Another day at the office...

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Schell
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Another day at the office...

Post by Schell »

So I'm doing some part-time monitoring at a spot in coastal San Mateo County. The parks department is attempting to remediate a site that used to be a shooting range, so there's lots of lead in the soils. This means they have to strip off all the veg, dig down a couple of feet and consolidate all that contaminated material. So since there is a tiny, tiny chance for San Francisco Garter Snake and California Red-legged Frog, the project requires a monitor. So basically my job is to intensively search this site and relocate whatever I find off-site and be available in case someone sees a SFGS or CRLF.

So in the course of my searching yesterday I turned up a couple of handsome snakes that I thought I'd share. I'm still working on the composition of my snake photos, so if anyone has any advice, I'm open to criticism.

Coast Garter

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Rubber Boa

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Oh and a little treefrog - I seem to neglect taking photos of common species. As such I have no photos of common species (NO WAY!) so I'm trying to shoot common stuff more often now for vouchers and such.

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FunkyRes
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by FunkyRes »

I think that California Red-sided is actually Coast Range.

The dead giveaway to me is how high up the sides the red goes - all the way to the dorsal stripe.
Other clue is 8 upper labials on photo where I can count them. T sirtalis usually have 7, but can have 8.

Does the belly have red blotching?
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Chad M. Lane
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by Chad M. Lane »

Yes that is a Coast Gartersnake.

Great photos Rob! Thanks for posting these.




Cheers,
Chad
Zach_Lim
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by Zach_Lim »

nice find with that rubber boa! looks pretty scarred up! Hope they don't hurt that place too much!
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Fieldnotes
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by Fieldnotes »

Looks like "when it rains, it pours boas." Congrats After i found my first boa, I broke the curse and now find them everywhere, often in multiples, even when I’m not looking for them.
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ricrabt
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by ricrabt »

I think we found 7 or 8 in two nights a couple of weeks ago. Not huge, but OK for this area this time of year. After finding my first one, it definitely rained boas...John
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Schell
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by Schell »

FunkyRes wrote:I think that California Red-sided is actually Coast Range.
Well ain't that some sh!t. I'd better get my jump to conclusions mat out - snakes are obviously not my strong suit in a number of ways, evidently. Thanks for the correction.

Will, Yeah it was odd - totally not expecting to flip a Rubber under that board. I would have preferred an SFGS, but the Rubber was pretty cool too.
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FunkyRes
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by FunkyRes »

Schell wrote:
FunkyRes wrote:I think that California Red-sided is actually Coast Range.
Well ain't that some sh!t. I'd better get my jump to conclusions mat out - snakes are obviously not my strong suit in a number of ways, evidently. Thanks for the correction.
It probably happens to everyone except fieldnotes.
Since joining this board I've missed ID on several occasions, and before joining this probably a lot more often without ever knowing it.
Will, Yeah it was odd - totally not expecting to flip a Rubber under that board. I would have preferred an SFGS, but the Rubber was pretty cool too.
Yes, I've only found two in my life (long time ago) and I use to live where other people have a knack for turning them up.

One was found at the dump of all places, the other crawling out on a trail during a 6th grade class camping trip to a regional park I had herped countless times before and after.

I want to find one again.
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Chad M. Lane
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by Chad M. Lane »

I only looked for Boas a handful of times this year, and I'm at 34. Found more boas than Cal Kings this year!

It's ok Rob, we've all made mis ID's before, even Will. :)



Cheers,
Chad
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jonathan
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by jonathan »

Never found a boa before April of this year, but I've seen 9 this year, including both species.
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Ross Padilla
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Re: Another day at the office...

Post by Ross Padilla »

Nice shots. :thumb:
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