This year I set a goal to check off as many herp species as I can from my San Diego County life list. According to what I’ve read, about 85 species occur in the County. Going into this year I had recorded over 50 of them.
Here’s the list of species I hoped to add this year:
1. San Diego mountain kingsnake – Lampropeltis zonata pulchra
2. California legless lizard – Anniella pulchra
3. coast patch-nosed snake – Salvadora hexalepis virgultea
4. peninsular banded gecko – Coleonyx switaki switaki
5. San Diego banded gecko – Coleonyx variegatus abbotti
6. flat-tailed horned lizard – Phrynosoma mcallii
7. Cope’s leopard lizard – Gambelia copeii
8. Baja California coachwhip – Coluber fuliginosus
9. peninsular leaf-toed gecko – Phyllodactylus nocticolus
10. California glossy snake – Arizona elegans occidentalis (alive)
11. sandstone night lizard – Xantusia gracilis
12. Pacific pond turtle – Actinemys marmorata
13. arboreal salamander – Aneides lugubris
14. arroyo toad – Anaxyrus californicus (adult)
15. Monterey ensatina – Ensatina eschscholtzii eschscholtzii
16. Pacific newt – Taricha torosa
17. California red-sided gartersnake – Thamnophis sirtalis infernalis (extremely difficult)
18. Baja Calif. ratsnake – Bogertophis rosaliae (practically impossible)
I found a few of my target species in winter and early spring, most of which were included in previous posts. Since then I’ve been busy traveling back and forth across San Diego County trying to record a few more. I also made a brief trip to the Mojave desert to herp with Jim Bass.
Despite numerous strikeouts, I’ve had decent success adding to my life list. Along the way I found a bunch of other cool herps as well.
Here are some of the photos of what I’ve seen over the past few months…
My first San Diego mountain kingsnake! It was tiny, at just about 8” in length.
I read Brian Hubbs’ Mountain Kings book shortly before finding this guy, so a lot of credit goes to him – Thanks for an extremely helpful book Brian!
Coastal San Diego habitat photo
This juvenile long-nosed snake was found crossing a road on the coastal side of the County
I found this Cal. king trying to escape an empty lot where NatureNate and I had recently set-up a boardline
Get off the road and back into your field tough guy!
At the beginning of April, I road-cruised a fish!
Here’s the story… I saw a skunk up ahead on the road where it crosses a stream. As I approached, the skunk waddled into the brush. Then I noticed the 13” carp in the middle of the wet pavement. It was bitten badly but still alive, so I pushed it back into the stream.
Also in April, I hosted fellow FHF’er ErikNM for a day in the field. He wanted to photograph a California kingsnake, as well as a Southern Pacific rattlesnake and a gopher snake. We found a few kings and rattlers, but no gophers.
Here’s Erik with a nice king
Mid-April brought out more cool herps…
Western redtail skink in habitat
California whiptail
California striped racer, as found
black-headed snake crossing a road on a desert mountainside
desert glossy snake
shovel-nosed snake, juvenile on shoulder of road
snake bait
I found two more mountain kingsnakes!!
I’ve made a number of trips down to the border in search of Cope’s leopards and Baja ‘whips.
Here’s a habitat shot of the area
JamezEvanz joined me a few times.
Here he is shooting a small gophersnake
Although I’ve seen three, this is the best photo I’ve been able to get of a Baja coachwhip, taken through the windshield
Still no luck on Cope’s yet.
At the beginning of May, NatureNate and I took a night drive through the desert and did OK. Amongst other things, we found these three shovelnose snakes with varying degrees of orange coloration, plus a perfect young sidewinder….
A few days later I herped the local desert during an unusually cool, cloudy night and morning. I thought it might be good conditions for Switaki, but couldn’t find one.
Here’s what I ended up seeing instead…
Fresh-looking juvie rosy boa
A couple thin glossy snakes
cloudy desert sunrise
remote palm oasis
and a large, sluggish fringe-toed lizard
One night in mid-May, NatureNate and I got together and cruised some roads on the coastal side of the mountains in hopes of finding a long-nosed snake perhaps. The weather seemed rather snakey and we found a small nightsnake, plus a couple helleri almost right away.
Here’s the best-looking helleri
Then we came across an unexpected lifer for both of us: an arroyo toad!
We went on to record two more arroyos, three spadefoot toads, a single western toad, a nice long-nosed snake, a skunk eating a dead squirrel, and a big ol’ granite spiny lizard to top it off!
Mojave herping with Hellihooks….
Here's Jim, ready to roll on Sat. evening
First good find of the trip was this Great Basin collared lizard Jim spotted
I had a lot of fun, but we struck out on snakes during our ATV rides up and down the mountainside.
All I found was this small alligator lizard, plus a few sideblotchies
Jim searching for specks on Sunday morning
We saw a good number of lizards, including a few chuckwallas, but no snakes
Interpreting the mysterious petroglyphs
Thanks Jim for setting things up and showing me around! Let’s do it again, next April maybe?
Back in San Diego County, still around mid-May… another good night on the roads
Started out strong when I found this dark-colored glossy snake in grasslands near the eburnata/occidentalis subspecies intergrade zone
Looks like pure occidentalis to me, so I’m counting it as my lifer.
Continuing on, I spotted this three-foot ruber on the edge of the road right after a considerate herper drove off without scaring it into the desert
Later that night I crossed paths with him and learned his name is Bruce. Cool guy if you ask me.
Here’s a typical desert glossy snake
This was the first desert nightsnake I’ve found in SD County
I really liked the look of this partially striped glossy
It was found on the desert edge of the intergrade zone I believe.
