Bosque del Apache on the first day of winter

Since it was the first day of winter I figured the herp season is probably over now, then I checked the weather for the bosque and it was getting up to 66. So, I figured I'd head down and do some birding and possibly turn up some herps. It was a good thing I decided to bird otherwise I would've gotten practically nothing. I arrived and found these ladies crossing the road:

Mule Deer

I went to an overlook and saw this in a tree nearby:

Bald Eagle


I moved on to a marshy area and spotted this from the bridge:

Western Painted Turtle

I searched the area hoping to at least turn up a uta, but nothing but birds:

Northern Pintail

Sandhill Cranes


Canadian Geese

Snow Geese








Sandhill Crane

Northern Pintail

On my way out I saw the deer again and observed some interesting behavior:













Well, that's all I got pictures of. Other species seen but not photographed include:
Black Pheobe
Mallard
Cedar Waxwing
Marsh Hawk
Mourning Dove
White-winged Dove
Raven
Bullfrog
American Coot

Among others. Thanks for looking!

Josh

A crappy day herping...but hey, it's December!!!

The temps were high and we've been seeing some snakes at some dens with some regularity. You can see what I've found in the past here: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2933 I went to check on the two atrox that have been out and only found these:




Both these snakes had meals in them so it only makes sense that this would be their dung. I went to check on another den and passed another site that I haven't seen anything at for a while. I was just going to head to another den and decided I should check on this one just in case. I climbed up and saw this:

Prairie Rattlesnake

It had been a month since I'd seen activity at this area, so I was pretty excited. It coiled up like in the second picture and was flicking its tongue all over. I sat and watched it and then it slowly retreated into a nearby hole. It was very aware of my presence. I searched around the area because I have encountered multiple snakes at this site together. I did not find another snake, but did find another pile of poo. No picture of this one it was deep inside a crack and the picture didn't turn out. I think the season is finally over :( Can't wait until spring :D

Josh

The Rio Grande zoo in Albuquerque has a new reptile curator and he has added a lot of new animals to the reptile house and they had an event dedicated to herps on Saturday November 13th. We went and had a great time!
Here is a link to the species list.

Six months ago all we had as far as venomous goes was a few of the locals and an Armenian Viper. Doug Hotie has taken this reptile collection to a world class reptile zoo.

We arrived and were greeted by the Komodo Dragon exhibit as usual and meandered over to the next area and found staff walking around:

and some of the other exhibits:

Snouted Cobra

Bushmaster

Temple Viper

Quince Monitor

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

We got this far and then noticed a sign for a keeper talk and it was August's friend doing the talk. Nobody showed up for it except us, so he asked if we wanted to see the back area. That was a no brainer! First we went to the quarantine room and saw these:

Crocodile Skink

Temple Viper

This little guy puffed at us!

Banded Rock Rattlesnake



Desert Tortoise

Lancehead Rattlesnake

Among many others! Then he took us around to the back end of the dragon cage:

Komodo

We then went to the back of one of the exhibit areas:

Red-footed Tortoise

They had three cages with King Cobras in them but they were all out of view :? The guy giving the tour then said, let me get one out for you. We backed up and he got one of them out:










We then went to Saltwater Croc building and were able to hold a baby alligator!



Nancy with it

Me showing off its belly

Iwalani holding - she was pretty scared!

Nikki with it

Chris likes to make faces

Jeremy holding it

And then the main attraction in the building:

Salty






And then on to the alligators:

American Alligators

On our way out we noticed this in a tree near the exit:

Miller's Chameleon




I got a video of it eating:

We ended our tour there and went on to the rest of the reptile house:

Puff Adder

Florida Cottonmouth

Black Forest Cobras

Retics

Rhinoceros Viper

Banded Water Cobra

Red Spitting Cobra

Black Mambas



Storr's Monitor

Then my battery died! That was pretty much all that was new, but what a great improvement! It was a great experience! I will leave you with a picture of a silly gorilla:


Josh