Out in the Field


If you see this man, please contact the authorities immediately. Natalie hooks a fierce rubber boa. Professor Lou at
"the center of the universe."
I'm watching. So where are they? This might just be the only Black Mountain boa ever released...

looking for z's
The Young boys in AZ
(with dad's shadow.)
The Boa Bros... This Collared has been collared.
Hunting for salamanders at 10,000 ft.
Brad leaves no crack unchecked.
leopard biting noose biter
Here's a sign I'd like to see. The last So Cal herp Tim needed to see.
Now for that euryxanthus....
Finger lickin' good Noose ME!? Not today, foolish human! Caution snakes, human with a hook ahead.

Jeremiah and the Giant
Gartersnake
Caving for Salamanders in Georgia
and learning about claustrophobia....
A handful of garters.... Terry's first wild triaspis,
but not his last....
A brush lizard on... some brush.
         
         

road racer
Two guys, a 10 minute chase through nasty cactus and barbed wire, some lost blood, and a lot of explaining to do to the local kids, but it was worth it. Get out the potato rake -
this must be a good spot.
Tim shines a crack in Kentucky. Mark enjoys an East Bay pond in spring. Why did the snake cross the road?



Well-equipped for a Utah hunt. JP leaves no stone unturned. Jeff waiting for the frogs to call. Chad con El Diablo garter. How about a little help lifting this log!

Jack with a big West Texas coachwhip. Not the best way to flip a board, Tim.... Back in the day...
In West Texas, it's all about the cuts. Jeremiah beats the bushes for gartersnakes, and succeeds.
Dr. Phil is out today...
(herping the Chiricahuas with his boys.)
The Oregon summer frog study site just happens to have a great swimming hole. Coincidence? Maybe not. Not the old slipping on a banana peel photo gag again, Chris. There were 8 ring-necks under this board. Must have been a wild party.... There are one million ring-necked snakes under these Kansas rocks, and somewhere, a milk snake....
Stalking the elusive Cope's A newt in hand Todd looks for mountain frogs. Pat Briggs with an unusually
cooperative subject.
Horned toads in the dunes
Another East Bay oreganus is immortalized by Mr. Lane. Ed Acuna, the Austin alterna auteur.... Jackson stalks the wild Chuckwalla. Hiking through snow to get to the high-altitude amphibians. This racer was too slow for Big J.
shooting salamanders
Sierra salamander photo session. Jeremiah gets lower than a horned toad's belly to get the right shot.
How to get the Porter perspective shot. A snake photo session Flaxington shoots a frog

Jackson improvises a photo set. Herp Papparazzo with snake wrangler. I don't know why but banana peels on the road at night make me stop every time. According to my very careful studies of habitat preferences described in Brian Hubbs' book "Mountain Kingsnakes", this is the perfect kind of rock to search for zonata. Posing a snake - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Some really big pit traps Sometimes you only get one quick shot. Noosed at the waist... whatever works, but watch out for those jaws!
This is what all that driving's about.
Roadrunner with a whiptail in its bill.
Gotcha!
Looks like the competition got there first. Bucket traps in the morning,
so much fun
Kinky. A Dick Bartlett rattlesnake
photo session.
Big gopher on the road A leopard lizard overshadowed Another sign corrected for accuracy... Catch and release - it's fun and harmless and it's not just for fishermen. Collared Lizard Photo Bomb
Tonging a hottie Board flipping can't be beat It's like a red carpet premiere, sometimes... Rocking for Rattlers Red-necked...


There's gotta be something good under all this stuff.


mountain boards
riverside boards
san diego boards san diego boards
san diego boards
   



California Dreamin' (about roadcruising)


habitat picture
     



Sometimes all you find are tracks and signs




 



If you flip it, put it back the way you found it!!  And don't destroy the rocks!!


 
 


Short Videos

Here's a little taste of daylight roadcruising - driving, driving, driving, then finally I spotted a gopher snake on the road, through all the squashed bugs... And here's a taste of night driving.
I put the video camera on the dashboard one night while road cruising a rocky pass in San Diego County and eventually a lyre snake showed up on the road. I cut together a short video of the experience, so you can herp vicariously (minus the loud music and hours of boredom, which I left out.) It might look like I stopped in the middle of the road, but actually I drove ahead and parked safely before running back to film the snake from close up.
This video shows how to noose a lizard. After a missed attempt, Stuart finally gets the noose around the lizard's neck and pulls it off the rock. It's a colorful male Baja California Brush Lizard. After we admire him, he is put back on his boulder. How to find a Long-tailed Brush Lizard - just walk into a creosote bush and you'll see one. A Pacific gophersnake is discovered curled up under a fallen branch.
There's a ring-neck under that board. There's a CA gator under that board. A red-tailed skink is found under a rock. A slender salamander is found under a rock. A well-camouflaged Sierra Nevada Ensatina is discovered underneath a large piece of fallen bark.
   
A big gopher snake is always fun to flip. Sometimes you really hit the jackpot, like this board Natalie found that had 7 rubber boas and a garter snake under it. Natalie shows how to pose a snake for pictures. The snake eventually settles down, but not for long.    

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