I finished the night with a couple leaf-nosed snakes (only took voucher photos though).
Still in May…
I found my first Southwestern threadsnake (Rena humilis humilis) while cruising with NatureNate one night
The following night, I caught up with a family of herpers and did a combination of road cruising and night hiking. We had quite a productive night, but didn’t come across any lifers.
The first herp I found was this healthy red-diamond rattler crossing some pavement
The guys had found two rosy boas shortly before I arrived and detained them for me to check out
We saw a good number of granite night lizards active on the rocks
This banded rock lizard was startled awake by my flashlight, took off running straight up the rock face, lost his grip, went flying into the air, then I caught him before he hit the ground. I was cracking up!
I liked this half-awake sideblotchie spotted by Ronnie as it clung to the side of a boulder
Later on, I cruised this big, fat Desert threadsnake (Rena humilis cahuilae) wiggling on the pavement. Looked more like yarn than thread to me.
It was cool to see both local subspecies of threadsnakes on consecutive nights.
A couple minutes later, this handsome glossy snake stopped on the road for a photo
Next up we found a few banded geckos. Here’s the best shot I got of one
After saying Goodnight to my buddies, I took the long way home and added a shovelnose snake and a leaf-nosed to my nightly total
All things considered, that was probably the best night of the year for me.
In June the weather around the County started to heat up, and I had a few more good nights of herping….
My first June trip was typical, just a bunch of common species:
helleri juvie, in shitu
small gophersnake
another shovelnose snake
normal leaf-nosed snake
In the morning I took a drive hoping to record a desert iguana. Sure enough, I found four of them in short order, including these two mating in the middle of the road.
A bit later in June, I caught up with Jamez and his friend Kathleen for a cruise through the desert.
On the way over the mountains I found this nightsnake
Later on, we found a leaf-nosed snake, a red diamond rattler, and a small speckled rattler…
Late, late that night, at 2:50 am, on the way home, I decided to take a quick detour and was rewarded with this beauty
On a hot night later in June, still hoping to find something new, I scoured some huge outcroppings and recorded a bunch of lizards, plus a single snake…
Granite night lizards were out in good numbers
Before too long, I scored my lifer leaf-toed gecko!
Then a couple minutes later, this shovelnose surprised me up on the rocks
A sleeping granite spiny didn’t bury itself enough to hide from my beam
Next I found a second leaf-toed, this one a gravid female!
At about 7" in total length, this was the largest granite night lizard I’ve ever seen
Finished up with a desert horned lizard trying to sleep out in the open
My last good night in June...
Desert banded gecko, as found while on the phone with another FHF’er
For a second I thought it was a Switaki
I road-cruised a leaf-toed gecko for the first time, this one a fresh juvie
After not finding anything for a while, I got out of the car and took a walk.
Right away, I spooked this little lyre snake off the ground and into a low bush
To cap the night, I spotted this pale speck from a ways off - it didn’t match its backdrop very well
So that’s all for now. I know this post is rather long, but I hope you enjoyed a few of the photos at least. Since mid-June, I’ve made a number of trips, both in and out of SD County. I’ll put together an additional post or two before too long. Until then, Happy Herping everyone!
Jeff
Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Moderator: Scott Waters
- SurfinHerp
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Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
The pale speck is my favorite. Good job!
Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
I second Rman! Great in-situ shot too! I thought you would turn up more specks - I always look forward to your posts for the specks! lol
Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Nice work Jeff. I too like those white specks from out there
- SurfinHerp
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Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Now that is a really cool speck
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing
- Ross Padilla
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Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
One of the best posts I've seen in a long time. Great job!
Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Amazing post. Like Ross, I agree as well that this is one of the best posts that has been on the Forum in awhile.
Those pulchra are killer, especially the neonate!
Thanks again for taking me out down in SD.
Those pulchra are killer, especially the neonate!
Thanks again for taking me out down in SD.
Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Pretty awesome stuff, looks like you've had tons of fun. Great read thanks for the cool pics to make me jealous.
- Kent VanSooy
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Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Great stuff Jeff, you've put in your time this year! The iguana pair on the road was neat, the racer in the concrete channel was cool, and that one blindsnake was a MONSTER! Hope it didn't poop on you.
- Mike VanValen
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Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Great animals and scenery. I dig the color variation on those shovelnose. The sleeping horned lizard is a neat find too, at least in my eyes (Lame East Coast Herper).
Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Great post Jeff! Obviously a very productive year. Love so many of the shots! Looks like you had some really great success night hiking!
- Carl Brune
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Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Nice post. Love the Baja coachwhip on the road and the speckleds at the end.
- jamezevanz
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Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Great hunting with you Jeff! Enjoyed seeing pics of some of the stuff you mentioned. The Baja Coach and pasty spec I am particularly envious of.
- SurfinHerp
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Re: Lifelisting San Diego County – late Spring 2013
Thanks for all the positive comments guys
There are still a bunch more species I'm trying to track down in San Diego: flat-tailed horned lizards, Peninsular banded geckos, Cope's leopard lizards, western pond turtles, California newts, and Monterey ensatinas. I think I know where to look for all of them, I just need to get out there during the right conditions and then get lucky. If you're interested in joining me on a search for one or more of these, feel free to shoot me a PM. I usually hit the field at least twice a week.
There are still a bunch more species I'm trying to track down in San Diego: flat-tailed horned lizards, Peninsular banded geckos, Cope's leopard lizards, western pond turtles, California newts, and Monterey ensatinas. I think I know where to look for all of them, I just need to get out there during the right conditions and then get lucky. If you're interested in joining me on a search for one or more of these, feel free to shoot me a PM. I usually hit the field at least twice a week.