More San Francisco herps

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Mr.Talltree
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Location: San Francisco, Ca.

More San Francisco herps

Post by Mr.Talltree »

Went out on a solo mission in the city today and came back with two decent finds.

First was this guy--a nice little San Francisco Alligator lizard. He was chillin' under a log, and a bit cold and slow.

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IMG_8095 by Mr.Talltree, on Flickr
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IMG_8099 by Mr.Talltree, on Flickr
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IMG_8106 by Mr.Talltree, on Flickr

About a half an hour later, I flipped a little rock and was happy to see my little friend sporting his SF Giants colors. 8-)

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IMG_8118 by Mr.Talltree, on Flickr
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IMG_8127 by Mr.Talltree, on Flickr
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IMG_8131 by Mr.Talltree, on Flickr

I'll be adding these guys to the database in the next day or two, and hopefully, the next day it doesn't rain, I'll be out finding more of SF's herps.

Luke-
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El Garia
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by El Garia »

"Cool Find Luke",

You've earned that name :thumb: That's about as high contrast of a Ringneck I've seen. That snake is *%@*@#g beautiful! Cool find...

Your Alligator Lizard appears to be a California Alligator (Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata). They tend to have a longer, more pointed snout than that of the San Francisco Alligators. It is an odd looking one, though.

Cool finds,

El Garia
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Mr.Talltree
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by Mr.Talltree »

El Garia wrote:"Cool Find Luke",

You've earned that name :thumb: That's about as high contrast of a Ringneck I've seen. That snake is *%@*@#g beautiful! Cool find...

Your Alligator Lizard appears to be a California Alligator (Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata). They tend to have a longer, more pointed snout than that of the San Francisco Alligators. It is an odd looking one, though.

Cool finds,

El Garia
Thanks for the correction on the gator. Pretty stoked on the ringneck! I hope to be adding more soon.

Luke *CFL* :thumb:
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El Garia
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by El Garia »

CFL,

Another easy identifier for the multicarinata is the yellow eyes. The corrulea's eyes are black.
RobertH
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by RobertH »

Luke, awesome. :thumb:

Like your Coast Garter, both the Ringneck Snake and the California Alligator Lizard are what we call county records - the first of these two species to be recorded in the database for SF County! That makes 3 SF county records in just about as many days, not to mention the first two snakes to be recorded for SF.

We are going to have to start calling you "sensei" :beer:

By any chance, could you post some habitat shots? Of course, you should do so only if they don't give away the exact or even approximate location. That's your call.

Robert
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Ross Padilla
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by Ross Padilla »

Nice colors on that Ring-neck. :thumb:
devlin
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by devlin »

The eyes on that ringneck are crazy! Never seen that before. Great finds Luke!
Zach_Lim
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by Zach_Lim »

I am utterly speechless... :shock:
I am an SF native, been here for all my 24 years, and I have NEVER seen anything other then slenders, an arboreal sal, and a fence lizard in the city! Were the ringnecked and Southern alligator within the limits? Simply great stuff, Luke! Really wished I could have met you up today.

Let's herp SF soon. I really gotta get this monkey off my back.

As Robert stated, please enter these in the database! I'll be jealous that I was not the first naherp member to record snakes in the city, though HAHA!
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Mr.Talltree
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by Mr.Talltree »

Zach_Lim wrote: Were the ringnecked and Southern alligator within the limits?

100% San Francisco city limits for both. I'll take you to the spot--quite possibly some of the best habitat I've found so far.

Luke-
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Mr.Talltree
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by Mr.Talltree »

RobertH wrote: By any chance, could you post some habitat shots? Of course, you should do so only if they don't give away the exact or even approximate location. That's your call.
Robert
I'll put up some habitat shots soon. This particular place has a good mixture favorable elements to support a plethora of herps. :mrgreen:

Luke-
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JAMAUGHN
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by JAMAUGHN »

Thoroughly cool. Nice finds, sir.
JimM
RobertH
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by RobertH »

Done :)

Robert
hellihooks
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by hellihooks »

Good Stuff CFL. It's kinda funny...Several years ago at Slash X (a Nafha outing) on Lucas B.'s first attempt to noose a Desert Spiny (a notoriously hard lizard to noose) he did it on the 1st try, in one smooth motion, at which point I gave him the nickname 'Cool Noose Luke' which he used for several years as his user name... :crazyeyes: :lol: :lol: It does NOT surprise me that El Garia had the same train of thought... we both have Loco Motives. :crazyeyes: :lol: :lol:
The red on that ringneck Rocks! :thumb: jim
PS, as per Robert's reply, you might want to read 'Locality Release Online: A level-headed approach' The search engine should bring it right up... :thumb:
rtdunham
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by rtdunham »

RobertH, you've probably already noticed this but your post repeated the sensitive information you recommended be deleted. The OP deleted his, so it now lives on only in your post, which you need to delete. This is something we should all keep in mind and doublecheck for when we post about such issues.
RobertH
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by RobertH »

rtdunham: Thanks for that. DUH :lol:

Luke: Thanks for the quick response :thumb:

Robert
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Mr.Talltree
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by Mr.Talltree »

As promised, here are some shots that will give you an idea of the features of the habitats I herped yesterday. It's a combination of two separate places. I tried to crop out any features that might give away the locations.

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This was right where I found the ringneck under a rock.
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This was the alligator right after I rolled his log.
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Here's a nice blurry background to contemplate.
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Let me know if any of these seem to revealing in regards to the location. :thumb:
Luke-
RobertH
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by RobertH »

Luke, thanks for posting the habitat shots. Unfortunately, I would - again - recommend that you remove the first 4 shots. With SF having a limited number of open spaces, anyone familiar with the general area would probably be able to figure out where those spots are, at least approximately. With GoogleEarth, I might even be able to do it. Zach would certainly be a better judge of this than I. But better be safe than sorry. Hey, these are your spots. If they get ruined, you'd be the one most affected by it.

Thanks for understanding!

Robert
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Lucas B.
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by Lucas B. »

Awesome Finds Luke! I spent about 5 hours looking for a ringneck and 2 different days near San Fran with no luck at all!!! Good to see SOMEONE named Luke got to find one! :lol:

Awesome Alligator Lizard too! I found this guy under a log near SF too..This is a San Francisco I believe...El Garia please let me know if I am mistaken!

Image

-Luke
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Rob Wiens
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by Rob Wiens »

The shots of the ringneck as found is nice. The colors on it are fantastic. Not being from the SF area but being familiar with the city (Go Giants! Go Niners!) I agree that the first couple habitat shots are pretty revealing.
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JAMAUGHN
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by JAMAUGHN »

That Ringneck, besides being beautiful, is also managing to look sort of fierce in the last couple of pics in the initial post. I'm not sure how it's pulling that off.

JimM

Lucas, Yes, that's an SF Alligator.
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El Garia
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by El Garia »

Cool Noose,

You are correct, Hombre. The black eyes on that buggah is the easiest way to ID that Allie as a Northern (San Francisco). Their patterns though, are highly variable. More so than with Southerns. At the last Soquel survey, liucommajames (James) found one that had me doing a double-take. It's pattern looked so much like a multicarinata...was trippy :crazyeyes: Hopefully James will see this and post a pic of it. :thumb: It was the prettiest one I have seen to date!
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Mr.Talltree
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Re: More San Francisco herps

Post by Mr.Talltree »

Lucas B. wrote: Good to see SOMEONE named Luke got to find one! :lol:
Hell yeah! :thumb: 8-)
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