Photos From the Field
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'The rallying cry "Field Trip!"in a herpetology lab is akin to "road trip" in a college fraternity. Think Animal House with real animals -- plus frogs and snakes. So strong are the combined urges of collecting and escaping the lab that anybody's field trip instantly becomes everybody's field trip. Add the fact that any car crammed with herpetologists is a de facto expedition even when it's only headed to the mall (every passing ditch and vacant lot being a harbinger of potential treasure), and you had a formula for the halting, Murphy's Law...scramble that was a field trip.'
Leslie Anthony. Snakebit: Confessions of a Herpetologist. Greystone Books, 2008.
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| That's going to leave a bad taste... |
Natalie hooks a harmless
rubber boa. |
"Professor Lou" at the
center of the universe. |
I'm watching. So where are they? |
Rosy Boa time |
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The 3 boys in AZ
(with dad's shadow.) |
The Boa Bros... |
This Collared has been collared.
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Hunting for salamanders
at 10,000 ft.
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Brad leaves no crack unchecked. |
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| Here's a sign I'd like to see. |
The last So Cal herp needed for the life list |
Finger lickin' good |
Noose Me?!!
Not today pitiful human! |
Caution snakes -
human with a hook ahead. |
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Jeremiah and the
Giant Gartersnake |
Punk / pickeringii |
A handful of garters.... |
Terry's first wild triaspis,
but not his last.... |
A brush lizard on... some brush. |
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| 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. |
Shining a crack in Kentucky. |
Mark enjoys an East Bay
pond in spring. |
Sometimes you're just
a bit too late... |
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| Well-equipped for a Utah hunt. |
JP leaves no stone unturned. |
Jeff waits for the frogs to call. |
El Chad con El Diablo garter. |
How about a little help
lifting this log! |
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| Jack with a big West Texas coachwhip. |
Not exactly the best way
to flip a board... |
A great backyard back in the day... |
In West Texas, it's all about
the cuts. |
Jeff Lemm flips some tin |
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We're sorry, Dr. Phil is out today...
(herping the Chiricahuas with his boys) |
His Oregon summer frog study site just happens to have a great swimming hole. Coincidence?
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Chris Rombough and the old slipping on a banana peel gag photo |
There were 8 ring-necks under this board. Must have been a wild party.... |
Jeremiah beating the bushes
for gartersnakes. |
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| 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 |
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| 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. |
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Brad's slender salamander
photo session |
Jeremiah gets lower than a horned toad's belly to get the right shot.
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Collared Lizard Photo Bomb |
A snake photo session |
Fieldnotes shoots a frog |
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| Jackson improvises a photo set. |
Caving for Salamanders in Georgia
and learning about claustrophobia....
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Punk / Pituophis |
Buskirk Turtling |
Posing a snake - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. |
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| Some really big pit traps |
Sometimes you only get
one
quick shot. |
Noosed at the waist... whatever works, but watch out for those jaws!
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The twins and their new friend |
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Catch and release.
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Looks like the competition
got there first. |
Checking the bucket traps
in the morning.
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Herpers back in the day....
Back row left to right: Wendy McKeown, Sean McKeown, Patrick Briggs, Robert Stebbins with Ann-Rose Stebbins in front. |
A Dick Bartlett rattlesnake
photo session.
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| Rock-hopping for Rattlers |
A leopard lizard is overshadowed |
What the sign should really say... |
Catch and release - it's fun and harmless and it's
not just for fishermen. |
Sometimes it's like the red carpet
at the Academy Awards. |
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| Pit Trapping for tiger salamanders |
Board flipping can't be beat |
Another "Red-necked" rattler |
Tonging a hottie |
Pond Surveying |
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| A banana peel on a herping road at night when I'm driving makes me stop to take a look every time. |
According to my very careful studies of the habitat preferences described in Brian Hubbs' book "Mountain Kingsnakes", this is the perfect rock habitat to search for zonata. Maybe I better read that again.... |
Tim Dayton relocating a hot one |
This is what all that driving's about. |
Dick Bartlett with expert
snake wrangler |
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| Salamander session |
A nice Kansas Cut |
Bug-eyed in Baja |
I wonder if a herper is taking
a picture of me, too... |
Turtling |
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| A couple of monsters |
Board flip |
Concrete Flip |
Ryan and friend |
I guess that's one way to do it... |
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| Toad Flip |
Baja Chuck |
Small, but still giganteus |
Rock flip |
Springtime at the pond |
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| Perfectly posing Python |
Kinky |
Big snake, but the leaches in this Ozzie rainforest were even bigger... |
Night cliff herping |
Night tree herping |
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| You can't catch them all... |
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| Got this one |
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Dracarys!!!
Yeah, Nah, must be out of petrol... |
Hurry up and shoot before it bolts |
Sit still and say "cheese" |
This gophersnake was too long for only one pair of hands... |
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| Ancient wall with a Wall Lizard master. |
This can't be good for the knees... |
Dang! My picture got Memed! |
That's why we're here... |
Who says gophersnakes don't bite? |
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Microwave flip rattler
© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg |
This is usually where the fun starts |
Three very typical herpers |
A granddaughter with the first lizard
she noosed all on her own. |
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| Sometimes You Only Catch a Glimpse... |
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© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg |
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| © Jared Heald |
© Max Roberts |
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© Steve Bledsoe |
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| © Patrick Walker |
© Spencer Riffle |
© Spencer Williams |
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There's gotta be something good under all this stuff...
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Why Did the Snake Cross the Road?
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Road Cruising |
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Sometimes all you find are tracks and signs
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Tracks made by a California Toad in
San Diego County © Gina Krantz
(Merkel & Associates, Inc.) |
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If you flip it, put it back the way you found it!! And don't destroy the rocks!!
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Short Fieldherping Videos
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| 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. Notice the lizard's defensive push-up behavior towards the noose. After a missed attempt, Stuart finally gets the noose around the lizard's neck and pulls him off the rock, being careful not to injure him. 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
A tiny juvenile glossy snake is discovered under a board in early spring. |
Sharp-tailed snakes found under trash in April in Placer County. |
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| A tiny juvenile Variable Ground Snake is found under a rock in Imperial County. |
A juvenile California Giant Salamander is found under some wood in the redwoods. |
A juvenile Large-blotched Ensatina is discovered under some wood in San Diego County. |
Southern Torrent Salamanders are found under rocks below a waterfall. |
A Desert Night lizards is found under a Joshua Tree branch. |
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| A Skilton's Skink is found under a rock. |
A juvenile spotted salamander is found under a log in Virginia. |
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