Safety first indeed!
We arrived at our intended campground and took in the sights:
We decided to stay in a motel in Farmington due to the wind. We met up with Travis and went road cruising and found 2 DOR Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis) and 2 DOR Painted Desert Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans philipi)
The next morning we slept in and made our way to the rest of the group. We stopped along the way at a nice little area near the Colorado/New Mexico border. All we turned up were some Plateau Fence Lizards (Sceloporus tristichus)
We found a DOR Great Basin Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola) just over the Colorado border. We stopped at a small lake along the way and didn't see any herps, but did see some nice scenery and some birds.
Red-winged Blackbird
We arrived at camp and met everyone and started discussing plans. We decided to go into town for dinner and then go road cruising. When we returned from dinner we decided we were going to camp with Thom and Jeremy at a free campsite. We followed them over to the campsite when Thom bailed off of the road and we saw this in the road (pic taken later):
California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae)!!!!
We went road cruising and found one DOR Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) and one Woodhouse's Toad (Anaxyrus woodhousii). We came back to camp and met up with everyone else and discussed our finds. We went to bed and then got up the next morning in what Jeremy and Thom called "lizard heaven."
Near our campground in Colorado, literally a stone's throw from Utah.
Plateau Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis)
Northern Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus wrighti)
Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris)
Northern Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris septentrionalis)
We then met up with the rest of the group at the pay campground and started taking pictures of the previous night's road cruise and the morning catch of lizards:
California Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula californiae)
Travis road cruised this smaller one
Desert Striped Whipsnake (Coluber taeniatus taeniatus)
Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis)
Painted Desert Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans philipi)
Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis)
Orange-headed Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister cephaloflavus) Lifer!
Woodhouse's Toad (Anaxyrus woodhousii woodhousii)
Plateau Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana uniformis)
Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris)
Plateau Striped Whiptail (Aspidoscelis velox)
I initially thought Plateau Fence Lizard (Sceloporus tristichus) but after consulting Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide I am now leaning toward Northern Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus wrighti) Any thoughts?
We then headed out for SE Utah to explore a couple of area Jimi had found on his way down.
Area 1:
We walked the habitat and found several sagebrush lizards but were unable to capture or obtain photos of any of them. I found a rocky slope and started flipping and found lots of ants and termites. I saw a nice rock and said to Nikki, "There's a skink under this rock." I flipped it and she said, "skink!" The thing ran and I wasn't able to capture it or photo it. Later I ran into Daniel and he told us a similar story, except that there were three under his rock! But...the same result. Shortly after that we heard Thom whistle and met up with him. We were among the first to arrive and we saw the others coming. Nikki snapped this shot:
Travis seemed very excited to see whatever it was! Here is what Thom found:
Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis)
Area 2:
Rock art and steps carved into the sandstone to get up there.
Great Basin Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola) found by Travis. I love the black pattern throughout all of the pattern. Most are like this one found later in the day:
We went and had dinner and them went on our road cruise for the night. We found several snakes and here they are, these were all found within 20 miles of each other:
After the cruise we arrived at camp to find our tents had taken flight! We located them and were able to get some sleep. I woke up in the morning and discovered that my air mattress and been punctured. We figured it hit a cactus during its flight the night before. Nikki and I decided to head home early and found this on the way home:
Wandering Gartersnake (Thamnophis elegans vagrans)
Our group minus Jimi
We returned to Albuquerque and shortly thereafter I found myself in Santa Fe for work and did not turn up a single herp! I did find this very cool bird though:
Mountain Bluebird
Shortly thereafter we started seeing smoke from the Wallow fire in eastern Arizona. It was very annoying but it did provide some interesting sunsets!
We took a trip down to southern NM to see what we could find. All we found were some lizards and birds:
Ash-Throated flycatcher
Bullock's Oriole
Barn Swallow
Western Marbled Whiptail (Aspidoscelis marmorata marmorata) Lifer!
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris)
We hiked through a canyon and found a puddle. Something darted under a rock, so I had to get it:
Rio Grande Leopard Frog (Lithobates berlandieri). We got this shot off before it got free and back into the puddle. We let it be. We continued hiking down the canyon and found these:
Schott's Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus schottii)
Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collaris)
My first noosed collared lizard!
Desert Grassland Whiptail (Aspidoscelis uniparens)
For Father's Day weekend we went and visited Nikki's dad in North Ogden, Utah. On our way up we met up with Josh Dustin and he showed us the ugliest place to herp ever:
I mean seriously, do places like this actually exist?
Under this rock:
Western Smooth Greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis blanchardi) Lifer!
Northern Rubber Boa (Charina bottae) Lifer!
Western Smooth Greensnake (Opheodrys vernalis blanchardi)
We said our goodbyes to Josh and headed up to Ogden. On Saturday morning we went to a spot where we had looked for herps before but hadn't had any luck. We decided to try it again.
I was walking around and saw something dart away. It was a snake! I chased after it and saw that it was heading for some bushes, so I dove for it knowing I wouldn't get it if it made it to the bushes. I had it in hand:
Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon) Lifer!
And here was the cost:
Nikki noticed this drift fence that had fallen and looked under it and found:
Great Basin Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola)
We looked further up along the fence and found another racer that eluded capture, it was not worth sacrificing myself this time :crazyeyes: I walked further up and grabbed this from under the cover with ease:
Western Yellow-bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon)
Well, that catches me up! Thanks for looking at this incredibly long post! That is, if you are still here!
Josh
