It's the moment we've all been waiting for. Time to put March 2011 to bed for good.
Pics 1-3: Images by John Murphy. At the end of the day on March 12, we put a beer in our hand and decided to wander over to AD7 on Iron Mine Hill. Thus, we arrived unprepared to snag this PERFECT female atrox for a transmitter. While there are always benefits to leaving a female unmolested at a den, I still hate myself every morning for letting this one go.
Thanks for the photos John--and your MOST excellent company this day.
Pic 4: One of five Smith's Black-headed snakes encountered by John and I on 12 March
Pic 5: Female Tiger #6, Gracie. While the photo is terrible, it was taken under near impossible conditions. She hung in this crevice for nearly a month, before moving all the way down the slope of our hill. Photo taken13 March.
Pic 6: Likely the last "in situ" image to be created of CRAT #122, an AD7 male who we have since removed from the study. (That is, we removed his transmitter. He's back home now, and still has the PIT tag. We may see him again someday!) 13 March
Pic 7: Female CRTI #8, "Zona." She had moved about 3m from her hibernaculum the day this image was taken, which was 27 March. She did not seem to move muscle when we saw her in the exact spot again on 2 April. On 3 April, she plunged to the bottom of her hill, and is now in the same crevice as she occupied last year at this time.
Pic 8: A smoking young AD4 male atrox found by John Murphy and I on 12 March.
This was another reason to hate myself in the morning. We left him as we found him.
I hope that you will all join me in conveying silent well-wishes to my friend Peter Lawrence from the UK. He is a stoic herper in his own right, and a devoted friend of our beloved Danny Brower, who recently passed away. Peter is going in for a brain tumor surgery soon. As I'm sure that his head is at least his second-most favored organ, we can only imagine his angst. Peter--you need to hang in there so you can catch the next report.
We speak of balls-out-banzai black velvet. We got moms, dads and babies all loving life together.Until then, all of you, live forever!
roger
Labels: Arizona, Crotalus atrox, Crotalus tigris, Tantilla
