Snakes, lizards, and grasshoppers

On this warm morning I decided to head to a spot where gopher snakes and rattle snakes are sometimes found by the dozens. We started finding gopher snakes before we even got half way there. I'm not sure how many gopher snakes we found, but this was the first live gopher snake. It was calmer than most pet snakes and was a little over 4 feet long:
Another shot of the first snake since I had my camera out:
Snakes are so much easier to find when they are stretched out across the road:
Going:
Going:
Gone:
This was the only snake found in the shade this morning:
Me in my preferred habitat and the snake from the shade:
This shot shows rattlesnake vs. road machinery. I actually waved to the guy that was operating the road grader as I drove past, but I wasn't thinking kind thoughts. He had gone out of his way and off the road to accomplish this:These are large grasshoppers that my kids asked me to catch. Try getting 2 grasshoppers to stay still for a photo.

This dark-colored fence lizard was found. This is about as big as a western fence lizard gets:

More shots of the same lizard as I chased it around the rock formations. The .22 shell in the background gives some perspective as to the size of this guy. Because of its size and color, I think it is the same lizard that I have caught here the last several years.

Pretty lichens and cool reptile:

I had to get a belly shot after putting the old lizard down for a nap:

This smaller adult gopher snake was found on the way back. We were late getting back, but I had to stop and get the snake out of the road and into another basking spot.