I enjoy searching for herps in California -- turning over logs for salamanders or driving desert roads on warm summer nights for snakes -- but I am just a low-key amateur at this pursuit compared to my passion for birds. My interest in herps probably goes back to a childhood fascination with poisonous snakes. I read all I could find about them, and loved seeing them in herpatariums such as the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. But I've never been one to catch snakes or lizards, and generally I just enjoy watching and identifying them at a distance. The linked pages here are often galleries of photos taken around the world when an interesting herp was encountered, but there are more focused and serious pages on those shown in thumbnails below. Click on either the photo or the title to bring up the linked page for each herp order, suborder, or family.

Crocodilians

Sea Turtles

California Salamanders

California Lizards

California Snakes

Pythons & Boas

Herps of El Triunfo, Chiapas, Mexico (Mar 2002)

Tortoises & Freshwater Turtles

Frogs & Toads