biology

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We woke up after a great sleep indoors and went to an Italian restaurant for lunch before we milked the Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox) from last night.

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We spent the afternoon relaxing and planning our strategy for the evening before we headed out. On our way to road cruising we stopped at a Wendy’s in Carlsbad for dinner, where they got all 3 orders wrong on the first try (an impressive feat, but they were very nice and corrected our food without hassle).

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Then we hit the roads, where we quickly found a Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) and a baby Yellow Mud Turtle (Kinosternon flavescens). The mud turtle was new to Jason and I, and since you don’t see mud turtles crossing the road often in the desert, were stopped to take some pictures.

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The roads that we choose for the evening looked promising, with lots of great habitat on either side and few cars. The amount of grass and green vegetation has increased dramatically as a result of the unseasonably high rainfall, making the landscape almost unrecognizable from when we first arrived out west.

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A little ways up the road, we started seeing dung beetles rolling cow feces across the road.

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Once we settled on plans for the night, we stated road cruising in two cars (Jason in one, Eric and I in the other). We split up to increase our chance of finding Prairie Rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis), the last species that we needed to collect from New Mexico. We had struck out for the last several nights of searching for them, so we were hoping that we’d find them with two cars searching. For the first few hours, we didn’t find any snakes, but then Eric and I found a Western Diamondback and Jason found a DOR Checkered Garter Snake (Thamnophis marcianus).

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After several more hours of searching, we turned up two more live diamondbacks, a DOR diamondback, and a Long-nosed Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei).

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After a long night, we parted ways with Eric and headed back towards Seminole, Texas. On our way we kept our eyes peeled for snakes, but only found a DOR badger and a DOR kangaroo rat.

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Finally, we arrived in Texas (at 4:30am) and got to stay at Jason’s grandmother’s house. Looking forward to sleeping in a bed tonight.

We woke up to a nice, mountain morning after what may be our last night camping for the trip. We hurried to process the DORs from last night since a storm was rolling in.

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Camp in the mountains

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A nice mountain view

The cap on our bleach bottle broke as we went to put it away, so we wrapped it in parafilm and a rubber band, which should hopefully keep it sealed for the rest of the trip.

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Bleach bottle with a somewhat repaired cap

Once we finished our work and the rain stopped (it barely drizzled) we cooked lunch (cous cous, chicken, and corn).

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Cooking lunch - cous cous, chicken, and corn

Then we packed up camp and headed to Artesia to meet with a contact, Eric. We had some tasty burgers and and quesadillas. Then we hit the road for some cruising. We got a DOR Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula), three Checkered Garter Snakes (Thamnophis marcianus), and a Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox).

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DOR Common Kingsnake

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A small Checkered Garter Snake

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Another Checkered Garter Snake

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A Western Diamondback

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Third Checkered Garter Snake

Late in the night we found a Texas Toad (Anaxyrus speciosus), which was a new species for Jason and I. We also passed a Pronghorn Antelope which jumped a fence and took off before I could get a photo.

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Our first Texas Toad

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The same Texas Toad

After a good night of cruising, Eric was nice enough to let us crash at his place, so we got to sleep indoors.

We woke up this morning to a lovely mountain view (and a kennel of dogs howling – they kept at it all night). We got to processing the DORs and found the stomach of the Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) to be loaded with ants (horned lizards are ant specialists, so no real surprise there).

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Nice view of some New Mexico mountains

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Camp

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DOR Texas Horned Lizard loaded with ants

After packing camp, we headed east and saw several pecan orchards (groves? I’m not sure which applies) on our way to Las Cruces.

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Pecan trees lining the road

We got to town with plenty of time before road cruising, so we stopped to relax in a park and eat lunch.

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A nice park where we rested for the afternoon

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Lunch - KFC

After eating, we still had time to spare, so we went back to the park where they had started some live music for a concert series. Lots of people came for the music, but luckily we left before it got to crowded. We picked up subs to eat on our way out to work and realized we were driving straight into a huge thunderstorm. We turned around and cruised a different road for the beginning of the night until the storm had passed. On this road we passed a border patrol checkpoint twice, the officers were really nice (and surprised to see us the second time around). On this road I got to see my first ever badger (Taxidea taxus), although it was a DOR.

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Dinner from subway

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Our first choice of roads is right under that storm

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DOR badger, the first I've ever seen

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The same badger, from behind

After the storm passed, we headed to a mountain road where we found two DOR Wandering Garter Snakes (Thamnophis elegans), a couple of DOR American Bullfrogs, and the highlight of the night, Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum, 1 live and 2 DOR).

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DOR Wandering Garter Snake

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Second DOR Wandering Garter

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DOR American Bullfrog

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DOR Tiger Salamander

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The highlight of the night, a live Tiger Salamander

Stoked about the salamander (and tired), we found a nice, chilly place in the mountains to camp for the night.

We woke up from a decent sleep at our camp in City of Rocks State Park and did a little exploring. We spotted lots of race-runners – we’ve seen them everywhere, they’re fast and tough to catch, so we can’t say for sure which species, but they are in the genus Aspidocelis. There were also a number of Ornate Tree Lizards, Urosaurus ornatus, and a couple of squirrels.

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Camp at City of Rocks State Park

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A view of the prairie from our campsite

We processed the DORs from lay night and then heated up some ravioli for lunch.

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Ravioli for lunch

We got in a final shower before heading to our next site. On the way, we stopped at a nearby park to get cell signal and pass some time.

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The park where we stopped to relax

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Another shot of the park

Then we drove into town to get some supplies, gas, and refill our ice and water.

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Getting ice and water (good deal on ice)

While in town, we stopped four dinner at a Mexican restaurant, El Camino Real, which was very tasty.

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Great Mexican food for dinner

After dinner we started road cruising. We stopped almost immediately for a DOR Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer) and took a photo of a nice sunset behind some wind mills.

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DOR Gopher Snake

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Sunset in New Mexico

Not long after, we found 3 herps in one spot – a DOR Checkered Garter Snake (Thamnophis marcianus), a DOR Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum), and a live Texas Horned Lizard.

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DOR Checkered Garter Snake and Texas Horned Lizard

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Texas Horned Lizard

A little ways up the road we found a live Gopher Snake.

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Me holding a Gopher Snake

The subsequent two hours were dull (the rain had restarted, so it didn’t seem like snakes were moving), so we decided to start looking for a campsite. On our way we found a DOR Western Diamondback (Crotalus atrox).

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DOR Western Diamondback

We drove to a state park, hoping that were could camp there. Unfortunately, add were pulled up to the entrance, we saw that the gate was locked. As we got closer, we were thrilled to find a live Western Diamondback just outside the park.

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Western Diamondback on the road just before the state park

As we continued our search for a campsite, we found another DOR Western Diamondback and several choruses of frogs and toads, including the New Mexican Spadefoot (Spea multiplicata).

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Another DOR Western Diamondback

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New Mexican Spadefoot

We finally found an available piece of BLM land and set up camp, with a nearby dog kennel howling all night. Hopefully they don’t get turned loose in the morning.