Field Herp Forum

Jimi, My reference to boa stench was meant to be in jest. Sorry if I mislead. With now knowing the type of habitat and elevations where the boa has been observed in both Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, my guess is the boa likely has a continuous distribution from Carmel south into the northwe...

Jimi, Regardless of which highway your group takes to get to Morro Bay (46, 41, or 101), you will have to pass through a shallow range of mountains so this message is for a word of caution. Rubber Boas have reportedly been observed to the south along a tributary of Lopez Creek that lead in to Lopez ...

Mark, As of the end of May, 2018, my samples of the Rubber Boa from Mt. Pinos, the Tehachapi Mts., Breckenridge Mt. and Southern Kern Plateau were large enough to organize the data and prepare a manuscript. Thus my effort towards making searches in those regions of Calif. has now ended. In preparing...

Very, very nice Austin.

Richard F. Hoyer (Corvallis, Oregon)

Here in NW Oregon, November is usually gloomy, cold, and wet so seldom are there opportunities to search for reptiles at this time of year. But yesterday was an exception. On my way to an 11 AM doctor’s appointment, I noted is was balmy outside, 60 degrees, and with clear, sunny skies. So around 2 P...

Check out this link. Letter signed by “500 scientists” relies on inaccurate claims ...

Richard F. Hoyer

My son Ryan in Utah has been researching the issue of climate change which in turn has spurred me into becoming better informed. It was Ryan that provided me with the link in my previous post. Yesterday, he provided me with the following link: https://www.friendsofscience.org/ Then later he sent me ...

For forum participates that are open to leaning, below I suggest a path to such potential learning. In a web search, enter the following link : https://www.therightclimatestuff.com/ Then at the left side column, click on ‘TRCS Reports’ Then click on item #1 ‘Anthropogenic Climate Warming Science Ass...

For those on this forum who still have an open mind, here are some links you can enter in a web search that should be informative with respect the issue of climate change. And after reading them, you have the choice of believing the United Nation IPCC organization’s narratives (mimicked by the main ...

To potentially get forum members interested in reading the the essay by David Siegel, below I have copied his introductory remarks which I hope should be of interest. Richard F. Hoyer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

With respect to the issue of global warming / climate change, I have been exchanging messages with my son Ryan in Utah. For those on the form still open to the prospect of possibly learning something, I have copied my recent message to Ryan which provides a small number of links I recently accessed ...

Here is a must read link. UN IPCC Scientist Blows Whistle on Lies About Climate, Sea

Richard F. Hoyer (Corvalils, Oregon)

I recently found that my son Ryan in Utah has investigated the issue global warming / climate change. Ryan is highly skeptical of the UN IPCC’s position on anthropogenic global warming (AGW). In one of his messages, he included the following link pertaining to Chinese climate research. https://elect...

Whitman, Interesting observation. As you likely have learned in your web searches, MgCl-2 has toxic properties. Have you identified the length of time it takes for the chemical to ‘dissipate’ or degrade to the point that it no longer act as a barrier to snakes which then began to cross those roads? ...

Yani, There are several herpers that at one time, have been participants on this forum that are knowledgeable about finding herps in the Santa Cruz Mts. of San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Santa Clara Counties. Zach Lim is one such herper. He now lives in Atlanta and not certain if he frequents this forum...

RenoBart, Thanks for the links. The last link that shows the boa on Valencia Peak in Montana de Oro State Park and found by Steve Schubert in 2010 I have known about since that time. Later that month Steve visited with me here in Corvallis. The links to the first two sighting are new to me. So the s...

For the third time this season, on August 7th and 8th, I visited the central Calif. coast in my quest to learn more about the distribution of the Rubber Boa in Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties. This time, I spoke to 48 – 50 individuals during those two days. I encountered one woman, a long time...

Yesterday, I was informed by a fellow falconer that July 16th was annual snake day. I looked it up on a Google search and sure enough, July 16th was annual snake day for the past several years. And it seems everyone else here missed out. I barely had time to get out into bonnies, find, and hug a sna...

Fieldherper, Where Rubber Boas have been observed in Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties has given me a decent idea of the types of habitats and elevations where the species exists in those counties. In a capsule, boas have been observed at both low elevations at near sea level and higher elevatio...

Craigb. I know of only three individuals that acquired small samples of the Rubber Boa towards publishing results. Dr. John Cunningham in 1966, then at UCLA, published a note on the S. Rubber Boa that mainly dealt with taxonomy but included some life history observations. For his PhD research at Ida...

The problem with making searches through Google, Norton Safe Search, etc., is that the information is second hand. That is, it has been ‘filtered’ through, and includes interpretations of the writer. In trying to find a reference to the claim that a recent Japanese study produced similar result to t...

I am aware that the following has very limited interest but decided to post it anyway. 1) Earlier this year, I received a second-hand report that individuals with the Nevada Wildlife Agency had documented a Rubber Boa in the White Mountains in Nevada. Has anyone on the forum heard about that discove...

The link copied below produced the paper by the Finnish scientists. (see abstract) I have not been able to find a link to the Japanese paper that as I understand, it produced similar results. These results support the positions (and some published research) taken by a fair number of scientists that ...

In a search, I entered, ‘Finnish study on climate change’. I have copied one of the links below. It can be noted that two independent studies, one in Finland and the other in Japan, seem to have come up with the same results and conclusions. According to the reporter in this link, these studies are ...

Craig B. provided a video of Dr. Judith Curry’s testimony before a Congressional committee. I played the video twice more and despite my extremely poor hearing, I was able to make out a fair amount of her testimony. At one point, she mentions an article published about her in Scientific American lab...

Craig, Welcome on board and I see you are a teacher. Before retiring in 1991, my last profession was as a secondary school science teacher. I have never been the best at written communications. So when some individuals have expressed their opinion that they know which side of the climate debate I ha...

