Here are some pictures taken during my stay in Israel (May 2nd- May 9th). I traveled a lot and saw lots of nice herps, partly thanks to great people like Aviad and Shani who are also members of this message boards.
The focus was mainly on vipers and other snakes, but as the pictures will tell I’m basically interested in everything that moves. I hope you guys don’t mind if I share some pics of non herps too.
It truly was a great trip and I will definitely return one day as there is so much more to see. I’m not much of a trip report writer, but here we go....
Some pictures from the western part of Israel (coastal plain), I spent the first two days of my trip in this area.
Crowned Leafnose Snake (Lytorhynchus diadema)
Rough-Tail Rock Agama (Laudakia stellio)
Lichtenstein's Short-Fingered Gecko (Stenodactylus sthenodactylus)
African Softshell turtle (Trionyx triunguis)
African Softshell turtle (Trionyx triunguis)
A sneaky Western Caspian Turtle (Mauremys bivulata)
Schreiber's Fringe-Fingered Lizard (Acanthodactylus schreiberi), female
Schreiber's Fringe-Fingered Lizard (Acanthodactylus schreiberi), male
Mediterranean Spur-tighed Tortoise (Testudo graeca)
Palestine Viper (Daboia palaestinae). This snake was relocated and it’s the only live Daboia I have seen during this trip (+ 2 d.o.r.)
Some pictures from the northern Negev. Let me start with some pictures taken during one night off road cruising with Aviad. We found 11 snakes on the road, from six different species. To be precise:
A Roger's Racer (Platyceps rogersi)
A Diadem Snake (Spaleresophis diadema)
Same Diadem Snake (Spaleresophis diadema)
A Sahara Sand Viper (Cerastes vipera), with what seems like a parasite in its eye (?)
We stopped because we saw the Cerastes on the road. After catching the Cerastes we saw this Black Desert Cobra (Walterinnesia aegyptia) lying on the side of the road, just a couple off meters away from where the Cerastes was. What a lucking find!
Black Desert Cobra (Walterinnesia aegyptia)
Black Desert Cobra (Walterinnesia aegyptia)
So there we were, standing next to the road with a viper and an elapid. And if we weren’t already lucky enough, we saw this Crowned Leafnose Snake (Lytorhynchus diadema) digging its way into a burrow, searching for lizards. It’s a shame I only took this quick shot as it was really cool to watch, but we were too busy with the other two snakes and after photograping and releasing both the Walterinnesia and the Cerastes, the Lytorhynchus was gone.
Crowned Leafnose Snake (Lytorhynchus diadema)
The other six snakes were d.o.r.’s. One Daboia, one Platyceps rogersi, 2 Lytorhynchus, one Cerastes vipera, one Cerastes cerastes. The rodent is a Lesser Egyptian jerboa (Jaculus jaculus). Quite a sad sight.
To be continued.....