We met this big guy the last time we were in Florida. A Common Snapping Turtle, seen crossing a sand road at the edge of remaining Everglades. There was what looked like a squatted truck gathering in the area, so we’re happy we found it first and helped it off the road. But, we just […]

A pretty orange Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake from Yavapai County, Arizona. The oxidation in the surrounding rock shows why this snake is the color that it is. I got some photos and watched it crawl off in the direction it was headed.

A large adult Tiger Rattlesnake from southeastern Arizona. These secretive snakes are common where they are found, but even people who live next to them for a lifetime may never see one. Interestingly, speckled rattlesnakes are often misidentified as tigers … I think it may be as simple as that “tiger rattlesnake” sounds cooler than […]

There are at least five Arizona Black Rattlesnakes in this photo. It’s a winter den site, where multiple generations live together through the cool part of the year.

A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake letting me know that it’s not a smart idea to come closer. This defensive behavior is often mischaracterized as aggression. While there are some cognitive gymnastics that could be done to force word choice, the misinterpretation of what these snakes are doing when in a pose like this often leads to […]

A young Grand Canyon Rattlesnake found in the rocks alongside the Colorado River. This young male’s will fade considerably as it ages, but will likely not become the nearly unicolor look of mature females.

A very impressive animal – an adult Yellow-tailed Cribo found near camp in Peru.

A Blacktailed Rattlesnake resting on a log at the base of a massive rock outcrop in the New Mexico bootheel. This was found late in the season, and the snake likely spends the winter in a crevice up above alongside several others.

Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes are the most common rattlesnake in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, and likely the most encountered snake overall. This isn’t necessarily due to abundance alone – they’re large, noticeable, and can be noisy. This one, however, thought it wasn’t seen, and remained in this coil in wash sand until after I left.

A Lowland Striped Blindsnake from Guatemala. It’s a tiny, entirely harmless invertebrate specialist that doesn’t spend much time on the surface, so we were lucky to see one. Compared to the unicolor blindsnakes (Rena sp.) from the U.S., this one having some pattern and a bright yellow tail spine was very interesting. The thing they […]