Vipers of 2016

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Thor Hakonsen
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Vipers of 2016

Post by Thor Hakonsen »

2016 was a good year for me in numbers of new species, specially vipers (my favourites) - so here is a small picture thread with some of my findings of this year.

March : It startet of in march with European Adders (Vipera berus berus) here in Norway

ImageVipera berus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageVipera berus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

April is the best time to find many individuals of adders here in the eastern parts of Norway - including this beatiful melanistic individual

ImageVipera berus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

And this lighter melanistic one - might be all black in the end..

ImageVipera berus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

And then the gem of the adders this year - this "blue" specimen

ImageVipera berus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageVipera berus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr


May - this month we travelled to the Thrace-region in Greece to find Europes largest viper - the Ottoman Viper (Montivipera xanthina)

ImageMontivipera xanthina by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageMontivipera xanthina by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageMontivipera xanthina by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

Unfortunatly I only got to photograph pre-shed individuals - So I will have to go back in may again :)


And in the summer there was not much done


September was the month for the Thailand-trip, and what a trip it was!

In Kaeng Krachan National Park we found two species, White-lipped Pit Viper (Trimeresurus albolabris) and Pope's Pit Viper (Trimeresurus popeiorum)

ImageTrimeresurus albolabris by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageTrimeresurus popeiorum by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

Then on to Khao Sok National Park, and the Trimeresurus cf.fucatus

ImageTrimeresurus cf.fucatus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageTrimeresurus cf.fucatus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

And then we travelled on to Ranong-distric and the mangroves for Mangrove Pit Viper (Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus)

ImageTrimeresurus purpureomaculatus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageTrimeresurus purpureomaculatus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

And in both Krabi and Phuket we found some male Wagler's Pit Vipers (Tropidolaemus wagleri)

ImageTropidoleamus wagleri by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

After this the trip went to the area on and around Khao Luang for two more species, Siamese Peninsular Pit Viper (Trimeresurus fucatus) and the Beatiful Pit Viper (Trimeresurus venustus)

ImageTrimeresurus fucatus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageTrimeresurus fucatus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageTrimeresurus fucatus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr


ImageTrimeresurus fucatus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageTrimeresurus fucatus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr


ImageTrimeresurus venustus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageTrimeresurus venustus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageTrimeresurus venustus by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr


And for the finale in Thailand, we travelled even further south to the city of Trang for the Malayan Pit Viper (Calloselasma rhodostoma)

ImageCalloselasma rhodostoma by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageCalloselasma rhodostoma by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageCalloselasma rhodostoma by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr

ImageCalloselasma rhodostoma by Thor Hakonsen, on Flickr


And with that, my herping season for 2016 was over - now let's see what 2017 will bring. Just a couple of months until the first adders are out here on in eastern Norway!
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Mark Brown
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by Mark Brown »

Fantastic photography of stunning snakes!
durissus
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by durissus »

What great shots !
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ClosetHerper
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by ClosetHerper »

Beautiful pics and a great variety of vipers. I am curious what lenses you are using the most. I like the perspective and depth in many of the pics, especially in the first few photos. Thanks for sharing.
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dwakefield
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by dwakefield »

Awesome shots! And that Malayan Pit Viper would have been such a treat to see in the wild
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Thor Hakonsen
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by Thor Hakonsen »

Thanks for all the kind replys!
ClosetHerper wrote:Beautiful pics and a great variety of vipers. I am curious what lenses you are using the most. I like the perspective and depth in many of the pics, especially in the first few photos. Thanks for sharing.
Good question! I use a lot of different lenses, and mostly macro lenses. So I will list up what lenses I used in the first 7 pictures respectivly.

1.Laowa 15mm f/4 1:1 Macro
2.Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro
3.Nikon AF-S 60mm f/2.8 Micro
4.Nikon AF-S 60mm f/2.8 Micro
5.Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro
8.Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro
7.Sigma 180mm f/2.8 OS Macro

I also use the 105 and 180 with converters (1.4 and 2x)
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Thor Hakonsen
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by Thor Hakonsen »

dwakefield wrote:Awesome shots! And that Malayan Pit Viper would have been such a treat to see in the wild
They are great. We actually found 10 specimens in an hour in the area we visited in Thailand.
NACairns
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by NACairns »

Absolutely beautiful, looks like a great year. Vipers in March seems so early for that sort of latitude.
Thanks
Nick
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Thor Hakonsen
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by Thor Hakonsen »

NACairns wrote:Absolutely beautiful, looks like a great year. Vipers in March seems so early for that sort of latitude.
Thanks
Nick
Thanks! Yes, the year was very good for me!

As for march being early, our record on the western coast of Norway for adders are around 20.january :) That is on coordinates around 59,3 degrees north
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ahockenberry
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by ahockenberry »

Superb captures & photography !!
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orionmystery
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by orionmystery »

Wonderful shots, Thor. Still don't have some of the Malaysian vipers you posted! :D
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Thor Hakonsen
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by Thor Hakonsen »

orionmystery wrote:Wonderful shots, Thor. Still don't have some of the Malaysian vipers you posted! :D
Really ? What are you missing of those ?
dendrelaphis
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Re: Vipers of 2016

Post by dendrelaphis »

awesome!
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