Changes in plans:
A few monkey wrenches got thrown into my plan for the March trip this last weekend, but it all ended up working out.
I had been watching the weather variables and all seemed perfect, but at the last minute the temperature for the day1 spot shifted, and it ended up being ~8 degrees colder than I was expecting.
It was obvious from that couple degrees that those high desert boas would be subterranean, and so I instead we hit a few spots in the low desert. The conditions here we better, but not great.
We decided to move to a milder location closer to the coast.
The real hunt begins:
We hunted hard all day seeing a bunch of salamanders, geckos, scorpions, and centipedes. Right around dusk my brother Greg and I found the first snake of the trip, a big adult female rosy boa.
Her eyes were solid black, and at about 3 and a half feet she was a very impressive snake.
Day total: 1 rosy boa
The next morning we were joined by my friend Bill. We hit a nearby coastal area and I quickly found the first snake of the day. Less than a minute after leaving the car I looked under A PIECE OF TRASH and found a very nice male rosy boa, about 2 feet long. Her eyes were orange and bright, nothing like the first boa.
Within 10 minutes and about 30-40 yards, Bill had found another one, a very similar looking female about 2 feet long.
About another hour later Greg flipped a GORGEOUS female. She was about 3 feet long without a mark on her, and was really nice looking. 30 minutes later my other brother Adam showed up with his 9 year old son. We took them to the place where we had found/released that 3 foot female but she was no longer in the same spot. After a few minutes of searching I found her out cruising a short distance away.
I then found a Lyre snake, which looked slightly different than the ones I'm used to seeing out in Trona. We played with it a few minutes and sent it back to where we found it.
Bill then found a rosy boa deep in a crack. It took us several minutes to coax it out, but we finally got her out. It was a female as well, and about 2 feet long. After putting her back in her home, Greg spotted another boa about 20 yards away. This one was a male, and had by far the brightest orange of any that I've seen in from this area. He was a serious screamer. We sent him back home packing too.
Having seen 5 rosy boas and a lyresnake, we decided to break for lunch.
After lunch we hit the habitat again. We went near where we had caught the big female the day before, and we decided to release her (we had bagged her). We videoed her as she slithered off.
A little later we found a pair of red-diamond rattlesnakes (rubers). The bigger of the two was the biggest rattlesnake I've ever seen, but both were really big.
We then headed to the cars to call it a day. We decided it would have been better to release the big female a little higher up on a nearby hill, so we looked for her where we had released her after lunch and found her nearby.
Day total: 5 rosy boas, 1 lyre snake, 2 red-diamond rattlesnakes.
The next day we met up with several more guys down near the border. Shatty, sideblotched and makoman hit one locality while Bill, Kent, my brothers, and I hit another. First two snakes of the day were found by Greg and Adam separately, two nice big red-diamond rattlesnakes.
Next was a speckled found by Kent. Seeing a speckled in this area was really odd.
None of the guys had seen one in that location before, and considering we had the president, vp, and several other members of the field herpetological society with us, it was actually kind of a big deal to see one.
Bill then found the first rosy boa of the day. It was a female, about 2 feet long, and had an odd pattern for that area. Instead of the normal unicolor look, this one also had more visible orange stripping.
Then about an hour later we found Bill and Kent found separate red-diamond rattlesnakes. Bill then found another boa, this one a little more typical for that area. It was a darker unicolor male.
Adam then found a nice big southern pacific rattlesnake. It was extremely aggressive, and so we took pictures with extreme caution.
At the same moment Adam found the rattlesnake, I found a stripped whipsnake (Masticophis lateralis). It was in the same rockpile as the rattlesnake, and I wasn't able to catch it before it got away. On a far off hill, Kent then found another whipsnake.
We then met up with the other group for lunch. They hadn't seen any boas, but had seen several (4 or 5) red diamonds. During lunch I picked up some snakes from a friend who was with the other group. Two pairs of Long Canyons, and a trio of San Gabes. One of the pairs of Long Canyons are more than ready to breed, and the other pair should be ready next year. The San Gabes trio are screamers, and could be ready next year too.
After lunch we hit the habitat again. About half hour later I was taking a break and talking to Greg when I noticed a big southern pacific about 10 yards behind me. He was cruising between two bushes like I wasn't even there. He rattled and struck a bit while we looked at him, then we let him cruise off.
Greg and Bill then both found separate red-diamond rattlesnakes. A few hours later we decided it was time to call it a day.
Day total: 2 rosy boas, 9 red-daimond rattlesnakes, 1 speckled rattlesnake, 2 southern pacifics rattlesnakes, 2 whipsnakes