Below are abstracts of two current research papers contained in the journal ‘Nature Climate Change’. Note that one author claims Antarctic sea ice is declining while the other author mentions Antarctic sea ice is increasing. Such conflicting positions in published research leaves me with not knowing...

The two links below pertain to current 2019 comments made by climate scientist Dr. Judith Curry. Compare Dr. Curry’s comments with those made by climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe as contained in the link posted by Bryan Hamilton. It is viewing the divergence in positions by such climate scienti...

Kookamongus, I had overlooked your post relating to the Sharp-tailed Snake in Marin County. The following is a clarification with respect to the two species of Contia. With respect to distribution, the Forest Sharp-tailed Snake has been documented in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and San Mateo Counties i...

JG, I am quite aware that Dr. Hansen’s basic position hasn’t changed with respects to his views that humans are responsible for climate change. But I believe his earlier positions placed greater urgency in contrast to where he mentions “---we don’t need to instantaneously reduce GHG amounts.” In hin...

EE Having first hand experience with working for a federal agency (USDA) in research, I am fully aware of the social nature that exists in such federal employment. There is an unspoken taboo that if you value you continued employment, possible step increases, or promotions, you do not dare rock the ...

Kelly’s post of 4/20 makes an important point. But a corollary should to be included and considered. ‘If someone is resistant to accepting that anthropogenic impacts have marginal consequences (on climate) because it doesn’t align with their personal ideologies, or agendas, or political traditions, ...

For anyone that did not understand the basic intent of my posts and overlooked the explanation for initiating this thread, below I have copied the preface to my initial post. “Preface: The environmental issue of ‘climate change’ surfaced in the thread by ‘stlouisdude’ that has since been removed fro...

The following two links also refer to Dr. James Hansen. With respect to my position that both sides of the 'climate change' issue should be examined, I hope these links prove to be particularly informative. NASA Whistleblower Exposes Huge Climate Model Gaffes | PSI Intl NASA's James Hansen Knew Clim...

Dr. James Hansen, 12/2/16: “The ponderous response of the climate system also means that we don’t need to instantaneously reduce GHG amounts.” The above quote by James Hansen is completely counter to the (alarmist) positions he has taken in the past since his 1988 testimony before Congress. For view...

As I have mentioned previously, a rational approach to the issue of climate change would be to examine both sides before adopting a firm position. Two recent posts are supportive of the NCA4 document’s results. So in keeping with the above approach, has anyone tried to access information pertaining ...

Jimi, It is clear to me there exists a genuine disagreement between many scientists with respect to the issues of global warming and climate change. If anyone does not see it that way and has already adopted a position, that’s fine. However from my vantage point, I consider that adopting either posi...

On April 1, I found a link that mentioned ‘Russian Climate Models’. Today, I went back and clicked on the first of the two links I had copied. ( “Russian Climate Science – NoTricksZone” ) I then entered ‘No TricksZone’ in Google and came up with large number of links that referenced climate research...

There does seem to be some ‘Red Flags’ with respect to the United Nation’s IPCC organization and its position on climate change. Below I have copied a number of links adding some comments. #1 (From Wikipedia) List of scientists who disagree with the scientific consensus on global ... Any claim these...

In the discontinued thread by ‘stlouisdude’ pertaining to environmentalism, the issue of climate change surfaced. There are a good number of scientific papers dealing with amphibians and reptiles which mention global warming potentially having a negative impact on such populations. In that deleted t...

Post #4 UN Scientists Who Have Turned on the UN IPCC & Man-Made ... (Note: I could not find a link on Google that indicated any scientists had resigned from the NIPCC organization.) UN Scientists Who Have Turned on the UN IPCC & Man-Made Climate Fears — A Climate Depot Flashback Report By: Marc Mora...

Post #3 UN IPCC Scientist Blows Whistle on Lies About Climate, Sea Level Tuesday, 12 February 2019 (Note: This link is very recent!) Written by Alex Newman STOCKHOLM, Sweden — The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC) is misleading humanity about climate change and sea l...

Post #2 Below are a small number of links I selected for review and considered as being reasonably informative. News - Climate Scientist Quits IPCC, Blasts Politicized 'Preconceived ... Top US scientist resigns admitting global warming "a big scam" | PSI Intl (This is a must read! Physicist Hal Lewi...

Preface: The environmental issue of ‘climate change’ surfaced in the thread by ‘stlouisdude’ that has since been removed from this forum. The IPCC scenario that human are the basic cause for global warming has been championed by the environmental community and most, if not all of the major the mains...

Bill, I am not into herping amphibians but merely ecounter frogs, toads, and salamanders incidental to my field efforts with snakes. But here on the west coast, amphibitans can be found all months of the year despending on species and localities being searched. This is particularly true I believe fo...

Yesterday, Jan. 29., I observed one adult male Rubber Boa and four Common Sharp-tailed Snakes. Every years since 1971, my field season, here in northwestern Oregon, has begun during the months of January or February.

Richard F. Hoyer (Corvallis, Oregon)

Kelly, Porter, In reviewing may mental notes, I recall observing some juvenile C. tenuis coiled in grass or on the small gravel piles I use as capture sites. So one explanation for observing C. tenuis on the surface is where the species occurs in high densities. I recall having two other reports of ...

Porter, I am not certain if I have ever observed a Sharp-tailed Snake on the surface. But because they occur in grassland habitat without any natural cover objects under which to thermo-regulate, it stands to reason the species would coil up in grass to do so. I know they do come to the surface at t...

Porter,
Unforutnately, my computer will not show all of your photographs. But what does come up are very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Richard F. Hoyer

dendrelaphis,
Forest Sharp-tailed Snakie (Contia longicauda)

Richard FH