Taking an opportunity to meet a few herp people working for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, and just for fun, I volunteered to help out on a desert tortoise project one day in August. The day was a success finding three tortoises, one Western diamond-backed rattlesnake, and one black-tailed rattlesnake.
This tortoise was new to the study and therefore received some special attention as well as a telemetry receiver glued to the back of his shell.
The group working on the new tortoise
The black-tail peering out from its hide
Later on in the season, a couple field herping friends, from back home in Missouri, Ryan Thies, Brian Willy, and Brian’s girlfriend Sara, came out to experience Arizona. Of course, Southeast Arizona was a major destination and it didn’t disappoint.
The first day started in Santa Cruz County and was aimed at checking a banded rock rattlesnake and a ridge-nosed rattlesnake off of my companions lists.
Aside from those, we also got to see Arizona treefrogs, Mexican spadefoots, a black-neck garter snake, Slevin’s bunchgrass lizards, Clark’s spiny lizards, Sonoran spotted whiptails, tree lizards, and an elegant earless lizard.
We spent the following evening cruising some well known roads where we were fortunate to see several Sonoran desert toads, Couch’s spadefoots, and red-spotted toads, two black-tails, two diamond-backs, a very gravid tiger rattlesnake, and my favorite, a Chiricahua leopard frog.
The next day we headed east to Cochice County after my most wanted target of the trip.
This is habitat I’ve dreamt of seeing in person for many years.
It didn’t take too much time to locate our targets
After leaving the amazingly beautiful mountain range that provided us with a look at three twin-spotted rattlesnakes and many Yarrow’s spiny lizards, we spent another evening riding some well known roads. This evening’s efforts resulted in a desert grassland whiptail, a long-nosed snake, a Texas horned lizard, many more black-tailed rattlesnakes, two desert kingsnakes, four Mojave rattlesnakes, a huge diamond-back, and a western green toad.
Before rushing back to Phoenix so I could make it to work on time, our last morning was spent in New Mexico in a last ditch effort to locate the New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake. We had no luck with our target, but were rewarded for our effort on the drive out with this nice Sonoran Whipsnake.
My companions with the above whipsnake
Back in the valley, my friends were left to their own devices as I had to return to work. During this time they continued herping and made many more great finds that they will, hopefully, post here soon.
Before they hit the road home, I made it out one more evening with them to walk a wash in the Phoenix area. Out target this night was a speckled rattlesnake and while we didn’t hit our target, we did see we did see a couple banded geckos, a long-nose snake, five diamond-backs, and a tiger rattlesnake. It was a nice change of pace seeing these animals out in situ after all the road hunting from the previous two nights of herping.
Hopefully, this post doesn’t represent the end of my season, but if it does, I had a great first year in Arizona.
Thanks for looking,
Michael Cravens
More from the Monsoon Season
Moderator: Scott Waters
- MichaelCravens
- Posts: 223
- Joined: July 3rd, 2010, 9:05 am
- Location: Phoenix, AZ
- MHollanders
- Posts: 583
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 2:32 pm
- Location: Houston, TX
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
Yes! You have a very unique way of photographing herps with natural light/flash combinations. Great stuff!
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
Holy cow, congrats on the target species! Seemed like you just got a target in mind and completed that goal the next day! Lovin the tigers and the rock!
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
Great pics, Mike! I was hoping to be able to hit AZ again this year and knock out a couple more targets but it never ended up happening.
- MichaelCravens
- Posts: 223
- Joined: July 3rd, 2010, 9:05 am
- Location: Phoenix, AZ
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
Thank you all for the comments, they are very much appreciated!
Michael Cravens
Michael Cravens
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
Nice work, you found some great animals and did a great job photographing them. The tiger is an amazingly robust animal, it looks like a prized zoo specimen, it is just so "perfect". Thanks for posting, Vic
- MichaelCravens
- Posts: 223
- Joined: July 3rd, 2010, 9:05 am
- Location: Phoenix, AZ
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
Thanks Vic! I'm pretty sure that tiger was full of babies and about to pop.
Michael Cravens
Michael Cravens
- Curtis Hart
- Posts: 595
- Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:07 pm
- Location: Hillsdale County, Michigan
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
Looks like you're having a great time in AZ. Hopefully I make it out there while you are still there at some point.
Curtis
Curtis
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
WOW, WOW, WOW! I need to get south in a hurry! Thanks for sharing and inspiring me.
Cameron
Cameron
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
Mike,
You're still one of my favorite photographers. I've watched you work and you make it look really easy. Thanks for blowing me away. I think I'll wait to visit when I can meet your kiddo.
You're still one of my favorite photographers. I've watched you work and you make it look really easy. Thanks for blowing me away. I think I'll wait to visit when I can meet your kiddo.
Re: More from the Monsoon Season
I am lazy with the keyboard; where is the like button?
good stuff, hope to see you somewhere in the field next year.
r.edwards
good stuff, hope to see you somewhere in the field next year.
r.edwards