Day Hike...Owls and a Western Diamondback

Gage and I went on a small day hike. We tipped over some trash and walked down a few ditches. In one ditch, Gage yelled, "Dad, look out! A huge snake!" I did not see it but he said it was right under my leg as I stood over the ditch. Then, on the way back, I found this guy in the same spot. He was a Western Diamondback rattlesnake, about 4.5 feet long. Gage wanted nothing to do with it. He was huge and I had to get a picture or two. His rattle had 12 rattles on it's tail. I could not touch my fingers around its body it was so thick around. He must have been at least 9 inches in circumference. Nothing to mess around with for sure!

This is a burrowing owl. They live all over by my brother's house. He was just sitting on the edge of a ditch waiting for some food. I love his eyes.

Bull Snake

I know some have already seen these, but we found this bull snake in the weeds in my neighbor's front yard. We had one as kids in our yard that ate all the gophers. Tiffin was not about to let me keep this in the back (or front) yard. In fact, she made sure it got let go a few miles away.

In preperation for a hike I am going on this summer with our older scouts down to Havasupai, my bishop and I went on a 10 mile hike with our packs partially loaded down. We were hoping to get a feel for what we would feel like after 10 miles. We took the Ford Canyon Trail. http://www.arizonahiking.org/whitetankshike1.htm

We found this guy towards the end of the hike and it took some effort to pull him out. Luckily he bit me when I reached in the crack he was in and was able to grab part of his leg too. I just pulled him out from there. We let him go farther away from the busy trail.

Baby Gecko

David saw this run into our house from the back door and caught it before it ran under the couch. He's almost up to Clark-Boy-Catching Status!

Black Widow

We were letting the water out of our little pool and this black widow came out of hiding. She had been living (without out knowledge) under the salt conditioner and the water forced her out in the open. I got these pictures of her before she met with the "Black Flag".

A cold-blooded summer

Lindsay saw this turtle crossing the road. I left work to come and see it. I tried to pick it up but it kept snapping at me (really fast). I finally picked it up and it clawed me with his back legs and made me bleed, almost like a pin prick. I gave up and used a cloth bag to pick him up and put him in the woods. He made one final snap at me, completely spinning 180 degrees around and lurching about 3 inches. These things are not nice.


This was the first of two black widows we've killed this year. This picture is just scary.

These skinks are everywhere, almost no fun to catch anymore.

Here is a broadheaded skink, a little more fun because they bite viciously.

This black widow was in the kid's playground. We saw it coming out just before nightfall. Scary.

One of many types of small frogs we squish riding in the car after a rainstorm. Again, ho-hum. They live on our house and eat our bugs so we like them.

This is my most exciting catch of the summer. Every other time I've seen a bullfrog, it hops away so quickly that I can't possibly catch it before it disappears into a pond. I finally caught one.

August Night Hike

We were able to go on our first night hike for the summer last weekend. Its amazing what you can find when you drive slow out in the middle of nowhere. We went south of Saddleback mountain and into Harquahala Valley.

This was the first little friend we found.

With all the rain we have been having the toads were out in force.

This guy we would have missed without the black light. He was almost small enough to fit on my fingernail of my index finger (bottom of picture).

Here is the diamondback again. He was more than 3 feet long. Just getting warm on the street, we did not bother him too much...cause I guess they bite.

Gage caught this gecko that was crossing the road.

Cute Little sidewinder.

Leopard Frog...these are rare. I have seen a bunch in my life, but only caught a few. They are very quick to jump in the water and disappear.

Gage looks worried holding a big desert spiny lizard. He was actually quite brave and did better than I did with my first spiny. The first one I caught bit my finger and stayed locked in my knuckle for about 3 hours.