Looks Like That's About It. 10-18 and 25, 2026

My pal Ryan asked if we wanted to hook up and go look for Copperheads on a cool Sunday. The sun would be up but the temp would be in the low 50s. Still, we know our Coppers and figured they'd be out getting some sun outside of their dens. We're wicked smaht.

We got there at about noon and hit the trail. I hadn't seen Ryan for a long time and we enjoyed a chat. He was very kind and patient with the two old folks. We started flipping some logs on the way to the hill. Redbacks were the first things we saw. Ryan is the guy to whom someone in the Pines once said of me "Howlett likes Redbacks more than anyone." Tis true, I guess.

Here's one with our first Spotted of the day.

Thinking of the blog post, I put a moratorium on Redbacks. Not everyone loves them as much as me. So Spotteds it was. This first guy was a monolith!

I got so I was going to put a moratorium on Spotteds, too, but then we set up a nice shot and flipped a nice in situ shot.

No Marbled Salamanders were seen though they are usually pretty easy at this spot. We reached the ascent and headed up the hill. The three of us scoured the top and the den site area for a couple of hours but came up empty. I blame Andrea who said a few weeks ago "Coppers are easier than Hogs these days." Looks like 2027 will be free of both species. This pile of leaves is as close as I got to a copper.

Still, it was nice to spend a few hours with Ryan and I hope he felt the same despite our Squamatical disappointment.

Andrea and I figured everything would be back at the dens by now since the temps at night have been around 40°. That essentially means that the season is over except when we visit the local dens or net some Two Lines in December and January. We decided to check out the dens on Sunday the 25th since it was going to be sunny, but only in the mid-50s. In the Spring, that would be amazing but in the Autumn, not as good. We got there at about noon. It was nice in the sun.

We trekked around, giving a lot of effort at every densite that we know of... Robles', Sly's, the Valley, the Cottonwood and the Rock Wall but no snakes were up... the sun wasn't hitting right. We did manage to flip a bunch of Redbacks though. You know, it is said that I like them more than... well, you know.

^^^ Lookit the massive Earthworm!

We went to a bridge and watched ducks for quite a while. This female Mallard was massive and about 3/4 of a football field away. My camera done good.

We'd been there a couple of hours and on the way back decided to revisit the dens... the sun had been up for a while now. Most were empty but our last chance, Robles' Den, Two Garters were present. One was all out and one was just a little noggin poking out of the den's doorway.

The little guy is another one of those that makes you wonder about Ribbons. No labial stripes and is that a white scale in front of the eye visible on the sunny side and just shaded on the other side? But that's a yellow chin and I'm still calling Garter. But there have been Ribbons at this den. In fact, Robles was a Ribbon.

This niblet pulled in and we never got a side shot. A Spotted Lanternfly crawled across the bigger one's body and I was able to snatch it off without bothering the snake. I squished it, which I am loathe to do but I understand the necessity. 

It hurts that we really don't have much left to the year. We never got to far away from home this year so we didn't get to see a lot of things. But it hurts every year. Will these be the last snakes of 2026? It's quite possible.