Snake Photography

We found this really nice gopher snake and I took a bunch of pictures of it. The snake was found while flipping and hissed and struck at anything that came near it. It bit my pantleg and then a few moments later was calm enough for kids to hold. It actually seemed to like being held after all the fuss:
The color pattern near the tail on gopher snakes is the coolest:

Utah wouldn't be as cool without Great Basin gopher snakes.

Swerve or stop when you see one of these on the road:

This snake was about 3.5 feet long. It can grow to over 6 feet.

I think it was trying to spell something:

Keep an eye on the head:

All of the pictures in this post are of the same gopher snake

This is the snake when it was all riled up:

Male and female mormon crickets:Female:

The beauty created by storms:

Rain coming to the desert:

The mountains are our compass:

A young mormon racer found the same day:

Racers don't race when they are cold.

This snake was only about 13 inches long.

This photo gives more size details:

One with the tongue out:

Killdeer Rescue. Sorry, no snakes in this post.

After a hail storm the other day, we witnessed a hopeless situation as 2 killdeer parents had attempted to move their chicks. For those that don't know, killdeers are really pretty birds that are closely related to plovers. They fly very well, but nest on the ground, relying heavily on camouflage. Killdeer eggs are even colored to match the rocks where they're laid. Anyway, the chicks were stuck on the road because of the high curbs on each side. It wouldn't be long before the chicks were either hit by a car or eaten by a cat or dog. They needed help. My wife looked at me and pleaded with me not to get involved because we were in a hurry as usual. She knows me better than that. I first helped the larger chick over the curb and it ran quickly to some tall grass. The smaller chick was wet and seemed very weak. While I began to help the

smaller chick over the curb, both of the killdeer parents would come close to me and fake an injury by flopping all over the ground as if their wings were broken. This is just their instinctive behavior to draw predators away and is entertaining to witness. The smaller chick didn't run to the tall grass and was almost too weak to stand. In the confusion, one of the parents flew to the smaller chick and started pecking at it. I intervened and walked up to the chick and picked it up. As I walked back, I could tell my wife was completely thrilled that we were now going to adopt another animal. I quickly did some research on raising killdeer chicks and found out that it is impossible to do. Besides being against the law, even killdeer experts cannot raise killdeer chicks. This is because killdeer parents never feed their chicks. From the moment they hatch, killdeer chicks have to find their own food. They must learn how to find food by watching and learning from their parents. After learning this, I dried off the smaller chick and quickly ran it back to the area thinking that I might have sealed this poor chick's fate. I was relieved to hear the chick calling loudly back to the parents and they flew up to me and faked injuries again. I set the chick at the edge of the tall grass where the larger chick had gone and then I withdrew. One of the killdeer parents then flew up to the chick and I feared that the parent would again peck the chick, but the parent led the chick into the tall grass to safety. That was really good to see. It was a good feeling to think we helped this bird family.

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.

Snakes: Handling Racers

In an area near an abandoned town off HWY 89, there is a lot of short grass and some debris on a SW facing hillside. This is known good habitat for many different snakes, but so far this year only racers have been found there. Whenever you come upon a basking racer, they don't waste any time fleeing; hence the term racer. To get photos of a warm racer, you must be quick to grab the tail:
Be ready for the immediate backlash:
A racer bite isn't any worse than getting snagged on a thorn bush.After grabbing and releasing the tail several times, the racer will then stand its ground. This is when you can take pictures if you care to.

Considered to be trash snakes by some herpers, I find racers to be really good looking snakes and definitely better than finding nothing when I am looking during the day.