I found this Tiger Rattlesnake on a survey of a county park on a ridiculously hot night. Not many snakes were out, but I did manage to find several of these, as well as a few other odds and ends. The geology of the mountain is interesting and changes quite a bit from one tip of the range to the other. In the North end, this species is much more commonly encountered than the Speckled Rattlesnakes I was looking for.
A Tiger Rattlesnake in ambush late on a hot summer night several years ago. Despite being relatively seldom seen, this species is common in most of the mountains that overshadow the Phoenix metro valley.
Despite being incredibly easy to observe in surrounding mountain ranges, the Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnakes in the Sierra Estrella just southwest of Phoenix are harder to spot. They’re likely just as common, but the steep terrain and majority of prime geology for the species being inaccessible reservation land make it a challenge to see one. Kris Haas spotted this pretty one way up mountain.
