I just got back from an exceptional herping/diving/photography trip to Thailand. I went with my Dad from December 22 to January 2.
First stop was Bangkok. I dropped by the Red Cross Snake Center, which milks venomous snakes to make anti-venom. It is the second oldest of its kind in the world.
Staring down a king cobra [...]

Whaaazzzzzuppp!!! It’s been too long since I last wrote in this blog. That’s because blogging is a pain in the ass, but I feel obligated to do it anyway.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I went backpacking in the Ohlone wilderness, from Del Valle lake in Livermore to Sunol Regional Park. I didn’t see another soul for [...]

Last week, I got a ride up to Kailua-Kona and went on a dive boat to a site called Garden Eel Cove. It was pretty sweet. Upon arrival, I noticed a pod of spinner dolphins on the left, and the captain spotted a manta ray to the right. We did an evening dive on the [...]

Life is good here on the Big Island. I just got back from a double shift in the backcountry, and I was lucky enough to see hatchlings from three different nests, including one that we excavated and saved 44 hatchlings that were trapped under some roots. The week before, I saw two different female hawksbills [...]

Well my first two weeks of volunteering with the National Park Service’s Hawksbill Turtle Recovery Project have gone quite well. I have seen quite a few turtles while working and during my spare time. Besides turtles, I’ve also seen a day gecko, some unidentified house geckoes, an unidentified skink, 50 spinner dolphins, and dozens of [...]

Today was an unforgettable day, ranking up there with the day I saw my first tiger shark and my first hammerhead in Australia, or the day I saw my first rattlesnake coiled up in the desert, or the day I rode on a whale shark’s dorsal fin. Today, I went free-diving with a pod of [...]

Wow. What a great month! I’ve been keeping pretty busy this summer. Sike! I haven’t done piddleysquat. Well, that isn’t entirely true. I’ve just been having lots of fun. Even work was fun.
Work. I released side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) back into the wild in the western central valley as part of Barry Sinervo’s long term [...]

The day has finally come. I graduated from UCSC with a 3.74! Graduation was a blast. I had a good time with all my close friends in college, and my grandparents flew out for my graduation. I feel fortunate to have met so many good people during college and I am sad to see everyone [...]

Since the temperature hit 93 degrees in the central valley yesterday, I knew it would be a good night to hunt for snakes. I was overdue for a California kingsnake; I hadn’t seen one in a couple years. So Louise, Mike, and I met up and did some night driving!
First find of the night: [...]

Dude, I’ve been really bad about keeping this blog up to date. Since spring break, I lost count of how many animals I’ve seen. Basically I have done lots of hunting with my friends all over the state. The culmination was a big trip to the southern Sierra and the Mojave. I found [...]