Before spring even technically started, in early March, Lucas K, Liam H, and I boogied down to southern Oregon for a break from the rain. We were scouting out a spot I had cruised a DOR common king previously. After flipping all day and getting covered in poison oak, I figured we were skunked. Thankfully, Liam flipped a juvenile king under the tiniest rock, a total buzzer beater.
Lampropeltis californiae After about a week or so, I decided I hadn't covered enough of my body in poison oak.. So I drove 5 hours south, to southern Oregon once again for just an afternoon. I quickly turned up 3 Klamath Black Salamanders on a dry, mostly exposed hill side.
Aneides klamathensis Finally, in April I was back on Oregon's dry side, visiting my old haunts. Spencer H. and I visited three different Pygmy Short-Horned Lizard localities in one day. We've been closely observing this species for a few years now, they're awesome little lizards. We first visited a high elevation locality within the Cascades, then worked our way eastward into the great basin. Here's a photo of a great basin specimen.
Phrynosoma douglasii Every spring I have to deal with the ever present internal battle of would you rather... Would I rather go visit old friends - denning Great Basin Rattlesnakes, or target California Mtn. Kingsnakes and get my ass handed to me and end up skunked half the time... This spring, I chose the latter. Here's some photos of a very fruitful trip into a remote wilderness area in Southwest Oregon.
The beautiful, yet brutal Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains. Steep, hot, and utterly serpentine. Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, observed early one morning while hiking deep into the mountains to observe a rare and endemic plant.
Crotalus oreganus oreganus I wasn't happy with my plant photography from the previous day, so I woke my buddy Spencer up before sunrise to once again hike over 10 miles through a giant burn-scar into the wilderness so I could take more photos before it got too hot.. While I spent upwards of an hour photographing (or at least trying to, small flower photography is way more difficult than herp photography) a rare and paleo-endemic plant, Kalmiopsis leachiana, my buddy Spencer was hanging out around a nearby stream and turned up a lovely California Mtn. Kingsnake! Thanks to this snake, I was quickly forgiven for making him hike all those miles..
Lampropeltis zonata Once we checked finding a zonata off our to-do list, we basically spent another 2 days lounging around drinking cold beer and swimming. I had to leave a day before Spencer, but he decided to follow me into town to re-stock his dwindling cig and beer supply lol. On our way out, Spencer cruised up on decent sized Desert Striped Whipsnake! This was only the 3rd or 4th valid record of this species within this county in Oregon, about as far west as they get.
Masticophis taeniatus taeniatus Back to on the east side of the cascades again, I got to observe a good amount of Oregon Spotted Frogs. There's a few scattered wetlands where they are still hanging on strong! Here's a big (assumed) female.
Rana pretiosa At the tail end of Spring/Den season, I found the time to check up on plenty of my old friends at various den sites. Here's a handsome male great basin rattlesnake that I've named "Oreo". He's a familiar face at a big den and I briefly bothered him for a photo since he was already out on the crawl away from any hibernacula entrances, about to egress for the summer.
Crotalus oreganus lutosus Maybe on another slow night at work, I'll get around to typing up a similar post like this for the rest of the 2024 season. Hope you enjoy, cheers!
