West Texas II

The next day we got up around noonish to head into Big Bend National Park again for a day hike. This was even less successful than the day before, despite some nice scenery.



We started out cruising the roads a bit and were soon seeing checkered garter snakes and western diamon-backed rattlesnakes.



The Couche's spadefoot toads continued to be common.

And what would a night in SW Texas be without a Trans-pecos rat snakes? I don't think Carl or I were prepared for seeing so many of these wonderful animals.



Finally, after seeing a DOR the first night, we struck gold on our Black-tailed rattlsnake, Crotalus molossus. We ended up seeing 4 this night. These snakes have previously eluded me on all my trips to Arizona. I think they are rather handsome creatures, so pardon my numerous pictures!





A couple of other herpers, Brad and Bob, were staying at the same motel and we enjoyed chatting and enjoying some of their awesome grilling. They frequently mentioned how many Reticulated gecko's they had been seeing. We couldn't figure out how we were missing them?!? We were easily spotting small snakes and but just couldn't find a gecko for the life of us. They were kind enough to let us photograph a gecko they were observing, and finally, one night I was able to spot one in a crack.

Reticulated gecko Coleonyx reticulatus

To further support the fact that our eyes were keyed into lizards, we did spot this Marbled Whiptail (Aspidoscelis marmorata) on the road at night.


And finally, check out the string on this monster!


More to come as always...

Click here for West Texas Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.

Bummed...

So I had a nice morning planned with a herping buddy and Cid. Late last night though we noticed a trail of blood around the house... Turns out Cid has a small growth on the back of one of his legs that had become ulcerated. I convinced Molly this did not necessitate a trip to the puppy emergency room (definitely could wait until the morning) but after being reminded I am not an animal doctor, we did call Uncle Lee, the family vet. He confirmed my suspicion that it is likely benign and recommended it getting checked out soon with the possibility of biopsy/excision.

So I canceled our hiking trip to take Cid to our local vet. He didn't seem to mind terribly much as he didn't know what could have been in store from him, and he enjoys visiting other puppies at the vet. As suspected, it is likely a benign tumor. It appears to be a histiocytoma, or abnormal proliferation of a certain type of cell found in the skin. They are commonly smaller than 2-3 cm, round, hairless and found on the face and limbs of young dogs. They usually regress spontaneously, but other important differential diagnoses include basal cell carcinoma, mast cell tumor and cutaneous lymphoma so having tissue for pathology isn't a bad idea. Surgical excision is usually curative and the incidence of recurrence is low.

So Cid is now scheduled for his second surgery on Mon. Shouldn't be much of a big deal and hopefully the little monster will be back in the field soon. The funny thing is the lesion is nonpainful and hasn't bothered him a bit. He would never even had noticed if we hadn't wrapped his little leg in an ace to keep him from bleeding all over the place.

Here's to a speedy recovery for my field partner!

West Texas I

Back in 2007 Carl Brune and I made a trip out to SE Arizona for a few days. We knew we would be a little early for the monsoons and before heading out there we had even talked about what some other options might be. I kinda had my heart set on the Arizona thing and Carl gladly agreed to go out there with me. One of those other options we discussed was to head out to West Texas...

Two years later I had another week off at the end of June again. During the winter we had touched base about a possible trip and started throwing around ideas. West Texas was of course at the top of the list...

The Trans-Pecos region of Texas is a herp mecca. Many people travel there for the elusive alterna, but it also holds tons of other fascinating creatures. It is one of the areas of the country that most herpers should try and visit sometime. I say most, because it sure isn't for anyone. It is located in extreme SW Texas, and is an interesting combination of desert and montane habitats. Most of the land is private though, and basically unavailable for recreation activity. This leaves you with the option of roadcruising and searching rock cuts along public right of ways. Texas has also passed legislature making it illegal to pursue reptiles and amphibians from roads, which basically completely eliminates that as a viable search method. If you manage to gain access to land, or spend time in one of the parks, you are stuck fighting the oppressive heat of the SW Texas summer. If you decide to "bend the rules" and do some roadcruising you risk fines and the possibility of the boredom of long hours on the open road. But if the hardships of such tasks still suite you...

We flew into El Paso Texas, Carl via Columbus and I via Detroit. I arrived an hour or two before hand and was able to secure our rental for the week. We had chosen one of those small model "SUVs", basically with the thought we would appreciate some extra room during the long hours on the road, as well as the added ground clearance compared to a larger SUV. At the same time, our gas mileage was a little easier on the wallet. I picked up a tan Kia Sorento, with 1000 or so miles on it, and the car treated us well on our travels.

We made a quick (not really) stop at Wallmart to stock up on some food and our hunting permits. We had no plans to collect any animals, but wanted to be as law abiding as possible. A few hours later we were even searching some nice habitat. Unfortunately, we only saw a garter, a few amphibians and a couple DORs that first night.

