Howdy Herpers,
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
And happy October to all of you. I'm always glad to see October roll around, as
the month signifies the end of another miserably hot summer season, as well as
the promise of gorgeous weather for at least the next seven months. But October
also brings on the realization that soon--very soon, all the action we've been
seeing of late will grind to a whimpering halt. Already, the lizard numbers are
starting to drop, and all we will be seeing surface-active are Utas by the end
of the month. But we can still expect some big things in the days ahead, and
anxiously await our next crack at paradise.
My original intent was to do another combination report with Marty. Instead, I
choose not to profane Marty's words by adding my own. His latest experience
with the ringtail was his alone, and all that he saw should remain intact and
unaltered. I'll make a closing comment or two, and leave Marty to do the
talking:
It always gives
me a good feeling to see something other than the usual suspects - Uta,
Callisaurus or Aspidoscelis - driving to the Suizos. Gives me the inspiration
that it's going to be a promising trip, even if the promise fails to be
delivered upon. This weekend the promise was both made and delivered. Within
quick succession neonate Salvadora and Pituophis were encountered on the drive
in.
Arriving at the field site a little while before Roger and HW gave me the
time to take pictures of the departing sun and arriving moon, get my boots on,
and go for a quick hike and welcome our newest molossus, CM16, into the record
books.
He's a cute little tyke we're estimating to have recently celebrated his
second birthday. Roger and HW arrived as I was bagging CM16 so I headed down so
we could open the books, decide routes and prepare to get the night underway.
Turns out we both had good routes and we go to the pictures to tell the rest of
the story.
CM12 9-28-12: CM12 had moved from the north side of IMH, where he was in
attendance with female CM10 the previous weekend, to the western slope where he
was found in a relaxed and elongate double 'S' shaped hunting posture. One 'S'
up front, the second in the rear...which reminds me of...a place I probably
shouldn't go. You sick bastards have probably already conjured up enough mental
images to make whatever I was thinking seem Catholic by comparison.
CT14 = Ringtail 1-3 9-28-12: On my way to track male tiger CT14 I chanced upon
our furry friend from a few weeks back. I startled the ringtail out of a
prickly pear as it was poking around for whatever ringtails poke around for.
Continuing on my way to CT14 the ringtail intersects my route about 4 minutes
later and, as seems to be characteristic with this ringtail, disappears only to
appear a few minutes later. It does, and it picks up a prickly pear fruit,
makes it way towards me with the fruit in its mouth and chooses a dead palo
verde to sit on to munch its snack. I watch, take a few pictures and continue
on until I get to where I'm confident I'm close to CT14 (I was about 8m away).
Since I'm frequently seeing the ringtail as it makes wide circles around me I
don't want to immediately go to CT14. I remove the tracking gear and move about
5m away while staying about 8m from CT14 whose flag from the previous week I
can see. The ringtail continues making wide circles around me investigating a
midden, snags of dead branches at the base of a palo verde, prickly pear
patches in addition to climbing several palo verde and a large staghorn
cactus...which Roger correctly noted I mis-ID as Chain Fruit and pointed out in
a manner as gently as Roger can. Doing its circuits the ringtail came within
meters of me on several occasions, encircled CT14's location and investigated
the tracking equipment a couple times. It also took a leak near where I was
standing. Don't know if I should feel honored or insulted. After about 20
minutes I thought the ringtail moved on so I headed up to collect data for
CT14. As I'm writing I hear a noise and out of the bushes comes the ringtail,
sticks its nose under the rock where CT14 is, and moves on. It didn't spend any
more time nosing the hole under CT14's rock than it did other places it
investigated so I took that as a good sign. It visits me once more while I'm
taking data and then disappears. CT14 was under the same rock and not visible,
same as the previous week.
CM10 9-28-12: CM10's signal appears to be coming from the western slope of IMH
and downslope and NW of CT14's location so I take off following the beep...only
to cross paths with the ringtail two more times. At this point I'm wondering
how the ringtail knows where all the snakes are and which one I'm tracking
next. Turns out the little guy isn't omniscient, more than likely just
extremely active and covers considerable area when foraging. CM10 was on the
northern flank of IMH the previous week; I find her on the crawl in the
vegetated area west of and between IMH and Suizo Wash. She's moving at the edge
of, and then into, a dense aggregation of creosote and staghorn cactus where
she climbs through the lower branches before coiling in the cactus.
CA121: No picture. Still in Suizo Wash on a wash island to the NW of IMH,
though she seems to have moved a little closer to the hill. Was visible coiled
among creosote and PP.
CT10: No picture. Still on the western slope of IMH though he's moved to a
large boulder where he wasn't visible.
CA133: No Picture: Visible in a coil under dense, dead shafts of ragweed. On a
wash island to the NE of IMH.
Solare neo: Love these little guys and have only found a few. Found this
neonate solare as HW, Ryan and I attempted to track male CM14, the only snake
Roger designated as a "MUST GET." Thanks for jinxing me! Roger and HW
got his signal the night before so he might have booked and made a significant
move or, for some reason, my receiver wasn't picking up his signal. Hopefully
Roger was able to locate him Sunday.
CM11: No picture and unable to see. He was in a midden constructed in boulders
on the western edge of the wash N of Little Hill. Roger and HW saw him the
night before in the company of a big-headed female; possibly the same female he
was associated with a couple weeks back.
CM15 9-29-12: CM15 has moved from the midden on the southern flank of IMH where
she was accompanied by male CM14 the previous week to an outcrop near the base
of the eastern slope of IMH. From the balloon she was coiled next to I can only
venture the guess she was sleeping off a hangover from a party we weren't
invited to.
CT12 9-29-12: So much for the idea that the tigers were ready to pack it in and
hang out in the rocks on IMH. CT12 moved from near the top of IMH, to ~70%
downslope to the lower eastern slope of IMH where she had her posterior half
sticking out of a hole associated with PP. She popped her head out once during
the time we were observing her but pulled it back in and didn't give any
indication that our presence bothered her as she didn't try to pull into the
hole. The picture shows she is obviously distended posteriorly. It seemed like
an odd position for a snake to put itself in so I had to wonder if she was
thermoregulating. Keeping her head cool in the hole while warming her fat
nether regions (the sun was within as inch or two before Ryan provided shade
for the picture so I could imagine there was radiant heat or the soil she was
in contact with was being warmed).
CT11 9-29-12: CT11 has moved from high on IMH near the road to the top the
previous week to a wash edge on the bajada east of IMH. He was in the same
position under the dead branches as when tracked the previous night.
CT13 9-29-12: Don't think she's moved too far from where Roger saw her last
week; maybe uphill a little. On the E/SE slope of IMH ~2/3 the way to the top.
She was a couple inches under a flattish granite rock surrounded by PP.
Thanks Marty!
Having the luxury of three trackers has really opened up our ability to catch
behaviors we would have otherwise missed. We are often able to track the same
animal three times over the course of a weekend. By doing this, we learn much
about what individual animals are actually doing--from early evening set up
until late morning "time to get back inside" behaviors. I will be
pulling some of Marty's images from this report, and combining them with my own
with the next report, so that the reader will see what I'm talking about.
For now---C'MON WEEKEND!
Best to all, happy herping, roger