A Spring Day in Oregon

 I spent a quick weekend up in Wilsonville, Oregon, to visit my brother and his family. I arrived late Friday afternoon and drove back first thing Sunday morning, so I really only had Saturday to see what I could stir up. That's not much time, but I took advantage of the nice weather and the chance to find some new herps. The one full day I was in Oregon was sunny and in the low 60s. Definitely herp-able!

Stepping out into the forest behind his home for a few minutes, I didn't hesitate to begin my search.

 I was pleased to find a large, plump Oregon Ensatina. Perhaps a gravid female.

Then, I found a second smaller one under a piece of wood.

 Pausing to teach my brother and his baby boy the intricacies of this beloved Plethodont.

 I set out early the next day to see if I could locate more herps. Rolling logs turned up a few more Ensatinas.

A mid-sized one was discovered by peeling back the loose bark of a fallen tree.

This small juvenile was growing back a new tail. These were found at a park by Knight Bridge, south of Wilsonville. 

A pool of knee-deep water was discovered at Champoeg State Park. The water was clear enough to see hundreds of small, black tadpoles, some salamander larvae, and a bullfrog.

 Of course, the bullfrog yelped and plunged to the bottom, but with little cover and shallow water, it was easily caught.

 Since no adult salamanders or newts were seen in or around the pool, I decided to keep one larvae and three tadpoles to see what I would be surprised with once they metamorphosed. Silly me. Soon, all I had left  was the inch-long, gilled larvae, as he had eaten the tiny black tadpoles. I named him Fluffy and transported him in a water bottle.

A grisly discovery at the water's edge hinted at the specie that the tadpoles may have been. 

 Fortunately, this wasn't the only Pacific treefrog seen at the park. An attractive green one was captured at different pool nearby.

 A small pool where the treefrog was found.

 Moving on to another park (Mallala State Park), I looked around some flooded fields.

 With the sun moving in and out from behind the clouds, the outside air temperature stayed warm enough for garter snakes to be taking advantage of the nicer spring weather.

I found three garter snakes, and with the one below showing a slightly-orange midstripe, I suspect they are Northwestern garter snakes.

Continuing on, I pulled apart a saturated log and found a small rough-skinned newt curled up on the wood.

 It was my only newt of the trip (unless Fluffy turns out to also be a newt larvae), but it was my first one of this specie. 

 I was happy to end my one day of Oregon herping with some satisfying discoveries. 

Weekend in Arizona

The two of us decided to drop down into Arizona for a weekend to meet up with our friend Keegan and see what kind of herps we could round up. Phoenix was the first stop, so we decided to take a look around South Mountain.

Several chuckwallas were seen moving in and out of crevices, but we didn't glimpse any of the talked about carrot-tail variety.

A desert phase black-tailed rattlesnake was tucked away in a crevice, but we pulled it out for some quick photos.

A huge bulge shows that this guy had just eaten something meaty!

Not having much time to herp, we packed up and headed down to the southeastern part of the state. We pulled off the busy highway when we saw this large western diamondback sitting on the shoulder. Very quick to strike, it was one of the more aggressive rattlesnakes we had witnessed.

Although the southeastern mountains are good places to find new species, we didn't have much time, and it would prove that we didn't have a ton of luck, either, unfortunately.
Yarrow's spiny lizards were seen scurrying around.

A Sonoran whipsnake getting ready to shed was flipped under a stone at the Huachuca Mountains.
A yellow-phase black-tailed rattlesnake was found basking on a rock slide.

We had never seen more gopher snakes than we did on this short trip....maybe almost 10 of them. We stopped taking pictures after a while.

Some desert centipedes, giant desert hairy scorpions, and tarantulas were found moving across the roads.

A lyre snake was stretched out on the road not too far from the Mexican border.

It would not sit still for a photo, despite our best efforts.

Several western diamonbacks were seen on the trip, but only one DOR Mojave rattlesnake and one DOR tiger rattlesnake. The diamondback coiled up for some photos.

As far as amphibians went, we found this little Colorado River toad, as well as a couple canyon treefrogs, some red-spotted toads, and a DOR Couch's spadefoot.

Great Basin Rattlesnakes

Devin and I found two Great Basin rattlesnakes near Paragonah, Utah, at our family union.
The snake below is the smaller of the two, measuring about 2 1/2 feet in length.

The snake below is the larger one. It's a little over 3 feet long.

The two were found only feet about, while Devin and I were walking around at night. We heard them rattle before we saw them.

Devin holding the snake for the photoshoot.

Jeff keeping the rattler at a safe distance. (This should not be attempted by amateurs...only freaking studs.)

Basking in its habitat.

A Little SoCal Herping

One night of herping at Anza-Borrego State Park near San Diego brought some nice finds for Devin and I.
We ended up finding six spotted leaf-nosed snakes, but 4 of those were freshly killed (one even still moving).

Spotted leaf-nosed snakes aren't typically this common on roadways, but it was nice to see them out in good numbers. The one above was pretty little.

We were glad to see a large specimen alive on the road, too. It was the last snake found of the night.

We also found a couple shovel-nosed snakes, and thankfully, no dead ones. We got some nice defensive posture shots. I had never seen a shovel-nosed snake posture like this and strike, so it was a lot of fun to see.

This little one gave us some good pics. I like how he's almost totally black and white. There's a very slight pinkish hue.

This little shovel-nosed was our first snake of the night. It was out on the road just after dusk.

This was the larger shovel-nosed snake we found.

This guy had more of the usual coloration with the alternating red, yellow, and black.

Shovel-nosed snakes are an attractive species. Seeing the habitat during the day the next morning was a little bit of a surprise, though, because it was more rocky than I was expecting.

We went to the Laguna Mountains the next morning to look for mountain kings, but we would have no such luck this day. We did, however, find good habitat and uncovered four western skinks. Mountain kingsnakes will have to wait until next time, I guess.