Black-necked garter snake Thamnophis cyrtopsis


Couch's Spadefoot Scaphiopus couchii

Red-spotted Toad Anaxyrus punctatus

Milksnake Lampropeltis triangulum

After working our way south, we found a cheap $40 motel to crash. It wasn't the cleanliest of spots, and I made sure to give the mattress a good once over for bed bugs, but it served a purpose for the night. The next day we continued on farther south into the Big Bend region of the state. This would be our base of operations for the next few days. We got the last room at the Wildhorse Motel, a nice herper friendly joint, and then headed into Big Bend for a few hours. We turned up a few lizards and a dark coachwhip that escaped before we could get pictures.

Big Bend Spotted Whiptail Aspidoscelis scalaris septemvittata

An intense thunderstorm rolled through the area and destroyed our well laid plans. All power and cell phone service was out for miles in all directions and we had to drive an hour or so in order to get gas and some food.

We made a few passes on a road, chatted with some other herpers, and made some finds along the way.



Pituophis

Presidio Canyon Lizard Sceloporus merriami longipunctatus

Western Diamond-backed rattlsnake Crotalus atrox

Trans-Pecos Ratsnake Bogertophis subocularis

Long-nosed Snake Rhinocheilus lecontei

Chihuahuan Nightsnake Hypsiglena jani





Near the end of the night, another herper had hit a bat with his car and it was lying stunned on his windshield. I believe it to be a Pallid Bat Antrozous pallidus. The bat flew away after about 5 minutes.


We pulled in back to our motel around 4am, feeling very weary. It was a great night, but we had more finds to make the next couple of days...

Click here for West Texas Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.

Browns

What a disappointing opening game. I didn't expect much, but that really killed some of the early season excitement. I also will say I have never been a Brady Quinn fan, and that game didn't exactly change my mind. I didn't think he was all that good at Notre Dame and I have never been impressed with his play for the Browns. Cleveland anointed him the hero and he has never shown any skill deserving of that title. I am not saying DA is the answer, but I can't help and feel like Cleveland has really treated him like crap. The guy at least threw a crap ton of touchdowns and made the Pro Bowl.

It's gonna be a long season....

Draining...

The week after Labor Day was more than painful. It was a long, very busy and still isn't over in my world. I find myself thinking of better times, and hopefully I can share them with you soon.

No viagra needed

These turtles are appropriately named...


I recently started back up in the emergency department, and have been extremely busy as a result. While other people enjoyed the holiday weekend, I labored. Luckily despite working Fri overnight and Monday day shifts, I had sat/sun off. I took advantage of the opportunity to head up north with a few friends for a night of camping. Most camp sites were booked, but our friends new some people with land and a farm so all it took was convincing the ladies that bathrooms are over rated before we were in action. My role in all of this was slim. I got off work around 830 am on Sat, rushed home and jumped into a packed car. Molly said I soon stopped making sense, and I ended up in the back of the car with Cid. After a two hour nap we were hanging out on the beach of Lake Huron.

Cid and I took to the shoreline and quickly turned up a skink, my first Michigan specimen. Unfortunately, it quickly escaped into the sand. Later we loaded up 3 cars, a couple 4 wheelers and headed out to the property. To get to the campsite we have to off road one of the cars and both 4 wheelers a few miles back, then make a few trips with the 4 wheelers and hike in the rest of the way. It was a production, but it was fun and really got us out there in the woods. Right around our campsite I was able to flip 5 red-bellied snakes and a couple skinks.

Displaying the red-bellied "lip curling" defensive behavior

The next morning we had to repeat the whole process nice and early to get to our canoe appointment an hour away. I managed to snap this quick shot of one of the fields on our way out in the early morning fog.



The canoe trip was a blast. Cid hopped right in and Molly turned out to be quite the paddler. Our river was wide, deep and cold and ended up providing some great photographic opportunities.



I saw plenty of painted turtles along the first half of the trip. Eventually I noticed a turtle from afar that looked a little different. Imagine my surprise to see this wood turtle basking (same turtle as first above photo)!


After leaving the turtle, we go 10 yards down stream and I see an orange head looking at me from a log!



This turtle was much larger... Molly really proved her metal here. We had already passed the turtle and were being swept out of range of photographs. While I messed with the camera, she began to paddle furiously from the front and was able to paddle upstream, in reverse while I took pictures. Much to my initial dismay she maneuvered the canoe to within 4 feet of the animal and parked it on the same log jam as the turtle, which didn't move a muscle!?!



After that we continued on and another log jam 15-20 yards away I spot yet another wood turtle... I grabbed a quick voucher shot and tried to catch our friends. They were busy exploring a beach, so I convinced Molly to paddle the 100 yards back up stream to take another look at the turtle. It was still there, and on a collision course with a group of drunk tubers. We positioned ourselves for pictures...



Three wood turtles in the span of a few minutes and about 50 yards of river, I could never have asked for a better turtling experience. Even Molly and Cid enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. It is just my luck that there are plenty of more rivers to explore in Michigan. Unfortunately, time is running short. Winter is coming... (any GRRM fans out there?)

Excitement...

Had an awesome weekend with some great friends, my wife and my dog. I will share some more details later but basically I just went were I was told to go, had no preplanned herping agenda (there always is), did absolutely no homework/research and honestly things could not have worked out better if I had tried. I don't have access to pictures now, but if you like awesome turtles, you will like this!