These 3 Trans-Pecos copperheads were found on this trip.
Our plans again changed, but only by a few minutes. The hour was late and we had decided to call it a night. Then, well on our way to the road exit, I decided “aww heck. Just one more pass and then we’d leave. I reversed direction again and had hardly gotten up to cruising speed when “SNAKE.” I slammed the brakes on and Jake was out of his door before the car fully stopped. Another “WAHOOOOO,” then “Copperhead.”

This, the Trans-Pecos copperhead, Agkistrodon piscivorous pictigaster (and yes, I’m aware of the nomenclatural changes but I happen to believe in the subspecies concept!) was another lifer for Jake.

This, the southwesternmost of the 5 subspecies of copperhead, is also the most strikingly colored. The dark bands are wide, shade to a narrow rich mahogany edging fore and aft, and contain a central light patch as they near the dark belly. Pretty? You have to see and adult example (juveniles are paler overall) of this pit viper to fully appreciate its beauty.

And we were able to appreciate it 3 times, for besides Jake’s lifer, we found 2 additional copperheads. Things were looking up. Now on to Study Butte.

This little yellow mud turtle chose to be active during the deluge.

We awakened to a persistent and thickening cloud cover rent in all directions by bolts of cloud to ground lightning. Thunderstorms surrounded us. Hmmmm. What now? We hadn’t driven all night only to be thwarted by storms. But as it turned out, thwarted we were. To the west was a solid wall of rain. Eastward seemed a bit brighter in a dark sort of way, so we headed east to 277, a fabled gray-banded kingsnake road, only to be met by still intensifying thunderstorms.

Within minutes it was raining so hard that the wipers were ineffectual. Lightning, in all of its many incarnations, was incessant. Jake and I knew that our first night in West Texas was destined to be a bust; if any herps at all were active it would be the amphibians, and so it was--almost. Of the many possibilities that night we were to see only Couch’s spadefoots, Scaphiopus couchii, Rio Grande leopard frogs, Rana berlandieri, and a single yellow mud turtle, Kinosternon flavescens, that scuttled quickly from the pavement. The storm of that evening was epic with rainfall exceeding 5 inches. Motel time!

This western diamondback was seen several times in one night.
At dusk—a clear, warm, dusk-- we found a vinegaroon! On a trip that had been plagued with evening downpours, that was a definite step in the right direction. Vinegaroons (aka whip scorpions or uropygids) are always a welcome find. Detaining it for photos induced the release of the protective acetic acid concoction from which this arachnid takes its name, but within a minute or two the little beast was continuing its trek across the pavement.

Although we were the first ones on the road, three other cars of herpers soon joined the hunt. But despite the competition we did reasonably well. The first find was a 2-foot long black-tailed rattlesnake, Crotalus m. molossus. Jake spied its nose, barely out of the roadside grasses, soon after darkness had fallen. Second up for the evening was a 2-foot long western diamondback, Crotalus atrox, the first of this normally abundant species we had seen on the trip. A trusting snake, we saw this young rattler on several other of the evening’s passes. The third snake of the evening brought an explosive “YESSSSSS” followed by a victory dance from Jake. It, a western hook-nosed snake, Gyalopion canum, was a taxon that had evaded us for the previous 2 years. And as it turned out, it was the only example of this little arachnid and insect eater that we found on this trip! Lady luck was smiling occasionally.