{"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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"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":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/gopher-snake-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0158.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-rmj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":74166,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/09\/27\/adult-red-tailed-hawk-with-a-snake-in-the-west-desert\/","url_meta":{"origin":105171,"position":0},"title":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk With A Snake In The West Desert","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I noticed immediately that the Red-tailed Hawk was on prey because I saw it tearing into something despite the grasses that were partially obstructing my view.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk with a snake in grasses, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-gopher-snake-mia-mcpherson-1647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-gopher-snake-mia-mcpherson-1647.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Faded Rattlesnake close up, The Wedge, San Rafael Swell, Emery County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/midget-faded-rattlesnake-mia-mcpherson-emery-county-utah-0834.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/midget-faded-rattlesnake-mia-mcpherson-emery-county-utah-0834.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/midget-faded-rattlesnake-mia-mcpherson-emery-county-utah-0834.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/midget-faded-rattlesnake-mia-mcpherson-emery-county-utah-0834.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk was perched on a metal fence post so I opted to go for a portrait to remove the \"hand of man\".","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-shouldered Hawk juvenile on the ground, Sawgrass Lake Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/red-shouldered-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9079.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/red-shouldered-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9079.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/red-shouldered-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9079.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Almost two years ago, April Olson traveled with me into the Uinta Mountains of Utah, where I photographed these blooming Wright's Buckwheat.","rel":"","context":"In "High Uintas"","block_context":{"text":"High Uintas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/high-uintas-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wright's Buckwheat in full bloom in Utah, Uinta National Forest, Uinta Mountains, Summit County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/wrights-buckwheat-uintas-mia-mcpherson-1150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/wrights-buckwheat-uintas-mia-mcpherson-1150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/wrights-buckwheat-uintas-mia-mcpherson-1150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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