Photos From the Field

Photos From the Field

'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.


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


The 3 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.


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.


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.


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...


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!


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


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?	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.


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.


Brad's slender salamander photo session	Jeremiah gets lower than a horned toad's belly to get the right shot.	Collared Lizard Photo Bomb	A snake photo session	Fieldnotes shoots a frog


Jackson improvises a photo set.	Caving for Salamanders in Georgia and learning about claustrophobia....	Punk / Pituophis	Buskirk Turtling	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!	The twins and their new friend


Catch and release.	Looks like the competition got there first.	Checking the bucket traps in the morning.	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.


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.


Pit Trapping for tiger salamanders	Board flipping can't be beat	Another "Red-necked" rattler	Tonging a hottie	Pond Surveying


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


Salamander session	A nice Kansas Cut	Bug-eyed in Baja	I wonder if a herper is taking a picture of me, too...	Turtling


Lou with a monster	Board flip	Concrete Flip	Ryan and friend	I guess that's one way to do it...


Toad Flip	Baja Chuck	Small, but still giganteus	Rock flip	Springtime at the pond

Perfectly posing Python	Kinky	Big snake, but the leaches in this Ozzie rainforest were even bigger...	Night cliff herping	Night tree herping


You can't catch them all...


Got this one


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...

Ancient German wall with the Podarcis master.	This can't be good for the knees...	Dang! My picture got Memed!	Mr. Buskirk with a pygmy	Who says gophersnakes don't bite?

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.	That's why we're here...


Sometimes You Only Catch a Glimpse...

				© Zeev Nitzan Ginsburg

© Jared Heald	© Max Roberts		© Steve Bledsoe

© Patrick Walker		© Spencer Riffle	© Spencer Williams


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















Why Did the Snake Cross the Road?









	Road Cruising















Sometimes all you find are tracks and signs













		Tracks made by a California Toad in San Diego County © Gina Krantz (Merkel & Associates, Inc.)
If you flip it, put it back the way you found it!! And don't destroy the rocks!!





Short Fieldherping 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. 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.


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.	A tiny juvenile glossy snake is discovered under a board in early spring.	Sharp-tailed snakes found under trash in April in Placer County.


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.


A Skilton's Skink is found under a rock.	A juvenile spotted salamander is found under a log in Virginia.	Usually when we flip over a board we look under it to find animals, but when I flipped this board in Santa Clara County, there was nothing underneath it. Then I noticed there were three alligator lizards hiding in the spaces between the layers of the weathered plywood.	A Pacific Ring-necked Snake is found under some trash in Santa Clara County, then another one is uncovered in Santa Cruz County.	Common Sharp-tailed Snakes are found under objects in Washington State, and two of the flips also turn up Northwestern Gartersnakes with the sharp-tails.