“It’s the stuff dreams are made of” -Sam Spade My first awareness of the San Francisco Garter Snake came in the early seventies, when I came across a first edition of Stebbins’ western field guide. Like many herpers, I’ve been thinking about that snake ever since my first glimpse. To my midwestern teenage self, San Francisco was as far away as the moon, and who names a snake after a city, anyway? The Maltese Falcon was set in Frisco, and I’ve always loved the ‘stuff’ quote uttered by Spade at the film’s conclusion. The gaudy garter from the same burg was my dream, and many times I wondered if I would ever get to see one. In the mid-1990s I…
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The rainy season paid no attention to the calendar and the downpours continued. The water was high at the Madre Selva field station, high enough to reach the steps of the kitchen tambo, and to leave the station’s generator on its own island. The boats were tied up close to the kitchen, and one night, Dan Wylie spotted something sculling along the bottom next to the skiff. “Pipa!” he shouted, but he could not get hands on it before it scooted away into deeper water. A few nights later, we were paddling down the Rio Orosa, coming back after a night of chasing black caiman back in the varzea, and I spotted my first Pipa pipa as it swam under…
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I arrived a day later than the rest of the 2013 expedition to Baja Sur, in order to save myself $250 on the plane ticket. Consequently, I missed out on the first day’s catch, including a large calling congress of Spotted Toads (Bufo punctatus), and several Cape Aquatic Garter Snakes (Thamnophis valida celaeno), found along a rocky mountain stream that first day. I deeply regret the toads. Is a lifer garter snake worth $250? Probably, but that’s another blog post. Fortunately, mis amigos held back the snakes for a day and I was able to examine and photograph an adult and a juvenile. A nice consolation prize, but of course, I wanted to see one for myself. Who wouldn’t? Flash…
