Despite continuing drought conditions here in the west, the month of May ended up being a productive month for me and I was able to observe a nice assortment of reptiles during my searches. "Part 1" of this series will focus on a 3 day trip to Oregon, while "Part 2" will highlight a few days of effort hunting here in California.
Overall the CA field season this year was pretty lackluster due to another winter of below average rainfall. After a few months of searching in the dust and dry I was ready for a change of scenery and an escape from drought conditions. I had been keeping an eye on weather in a few different areas and noticed that Oregon had been getting hammered with rain throughout the month of April. I've wanted to make a trip to Oregon to visit my friend Richard Hoyer ever since I first met him in 2016, it seemed this might be the perfect year to make it happen. Lucky for me Richard was available the first week of May and I was able to find a cheap round trip flight to OR for 140 dollars. We planned out a 3 day trip, the goal was to try and find as many Rubber Boas as possible at Richard's study sites and to make the most of great spring time conditions.
May 3rd
The first day started with a pancake breakfast in Corvallis around 9am. By 11am we were on the outskirts of town and in to some prime Boa habitat. Beautiful rolling grassland surround by dense stands of pine forest... the "Boa stench" was strong haha. Temperatures were in the low 50's with cloudy skies.
First stop was to check two of Richard's roadside boards just off the highway. He sniffed humorously as we approached the two plywoods, the "Boa stench" was getting stronger. Lifted the first board... nothing. Board number two.... 3 Boas! I had foolishly left my camera in the car so had to settle for a posed pic on top of the board.
At this point I realized the kind of day we had ahead of us... one filled with lots of serpents! LOL. Richard had promised we'd see lots of Boas that day and he was not joking in the slightest bit. We had only been in the field for 2 minutes and already had 3 under our belt.
Next stop was a board line in some forest edge habitat that Richard set up around 40 years ago. A quick search yielded 4 more Boas, including another triple flip. I was better prepared this time around and scored the in-situ pic.
The next site was a bit more overgrown in nature and had a prominent water source nearby. We walked about turning over nicely seasoned pieces of roofing tin. This site proved to great for Garter snakes and by the end of our search we had seen 5 Northwestern and 3 Common. Most of the Garters were nice and warm so a few escaped capture. 2 Racers, 2 Gopher snakes, and 4 more Boas rounded out this stop. One of the Boas had a freshly scarred tail and provided me with my best "field guide" type shot of the trip.
Our next stop was probably my favorite of the trip, Richard has been hunting this site since the 1970's. Just getting over to the habitat is fun in itself! It involved crossing a swift moving creek snaking thought beautiful canopy cover. Richard had warned the water level might be high due to the recent rain. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Richard as he made his way across. (For anyone wondering, at 88 years old Richard is still in amazing shape and hasn't slowed down at all. He made quick work of the creek crossings and various hikes throughout the day.)
It wasn't long before we turned up some more Rubbers including this one out basking in the grass. With the hundreds of Boas Richard has seen over the years, he has only encountered about 12 or 13 this way. Photo is in-situ.
This Common garter was out basking on top of one of the tins.
A few of the Boas we found were never handled, just a quick in-situ photograph taken and the tin replaced over their head.
This photo illustrates the overgrown nature of the site. According to Richard the habitat used to be much more open to sun years ago. He's moved around tins to adapt to the changing canopy cover.
Unlike the others encountered this day, this Racer held still for a nice in-situ photograph. They are one of my favorite "diurnal" species.
Total for that stop was 8 Boas, 2 Racers, and 2 Garter snakes.
Next we stopped off at Richards for a quick lunch break. Most people could have happily called it a day at this point but Richard and I are true "field junkies" and were soon headed off to another site. He claimed that Ringneck snakes were common here and it wasn't long before we had turned up a few individuals under tin. A racer also made an appearance. Temperatures had topped out for the day around 63 degrees and there was a bit more sun now.
For those unaware, Richard is not just an expert on Charina (Rubber Boas) but also Contia (Sharp Tailed snakes) as well. Next stop was Richard's best Sharp Tail study site. We spent some time turning over cover objects and raking through gravel piles. It's amazing how abundant these snakes are in proper habitat. We found 17 with little effort. A Gopher and Northwestern garter were also seen.
After the Contia success, we started working our way back to Corvallis. Opting for the longer, more scenic route, we were able to search a few more of Richard's cover objects not far from the road. 2 Boas, 2 Gopher snakes and a Northwestern garter rounded out the day.
All in all, May 3rd was a huge success and one of my favorite days in the field ever. It felt awesome to turn up snakes in great numbers, something that has been more difficult to do recently with the drought and all.
64 Snakes total for the day
21 Rubber Boas
17 Sharp Tail snakes
8 Northwestern garter snakes
5 Racers
5 Gopher snakes
4 Ringneck snakes
4 Common garter snakes
Many lizards were also seen, mostly Alligator lizards. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos worth posing here. Also I think the numbers speak for themselves, when in proper habitat the Rubber Boa is the most common snake in Oregon. Completely absurd that the state feels the need to protect them from recreational collecting.
After a well deserved steak dinner, it was time to rest up and get ready for another day of Boa hunting.
