Saturday, April 24, 2010

Spring Coachwhip


I found this western coachwhip snake (Masticophis flagellum testaceus) western yellow-bellied racer (Coluber constrictor) in the San Antonio Valley at Shanti Ashrama, 14 miles east of Mt. Hamilton near San Jose, CA. It was under a fallen branch next to a very small stream.

(Thanks to Mike Spencer for the identification correction.)

2 Comments:

At 12:13 PM, Blogger Lars Goldschlager said...

What a beautiful smooth color it has, thanks for coming back to action, I seriously missed your snakes

 
At 9:30 PM, Anonymous Mike Spencer said...

Cool blog. I just want to let you know that this is actually a Western yellow bellied racer (Coluber constrictor mormon), not a western Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum testaceus). M. f. testaceus doesn't occur in California and the only coachwhip species that would be near San Jose is the San Joaquin coachwhip, M. f. ruddocki. Even though racers are a fairly common find in that area, they are always a fun snake to find and work with.

 

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