Gas is killing me...

But its worth it!  Went over to Cali again for the weekend for more herping.
I told myself I was going to herp as much as possible this year and so
far so good.  First stop was in Alemeda Co.  I met up with Chad and his
finace and we headed out.

Adult Diablo Garter Snake (Thamnophis atratus zaxanthus)
 



Here's a little baby of the same species. The Garters were out in force at this locale due to
the abundance of California Toad and Red-legged Frog tadpoles, ie lunch.
 

Check out the pretty yellow stripe that defines the Diablo Range Garter.
 

California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii) Tadpoles. These frogs are threatened and this
pond is one of their few remaining Bay Area strongholds. 
 

A nice young Red-legged Frog hanging out in the reeds.
 

Obligatory fence lizard.
 

Under a huge rock that Chad and I rolled together we found this monster
male Californa Toad.


 

I really like toads for some reason. That contemplative stare, their warty skin, their
mellow disposition, I dunno, I just love em!
 

A few minutes later I rolled a smallish rock and saw the tip of a snake tail disapprear
into a hole leading under an adjacent and much larger rock. I called Chad over and
together we rolled the big rock to reveal this nice adult Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis
catenifer catenifer).


 

 

Chad with his INSANE D700 rig shooting the gopher snake.
 

A nice view of the landscape. Way in the back up in the rocks on the hillside to the
left side of the trail is where Chad found the next and most impressive snake of the day.
 

Chad spotted this gorgeous Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus
oreganus) basking next to a huge boulder. This rattlesnake was much prettier
than the one I flipped a few weeks back.  This snake also put on a fantastic
show for us.  For those of you who have never heard one, check out this
short video I made with my crappy Canon A620 --> http://www.nofuture.com/lj/2010/05-01-10/rsnake.wmv






Chad and his fiance, Danielle posing with the snake. Chad has about $4,000 in his hand.


The view from one of the bluffs we hiked up.




One sucky thing that happened on our way out, was Chad's car overheated and
blew the head gasket. So, that killed about 2 hours of my day as we waited for
a tow truck.


As the day wound down, I drove north on I-5 and then cut across on Hwy 12 towards
Santa Rosa. I liked this weird bridge for some reason. The other thing that sucked
was that I couldn't find a place to camp until after dark....