{"id":105171,"date":"2022-08-19T02:54:21","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T08:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=105171"},"modified":"2022-08-19T19:38:42","modified_gmt":"2022-08-20T01:38:42","slug":"west-desert-great-basin-gopher-snake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/19\/west-desert-great-basin-gopher-snake\/","title":{"rendered":"West Desert Great Basin Gopher Snake"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WestWest Desert Great Basin Gopher Snake portrait \u2013 Nikon D810, handheld, f6.3, 1\/5000, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 70-300mm at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago while out exploring the West Desert of Utah I was thrilled to come across a large Great Basin Gopher Snake warming itself on a dusty dirt road. I quickly grabbed my Nikon D810 with a 70-300mm lens attached to it out of my backpack to take images of the snake. My bird gear setup didn’t allow me to get as close to this snake as I wanted to be. My 70-300mm lens did.<\/p>\n

Now I know that some people don’t like snakes but I’m a fan of snakes because they are necessary and beneficial for the environment. I give venomous snakes plenty of room and the respect they deserve. On the other hand, I do get closer to nonvenomous snakes for photos.<\/p>\n

\"GreatGreat Basin Gopher Snake close up \u2013 Nikon D810, handheld, f6.3, 1\/6400, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 70-300mm at 220mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

That morning I had been hoping to find male tarantulas on the move or snakes on the go. This Great Basin Gopher Snake<\/span><\/a> (Pituophis catenifer deserticola<\/em>) was great find. It can be difficult to spot these snakes on dirt roads that are nearly the same color as they are.<\/p>\n

Because I didn’t know how long the Gopher Snake was going to stay I hopped out of my Jeep and hoped that my camera settings would work well. My camera settings worked just fine and I was pleased with the resulting images. I took quite a few portraits and close up photos of the snake.<\/p>\n

\"WestWest Desert Great Basin Gopher Snake \u2013 Nikon D810, handheld, f6.3, 1\/6400, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 70-300mm at 70mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition I also backed up so that I could take images that showed the length of the Gopher Snake’s body stretched across the dusty dirt road. After taking the photos I wanted I carefully maneuvered around the snake and headed down the road.<\/p>\n

Everything in nature is connected and so is this snake. I’ve heard that some people think that the only good snake is a dead one. That is simply not true.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Gopher Snake photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days ago while out exploring the West Desert of Utah I was thrilled to come across a large Great Basin Gopher Snake warming itself on a dusty dirt road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13129,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,4098,9808,7017,10475,13134,10474,13135,4449,13136,2326,10452,5785,7145,2315],"class_list":["post-105171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gopher-snakes","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-desert","tag-dirt","tag-foothills","tag-gopher-snake","tag-great-basin-gopher-snake","tag-pituophis-catenifer","tag-pituophis-catenifer-deserticola","tag-reptile","tag-reptiles","tag-road","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-snake","tag-snakes","tag-summer-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t