2016 Started off with a few good rains allowing for some observations of the local ambystomids
Tiger

SC Long toed

I did a few nocturnal checks in a property of state park land to survey where red legged frogs were
Only 1 minute into the first survey and my partner and I confirmed red legged frogs, though this individual was slightly confused… Hopefully it realized its mistake before the much larger bullfrog made a snack of it

A less imperiled red legged frog

Chorus frogs were also common. I watched this pair lay a few eggs

In late January, I went to scout a spot that I thought might produce Cal Kings later in the year in Santa Cruz co where they are pretty uncommon. Surprisingly, my scouting trip turned into one of my favorite finds of the year when I doubled flipped two neonates

This ensatina from yolo county was a big surprise while looking for aneides in February. I think it’s a legit co. record and approximately 10 mile range extension eastward in the interior coast range.

Aniella provide a fun target during sunny brakes in cooler weather.

In March I got my lifer spadefoot in Yolo co, where to my knowledge, they hadn’t been recorded in around 15 years. Definitely one of my favorite finds

After finishing my last winter quarter final, I rushed to catch the sun before it set on what became one of my favorite crack’s this year and spotted this tiny z wedged in deep. This would be a reoccurring, and depressing theme for me this year.

On a trip down the interior coast range in central California, I flipped this huge king that was over 4 ft long and extremely hefty

A cold spell limited herp activity, but my dad and I did find a number of night lizards in their disjunct range there. Similar to southern California, where I often find them under Joshua trees, these were all found under rotting yucca stumps.

On the spring yolo survey with Dave, everyone was really hoping for a striped gopher. After our group had flipped hundreds of boards that Dave has set out and seen tons of other cool stuff, we circled around literally the last board at the last sight, and held our breaths as Mark flipped it to reveal a perfect striped juvenile.

In spring, I took a field ecology course and spent a lot of time away from santa cruz, hearing about how great the herping was as others found tons of z’s during the wet spring. One weekend when I was back, I returned to the same crack from march and found a pair of adult z’s sharing it. One came out of the crack with almost no coaxing, but I got greedy and tried to gently direct the other one towards the edge with a small twig as well. It was not having it and bolted deeper into the rock and at the same time, the first, which was in my other hand with my flashlight, got its head back into the crack so I had to let it go as well. Can’t win them all

The highlight of my spring, and year, was a 2 week trip to one of my professor's field sites in the sea of cortez where our small class broke into groups and carried out a research project. I chose to study lizards to maximize the amount of time I could spend herping on some of the islands. Didn't take a whole ton of pictures of lizards because bringing a camera around during surveys was a little too much, but I did try photo every snake. Rattlesnakes were pretty common on one of the islands we visited, and I think I saw about 10 each of mitcheli and ruber. The variability in both species was amazing and we also found a number of pairs hanging out together. I'll throw up a few different individuals of each species
First snake on the first day was my lifer ruber

A light speck

Another light speck

Based on the bird poop, I'm pretty sure the log it was on was a regular perch and this guy was waiting for something to land

Another in ambush

Much lighter ruber that was kind of greenish

Loved this in situ pair showing the contrast between dark and light individuals. We ended up seeing a number of pairs together

A speck on the crawl at night

Another light Ruber, coiled only a few feet away. A little tanner this time

This speck was much more silver than the others

Thought it was going to be my favorite until the next one. Super pink with some hints of orange

In situ coiled under a tree. How we spotted most of the crotes

One night, I spotted the eyeshine of what I though was a mouse halfway up a cardon. I pointed it out to my friend who replied, I don’t see a mouse, but there’s a huge snake right there. The “mouse” turned out the be the snake's head poking out around the cactus and the body below belonged to a gorgeous 5 ft gopher snake, likely looking for the small mice or bats that drink the cardon flower nectar.

My friend was trying to conquer a fear of snakes and this one was so mellow and gently draped across her shoulders.

No mice in the cardon, and the snake fell out when it saw us, so we released it at the base of the cactus. This snake's orange and black pattern was absolutely incredible

Spent the eve of my twenty first birthday staying up and looking for rattlesnakes… way better than going out to bars

The highlight of the trip, and year, for me was my lifer rosy boa. I’ve had a pet boa from further north in baja since I was 5, when the most creative name I could think of was “baja,” so to get my lifer here was surreal. They had also never been recorded on this island which added to the excitement
In situ


I was beyond stoked and my initial reaction lead to a lot of imitations and jokes for the rest of the trip

Heading back into the rocks

We stopped on another island to photograph some San Lucan rock lizards and were rewarded with some extremely gorgeous and large specimens


During summer, I continued to try and get some targets around Santa Cruz, and managed to finally get infernalis. Turned out to be the best looking one I’d ever seen from anywhere and another favorite of the year


Not quite the same color wise, but these sagebrush lizards were another target I've had and in summer the gravid females developed some nice orange coloration as well

While surveying for pond turtles with Lawrence at the Soquel Forest one day, we both had a moment of excitement turn to perplexion when we found this huge slider deep in the redwood forest far from any trailheads or houses. Not quite the turtle we were expecting or hoping for

A Yellow legged frog missing one of its legs

In fall, Zach and I checked out a spot I had been to countless times to look for SF garters in Santa Cruz co. Having seen tons of individuals of both other Thamnophis species here, but never sirtalis, I was starting to doubt they were still there. Then Zach practically stepped on this one and we spotted a few more making for an exciting morning

In September I spotted this family of crotes at the base of a rock outcrop. The female looked to have just dropped the babies, but the large male looked like he was already attempting to mate with her again. he kept nudgin her and smelling all over, but she wasn’t having it and would rattle at him every few minutes. I think there were 6 visible juvies scattered around as well. Pictures are terrible because I didn’t want to disturb them but it was fun sitting on the rock above them and watching them interact
The adults. Bonus points if you can spot a loner juvi

I think theres 4 or 5 more young visible in this shot

Fall rains rejuvenated the santa cruz area, and made herping for more fossorial species the priority again. A spot I found earlier this year has quickly become one of my favorites due to the abundance of boas and toads at it, both of which were common after the fall rains

A few boas. More orange

More green

One warm afternoon, I returned to the same crack to again see the red white and black of a z at the edge, but was only able to get a few pictures before it disappeared. Possibly one of the pair from earlier in the year.

I figured that would be the end z’s for me in 2016, but in November the z gods decided to torture me one last time and while checking out a new area, I found yet another z in a crack, and failed yet another time to get any good pictures.
On one of the last warm days, I flipped this sweet night snake which couldn’t have been more than 4 inches long. I rarely find these so I was pretty excited about this one

An adult black salamander

And back to where we started: Ambystomids when the heavy rains returned
First a tiger from a new county for me

And long toeds as well, this time climbing about 8 inches into low vegetation. I’ve seen pictures of other ambystoma up in grasses before, with the possible explanation of foraging. My friend and I noticed many small slugs up in the same grassy areas and I’m guessing the salamanders were following them up there. We saw 4 or 5 climbing like this, but the only one actively eating was battling with a worm on the ground so we couldn't confirm that's why they were climbing

During new years, I returned to baja with my family, to dive in cabo pulmo national park. Back in May, I had attempted to find bipes but conditions were dry and I only found a few shed skins. On new years eve, I returned to the same spot and within a few minutes found one last highlight for 2016. Smaller than I expected they would be, but they are definitely pretty weird little animals.


Hope everyone else had a great year as well. 2017 already started out awesome when I found one of my top targets last week so it's looking like another great year.
Happy herping!
-Elliot