The Nature Photography Thread

[ConcinusMan]

Looks like we're finally going to get some halfway decent weather. I'll settle for anything but drenching rain. Anyway, looks like it's going to be good enough to go herping for a day sometime soon. Dr. Robert Mason, professor of zoology, Oregon State University, and a couple of his undergraduate students are coming up sometime next week and we're going herping together at the den site. What a treat!

More info about his research on garter snakes can be found here: Study Species | Mason Lab

What an honor to go herping with this guy. Can't wait.

[infernalis]

Out in the back yard.

[Joachim]

Nice place,
nice salamander!

[RedSidedSPR]

First two snakes of the season.

Black racer last week. Escaped up a tree, darn it.



Rough green snake yesterday

[guidofatherof5]

The Rough Green snake is awesome.
Always wanted to work with them.

[RedSidedSPR]

The Rough Green snake is awesome.
Always wanted to work with them.

Before I found my garter, I was pretty close to buying one.

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

DESERT HERP TRIP 2011 starring your guides "Rocky" and "Murphy"



We decided to revisit the Pisgah Lava Beds in San Bernardino County, only this time we came a week too early. Things were only beginning to warm up in the high desert. We spent a day at Pisgah spying countless W. Side-blotched Lizards (Uta s. rhodostictus,) 1 very wary male Chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater), and 1 Great Basin Whiptail (Aspidoscelis t. tigris.) We also left with a few handfuls of "desert glass," agates, picture jasper, and even a small lava bomb. The desert was also beginning to show signs of the recent rains.


Pisgah lava tube habitat



Puffed up head-first into the lava tube! Chuckwalla March 25, 2011


Western Side-blotched Lizard March 25, 2011


Great Basin Whiptail Lizard March 25, 2011

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Leaving Pisgah, we headed for the Latham Shale Trilobite area near Cadiz, but this detour was a disappointment, for we found no signs of fossils near the advertised area - just one small boulder near the trailhead... Hmmmm. Tearing my boots to s--t, sliding on the steep mountainside littered with loose rocks, I did spot some Desert Bighorn Sheep poo (Oh, joy!) - but no sheep! A whole bunch of side-blotches and a few botanical pics later, we were on our way again.

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Day 2 (March 26th) We woke up at our ultimate destination: the Hauser Geode beds area in NE Imperial County. Why I always choose to drive to our next camping spot at night, I'll never know; it's not as though it was warm enough to spot rattlers on the road... We came here in winter of 2008 and did some serious scouring of the "black-top", what many call desert pavement. Much of this was once hillsides; now they are flat griddles of weathered rock separated by shallow washes. What has eroded away has left behind fragments of harder materials, quartz, agates, jaspers, chalcedonies, and the like. We call it "lookin' for float." You could spend all day digging for thundereggs, but ya never know how many will be duds. Until we get a tile saw, it's less work meandering the black-top. Herping of course was always the competing agenda, so the two went hand in hand.


Hauser Geode Beds area habitat - desert pavement

Our first sighting, aside from the Uta everywhere, was a young Desert Iguana (Dipsosaurus d. dorsalis.) This was my first actual catch with the use of a lizard noose! These vegetarians are absolutely adorable!



juvenile Desert Iguana Potato Patch (Hauser area) March 26, 2011


gravid female W. Side-blotched Lizard Hauser Geode Beds Mar. 26, 2011

[Steven@HumboldtHerps]

Day 3 (March 27th) Afte exploring the Potato Patch and the Hauser Beds, we took a drive towards the Straw Beds. Here in the lower desert is was a bit warmer, but the iguanas, whiptails, and zebra-tails didn't come out until shortly before noon.


Desert Iguana Straw Beds area March 27, 2011


Western Zebra-tailed Lizard (Callisaurus draconoides rhodostictus)
[adult female] off Black Hills Road, Hauser Geode Beds area Mar. 27, 2011