Well, I recently moved to Northern Michigan from Arizona. My brother and I haven't really seen much in Arizona this past winter, so when a chance came up to hit Southern California's early season, we jumped at it. Our major targets were boas and crotes, which we were able to find. But we also found some other cool stuff which made the trip just that much better. Weather was sunny, about 12 or 13 degrees Celsius, and time of search was just about sunrise to sunset on both days.
I'll start with the lizards. One of the first species we saw was the Great-basin Fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis longpipes).
This is a new species for me, so I can't tell if it was male or female. My research has me leaning towards male, but I'm not 100% certain.
One species that I saw often, but wouldn't let me get a decent shot was the Granite Spiny lizard (Sceloporus orcutti). These guys are just absolutely beautiful, but they're so darn fast that it's near impossible to catch one. Finally, at our last spot, on the last day, I was flipping for boas when a big male shot over the top of a rock and snatched a bee out of the air. While he was occupied with the bee, I managed to snap a few shots.
At the spot just before that, I was looking for C. ruber when my buddy, Diego, called me over to check out a cool gecko. It turned out to be a male San Diego Banded gecko (Coleonyx variegatus abbotti), another lifer.
By far, though, my favorite lizard of the trip had to be the San Diego Alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata webbii) that I flipped early on the second morning of our search. I'm not quite sure of the sex. I don't believe Elgaria spp. are sexually dimorphic.
Now that we've got the lizards out of the way, I'll post some photos that I never expected to get. I'm not really big on amphibians, but these Garden Slender salamanders (Batrachoseps major major) were just too cool to pass up. Here are some shots of the six that we found.
Now for the snakes. This first species (also a lifer) gave us bad luck on both days. They were the first snake (x2) found on day one. We then spent the rest of the day finding nothing. A boa found right at dusk broke our losing streak. Then, on day two, they were the last snake seen (again, x2). Either way, it was cool to scratch another species off of my list. Here are shots of some of the San Diego Night snakes (Hypsiglena ochorhyncha klauberi) that we saw on our trip.
Now for the good stuff.
We weren't able to find Crotalus oreganus helleri like I wanted to but, thanks to my friend Chris, we did get to see one species that I saw last year and was too excited to remember to take photos. The Red Diamond rattlesnake (Crotalus ruber).
And now, by far the highlight of our finds and another lifer, the Coastal Rosy boa (Lichanura trivirgata roseofusca).
All in all, an awesome trip to Southern California. For those who like inverts, mammals, and landscapes, I'll finish with some of my other favorite shots of the trip.
Thanks for looking guys. Hope you enjoyed.