can also be somewhat destructive depending on habitat and methods. And damn sure cover that gets turned over too much isn’t as productive
I went out today to test my new camera lens and I saw a southern copper head swimming in a creek! (At least that’s what I think it was, orange medium sized snake in the water) unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of it but it was super cool to see!
A Chunam Tree Frog/Indian Tree Frog ready to jump off at any given moment! It was sitting on the pole of a small bridge-like structure, and tbh anyone could’ve placed their hand right where it was in the dark for support! I came across two guys trying out macro photography on this guy, otherwise I wouldn’t have noticed it either.
Just realized my last post here was the same species :(
Chunam Tree Frog (Polypedates maculatus) - observation link (although it didn’t exactly come out as a link)
another trip to NM and no rock rattlesnakes. I feel like a lousy herper right now.
2 mornings at Tortugas and Dripping Springs, and one attempt at the Franklin Mountain State Park down in El paso. Days and evenings were mostly family stuff, but still…
Am starting to kind of get a hang of what’s living on my parents place at least. WDB, desert king, sonoran gopher, and night snakes. Only saw the gophers in person but game cams and photos my mom got on her cell phone showed the rest. Mix of twin spotted spinies, some texas horned lizards and a lot of side blotched but I don’t think I saw a single whiptail in their neighborhood.
Had a visitor in the garden recently. It had a nice little perch in the bush. Made it easy to get a nice picture, too.
That’s cool that you’re adding herping to your field skills! You’ll find that a lot of your birding experience will help you with finding snakes. You just have to get used to looking down, instead of looking up!
To help you get started with the basics of herping, check out this short guide. It was put together by Corey Callaghan, who was a mentor to Thomas @thebeachcomber! It’s a great introduction. Happy herping!
A Malabar Pit Viper!! It’s endemic to the Western Ghats of India, and it’s probably my favorite herping subject because it doesn’t move from its spot the whole night.
the eyes are stunning!