Anza-Borrego Desert Herping

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JohnU
Posts: 21
Joined: March 26th, 2011, 4:12 pm

Anza-Borrego Desert Herping

Post by JohnU »

Yesterday, April 20th, I set out from Oceanside, Ca. to the Santa Rosa Mountains east of Borrego Springs, Ca. My plan was to hike the southern ridge toward Village Peak, a hike I had read about in a hiking guide. I never made it there. On the way, I was driving through some habitat that looked, to my eyes, to be perfect for Rosy Boas, numero uno on my most wanted list for Southern California. Large granite boulders covering desert mountainsides are always a fun place to herp. I didn't really know what my destination was going to look like, but I did know this was what I was hoping to see. Sorry, no habitat shots were taken. I only had my 100mm F2.8 macro lens.

I get almost as excited about arachnids as I do snakes. One of the first rocks I flipped over hid this tiny, 1 inch scorpion. I believe it to be in the genus Serradigitus. I found a second one a few meters away and then none for the rest of the day.

Image
IMG_1511 by SubjectNature, on Flickr

I was on fire with calling my shot this day. I wish someone else could have been there to witness it. I felt like the Babe Ruth of herping. I just wish my catching skills were at the same level. Three times throughout the day I saw a rock to flip that looked so perfect for herps that I took off my cumbersome camera bag and backpack so that they didn't get in the way while I caught whatever was beneath. All three times I was right. Under the first rock I found a granite night lizard, Xantusia henshawi. Wow, a lifer! My thoughts while viewing the lizard were that it was much bigger and more attractive that the xantusia vigilis I have seen before. As I quickly reached out to capture the lizard it bolted. I ended up with only the tip of the tail between my fingers and quickly let go not wanting it to break it's tail free in it's desperate attempt to escape. The lizard quickly made it to a large fissure in the granite where I could never reach it. I viewed it for a couple minutes with the aid of the suns reflection off my signal mirror. I tried to console myself by saying that it would have been more bitter than sweet had I caught the lizard at the expense of losing it's tail. I hate when that happens.

On the second occasion I flipped a large, but skinny banded gecko. This I actually did capture. I placed it under my handy peanut butter jar lid while while I readied my camera gear. The moment I lifted the lid to snap a pic the gecko took off at full speed. Once again I was left with a lizard in a rock fissure and no pictures. I guess I could have just lied and said it was this banded gecko I found in Valley of Fire State Park a couple months prior. ;)
Coleonyx variegatus
Image
Banded Gecko by SubjectNature, on Flickr

The third time i called my shot I flipped a rock that was harboring this young Baja California lyre snake, a subspecies lifer. It was cool to the touch and made no effort to escape, a good thing considering my record for the day. I love the bug-eyed look and vertical pupils of these nocturnal hunters.
Trimorphodon biscutatus lyrophanes
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IMG_1528 by SubjectNature, on Flickr

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IMG_1534 by SubjectNature, on Flickr

I made no more attempts throughout the day to "call my shot" on any particular rock. I didn't want to ruin my perfect record and this was a good thing because it wasn't until just before sunset that I saw anything interesting to report on a herping forum. I never did find my target species, but what I did find I wouldn't have traded for a half dozen Rosies.

I was hiking in the shadow of a hillside where the sun had already fallen too low to be visible when I saw #3 on my SoCal most wanted list, a Red Diamond Rattlesnake. YES, another lifer! I quickly snapped this pic not wanting to let it get away before I got a shot. I don't handle hots or use a hook so I thought I may only get one chance at a pic.

Crotalus ruber
Image
IMG_1546 by SubjectNature, on Flickr

But even during the initial ecstasy of finding a species I have long dreamed of seeing I knew something was not right with this snake. First of all, the snake did not move even the slightest bit and I was within the range where most rattlers would have recognized my presence in some way. Not a tongue flick or even a twitch when I slipped on the eroded granite rock I was standing on. Furthermore, the posture of the snake just didn't seem right. The little part of the back end of the snake I could see seemed twisted in an odd way. Maybe it was injured. I backtracked around a large granite boulder and a cactus minefield to get a better angle. As I slowly crept forward my mouth must have dropped open. It wasn't a red diamond, it was TWO red diamond rattlesnakes, and they're mating! That certainly explains the almost catatonic state of the first rattlesnake I spotted. The first rattlesnake I spotted was the male. As I approached I could see the back half of the female, her head hidden below the rock I would have jumped to had I not seen the first snake. She gave a couple quick, short rattles as I approached. The male remained completely motionless the entire time he was inside the female. What I saw of the mating was far from romantic. The only contact the two snakes made was at the "hips." The female was fairly motionless as well. At one point the last 1/3 of her body had a couple waves of muscle contractions pass toward her tail, but that was it.

My view when I first realized the enormity of the event before me.
Image
IMG_1553 by SubjectNature, on Flickr

The male is on the left, the female is on the right.
Image
IMG_1564 by SubjectNature, on Flickr

I never saw the female's head, but she appeared to be more attractively patterned.
Image
IMG_1575 by SubjectNature, on Flickr

The male, clearly preoccupied.
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IMG_1591 by SubjectNature, on Flickr

I watched for about 10 minutes as almost nothing happened. The moment the female broke away the male snapped into action, like flipping a light switch. In a blur of motion it snapped around to face me, coiled, and began rattling it death song. I snapped this pic of it's still everted hemipenes as it joined his woman under their matrimonial rock.
Image
IMG_1594 by SubjectNature, on Flickrn Flickr

WOW.
I walked back to the truck under a quickly fading sky in an almost catatonic state myself.
It was a day I 'll remember till Alzheimer's steals it away.
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rosy-man
Posts: 317
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:43 am
Location: East of san diego

Re: Anza-Borrego Desert Herping

Post by rosy-man »

love the ruber conection
mikemike
Posts: 1207
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 1:37 pm
Location: Ft. Smith, Arkansas
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Re: Anza-Borrego Desert Herping

Post by mikemike »

Very awesome. Looks like you had a good day.
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strikedistance
Posts: 37
Joined: July 8th, 2010, 4:39 pm
Location: Redondo Beach

Re: Anza-Borrego Desert Herping

Post by strikedistance »

Nice post I was out in the same area on the same day and found everything as well, along with a leafnose, a shovelnose a glossy, a few sidewinders and a DOR coachwhip. Fun area but try not to mention Capture and Flipping inside a state park. That is not allowed and also Xantusia henshawi are a protected species FYI.
Great pictures and I cant wait to go back out.
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Brian Willey
Posts: 100
Joined: June 21st, 2010, 6:32 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Anza-Borrego Desert Herping

Post by Brian Willey »

How about that, you're finding some cool stuff on your own John! :thumb:
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