May 4th
On May 4th we left the Willamette valley and headed to southern Oregon. It was scheduled to be 10 degrees warmer than yesterday with bright sun. After a few hours of driving we found ourselves above 5,000ft in the southern Cascades. The habitat was obviously very different from the areas searched the day before, all of which was under 1,000ft in elevation. The grass was shorter, rock outcrops were abundant, and the air much thinner.
We started searching at about 12 noon, it was 64 degrees with clear skies. Instead of boards and tin, this time around we were searching underneath squares of carpet. Each piece expertly placed and maintained by Richard over the years. Some had withered away but most were in decent shape and it wasn't long before the Boas started making an appearance. The next two photos are in-situ under carpet.
There were still patches of snow on the ground...
At the end of our hike we had found 11 Rubber Boas under the carpets. Also countless Boa shed skins which told us we had just missed quite a few snakes and probably would have seen more in slightly cooler weather. That said we were very happy with our results.
Feeling satisfied yet again, we headed back down towards the interior valleys to begin the drive home. Temperatures soared as we dropped into the foothill elevations. Richard knows I'm also a big Kingsnake enthusiast and offered to show me an area where he had found a Mountain Kingsnake many years ago. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to check out some Zonata habitat in Oregon so we made a short detour. We parked and Richard pointed toward a steep hillside. It was now 80 degrees. Odds seemed low of finding anything special in such warm temperatures, so we agreed that I would take no more than an hour to hike and investigate the habitat while Richard grabbed a short nap. The habitat was beautiful, and it wasn't long before I found some nice looking outcroppings to search.
It had been maybe 20 minutes since I left Richard at the car when I came across a particularly large stone in one of the outcrops. Looking at the rock, I knew it was my best chance at finding a Kingsnake that day. It was much thicker than other rocks I had came across, any thinner and it surely would have been too hot underneath to house a thermo-regulating serpent. Despite my optimism about that particular rock, I was still extremely surprised when I found this shining tricolor underneath it. After all it was 80 degrees. The cherry on top of another epic day.
Before leaving, I found a few Rattlesnakes in the rocks and a Gopher snake in the trail. One Racer eluded capture.
May 5th
At last the final day of my trip had come. It was pouring rain in Corvallis with a scheduled high temperature of 50 degrees. This day we would be exploring yet another habitat type in search of Rubber Boas. As we headed east we crested the Cascades and began to drop into the Sagebrush "desert" of Central Oregon. Although temperatures were forecasted to be the same out here, we were now in the "rain shadow" of the Cascades and were hoping to see much less in the way of rainfall. Only issue was the rain wasn't stopping. As we got closer and closer to our destination the rain just wouldn't let up. Clouds, rain, and 50 degrees. Were we finally gonna get skunked? Surely Boas can tolerate cold temperatures but with no sun would they be thermo-regulating under the rocks? I wouldn't have been worried if there were tins to search but this was a rocky spot with nothing but natural cover to hunt. We finally caught a break in the rain as we pulled up to our destination. It was now 51 degrees, and cloudy with howling wind. To my surprise the 3rd rock I turned had a Boa shed underneath. Richard and I feared that might be the best find of the day. However, our outlook quickly changed when the sun finally poked through and began warming the rocks. It wasn't long before I started turning up a few lizards like this Western Skink.
Roughly a half hour later Richard uncovered our first Boa of the day! I can remember letting out a sigh of relief when I walked up on Richard with the Boa. Our trip out east had not been made in vain, that marked our 3rd day in a row of Rubber Boa success across 3 very different habitats.
A few minutes later Richard turned up another Boa. I then had my turn at the fun uncovering an additional 2 Rubbers under rocks. I liked this pic of a juvenile in-situ under rock.
By now the sun had cleared significantly and I snapped this habitat shot. Pretty amazing to find Boas here. No trees, just rocks and sagebrush.
Feeling satisfied YET AGAIN... we headed back towards Corvallis, a quick stop for a strawberry milkshake made the drive that much sweeter.
That afternoon marked the end of of my trip to the "Beaver state", I would fly home the next day. A great finale to our 3 day survey of the different Rubber Boa habitats of Oregon.
Will end this post with a huge thank you to Richard Hoyer. Thanks Richard for showing me your study sites and for teaching me a thing or two about Boas. Your dedication to the species is unmatched, I learned, and laughed, a lot. Coming into the trip I knew we'd find quite a few Boas but overall those 3 days certainly exceeded my expectations. Now we need to work on finding you some more specimens from the Central CA coast!
Also thank you Sharon for the turkey and pickle sandwiches + cranberry cookies. Delicious!
Total snake count for the trip: 87
36 Rubber Boas
18 Sharp Tail snakes
8 Northwestern garter snakes
6 Racers
7 Gopher snakes
4 Ringneck snakes
4 Common Garter snakes
3 Western rattlesnakes
1 CA Mountain Kingsnake
If you made it this far thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the post!
I’m glad to see you had such a good and productive turnout! I actually tried to get something together with Richard last year, similar to this. He didn’t feel confident it was worth the time and effort. Glad to see he changed his mind and that some of those sites are still producing! I’m sure that must have been a great experience for him, and you as well 
I bear the curse of the Notta-zonata 
(Somebody has to knock those damn things down off of their pedestal). Things gotta be equal… The wheel can’t flow smoothly with an egg shaped helical. 
Then we can get to the bottom of this saltwater absorption influence on aberrant morphs thing and the reconstruction of evolution/migration/flooding/species development/natural history as we know it...... 