One of the finest herp
photographers I know of is The tipping point came when Joe presented an impossibly pink Coachwhip glowing against the white stones of a dry river bed, one of those “If I found nothing else, this would still make the whole trip worthwhile” specimens. That was it. I had to see one for myself. I asked Joe about herping his home state and
was thrilled as a kid when he included an invitation to join him at the
ranch. Asked a buddy of mine, Joe and his friend, Jay, met us in
Eventually we turned off the highway and bounced along an unpaved
road, when rounding a curve Joe stops his truck and jumps out. “Look at that,” he says, “not common around
here”. Scrunched down in the gravel is
a Texas Horned
As we’re looking at
the lizard, Jay spots movement by the other side of the road. He gives chase, jumping back and forth around
a small bush until he flushes another Horned
Continued driving through the surrounding thornscrub when something else skitters across the road that grabs our attention. Now, all along we’d been seeing ordinary lizards, with plain brown and black stripes, dashing off to the side. But this one was different, an intense flash of peacock blue that caught Joe’s eye and brought us to a halt. Turned out to be something special, appropriately named for the region.
We drove on towards the ranch, descending in elevation where the weathered plateau wrinkled into valleys covered by sparse vegetation. Joe and Jay were now way ahead of us, when bam! they slam on the brakes. Doors fly open, they go running, and we speed up to find out what’s going on. Suddenly I see it crossing the road --- from a quarter-mile away! --- a streak of day-glow magenta disappearing into the creosote: Coachwhip!!
Danny jumps out and races ahead while I grab for the camera. Meanwhile, Joe and Jay are in hot pursuit of the snake, dodging cactus and trying to cut off an escape. They step in front, the Coachwhip reverses. They go to grab, the snake zooms out of reach. From a distance I keep seeing flashes of red, in and out of bushes. Danny catches up and joins the dance. Soon all three men have circled the snake; it makes a break for the road, heading in Danny’s direction. He reaches down, gets a hold of it, when it turns on him --- striking right at his face! Danny’s so startled he falls backwards, slips on the loose gravel, and goes down rear-first in a spectacular fall. Even the Coachwhip was surprised. It momentarily escapes, but a few seconds later it’s safely in the hands of our hosts. I can’t believe the color. Like a figment of Photoshop, but there it is live in front of me. The digital darkroom doesn’t do it justice.
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