jonathan »

Natalie McNear wrote:Pretty sure it's some kind of weasel or other mustelid (muskrats have scaly tails).
You're right - I wasn't looking at close-ups of muskrat pictures. I've never seen one except for swimming in the water.

I had looked at weasel pictures, but I somehow was thinking that they had a more obvious dorsal/ventral contrast, and the head didn't look right. Then again, the head was the most smashed-up part of the whole thing.

From what I understand, that locale (south of the San Francisco Bay) only has long-tailed weasels?
User avatar
Sam Murray
Posts: 42
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:57 am
Location: California

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by Sam Murray »

Jonathan,

You are a crazy person.

Image

Hypsiglena. :lol: :lol: :lol:
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by jonathan »

Sam Murray wrote:Jonathan,

You are a crazy person.

Image

Hypsiglena. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah, that was what I was assuming it was.

I can't help it that I was going to show it to you, and then it accidentally fell under a seat and made the trip to LA with me. :lol: :lol: I'm hoping you can release it back into its native habitat.

You got the gas money too, right? :thumb:
User avatar
yoloherper
Posts: 151
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:57 pm
Location: Davis/Santa Cruz

Re: Bay Area Summer Trip

Post by yoloherper »

Nice job on the whipsnake. i've looked for them a few times, but never found them.
Regarding the DOR mammal, it looks like a long tailed weasel. The black tail tip
distinguishes them from minks, and Natalie was right about muskrats having no
hair on their tails.
Post Reply