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Studies show that Superstitionia donensis is objectively the best scorpion in the United States. In fact, 100% of experts in the field appear to be in consensus that this species is superior to all other American scorpions.

In their wisdom, the city has decided to knock down and clear old trees. The last two pictures were taken just about 15 minutes before I took the snake picture. I had walked on and then noticed the tree guys poking at something in the grass next to the fallen tree, so I went back and found this snake. Fortunately, they had not harmed it. To their amazement I picked it up (it did lock onto my thumb a little) and told them that it was a California King Snake and that they kill other snakes, mice, etc. I then carried it a couple hundred feet away and released it unharmed (pic 2) although it was a little "upset".

@faris thanks for the ID. That makes way more sense. 1 I’d never seen a garter snake that big (about 4’ long) and 2. It was mesmerizing to watch it climb a large live oak with branches touching the ground. I’d seen a gopher snake vertically climb the bark of a valley oak before, but never seen a snake climb outstretches lattices of branches like this whip snake. It was extraordinary.
I added one more pic of it up in the tree. See if you can spot it. Once it was up in the tree more than about 6’ it was completely camouflaged. Poof! Gone.

organisms found on the Warm Spring Unit, part of Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Fremont, California. These sites are closed to the public, but open on a limited basis for tours and BioBlitzes. If interested, PM the admins of our project - we'd be happy to invite you to one of the events.

Lifer! Found with 6 hours left in the year, this snake continued my streak to get me at least 1 snake a month for the whole year.

This was the last snake I expected to see because I thought they’d all be brumating this time of year, but maybe it was flooded out of its brumation spot by all the rain we had.

All around one of the most exciting herp finds I’ve had, though I had to rush for photos to get to a New Years party

was under a cover board. very active. The temperature under the board was 73.4 degrees F and the humidity was 74.1% RH. Was cloudy in the morning, but became very sunny and warm in the afternoon noon. Duplicate of https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/21717751

2 snakes both found under the same coverboard (photos 1 and 2 are the first individual; photos 3 and 4 are the second indiviudal). Were both reasonably active and both assumed the rattlesnake position with S-shaped strike pose and vibrating tail. Neither ever hissed or striked at me. Instead, both let out musky smells and deficated in defense. The temperature under the board was 67.2 degrees F and the humidity was 88.9% RH.

original position shown in photos 4-6. had its head exposed and pointed towards both the sun and the coverboard while its body was mostly concealed in the grass. Was reasonably active, and was slightly spooked when touched by a stick. Mostly just tried to slowly escape from me, however it did vibrate its tail and hiss softly when I got in front of it at one point. Eventually, it decided to just slither under the coverboard. The temperature in the grass where its head was basking was 85.1 degrees F and the humidity was 57.7% RH.

Was under a metal sheet (original position shown in photo 3). Was sluggish and not defensive, but it did warm up a little bit after being handled. The weather was sunny and warm with some notable gusts of wind. The was a misty marine layer in the morning. It was mostly cloudy for the two days before, sunny three days before, and rainy and completely cloudy before that. The temperature under the metal was 69.4 degrees F and the humidity was 70.9% RH.

A banded and striped morph under the same board. They were in the process of coming out of their holes. The banded one escaped, but I was able to grab the striped one. It deficated and revealed its hemipenes when handled.

Milksnake with nervous neighbours, somewhere in the Ottawa Greenbelt. Microhabitat is limited; location obscured to protect site from over-herping.

This individual was previously found in 2019, at the same location. It is the snake on the left, here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99603000