My daughter is graduating from UA in May, and wanted to get a couple of hikes in and hopefully some pictures of your wonderful herps (Gila please???). How is mid-May generally speaking? I pretty much do my herping while hiking the parks; any strategies for time-of-day?
Last time I was out in April '13 I was pretty much skunked ... hiked Sabino Canyon and catalina St park.
Thanks
Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
Moderator: Scott Waters
- Jeffreyrichard
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- Southwest wanderer
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Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
I have lived in and explored extensively southern AZ for about 22 years. I've never actually been able to find Gila Monsters intentionally. I have just seen them randomly, and usually just a couple each year. Obviously you will want to do early mornings and nighttime searches in May. I think activity might drop off after 10 am. You mentioned Sabino Canyon, and that seems like an area I would explore further.
Best of luck to you.
Janine McCabe
Best of luck to you.
Janine McCabe
Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
This is a good question. I will be in Phoenix at the end of March and again in April. Are these good months for herping in Arizona? I am hoping to have a day off where I can drive south and herp.
Bart
Bart
Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
I'm not an Arizona native but I try to go there once or twice a year, and I've had good luck on both April and May trips. Of course sometimes cold snaps can still happen at that time in the year and completely ruin your week. On average I've found nights to still be a bit cold for heavy of snake activity, but mornings and evenings are plenty active for lizards and diurnal snakes, and there will still be some nocturnal snake activity in the late evening and early night.
Sabino Canyon is great for everything, I've seen Gilas there in May, and April-May seems to be peak collared lizard season if you're into them. I'd strongly recommend this book for more information. The eastern portion of Saguaro National Park is just as good.
For Gilas I've encountered them a lot more often road-crusing than hiking, they have such large home ranges you generally can't cover enough area on foot. Either way finding one is definitely more luck than skill. Check out my 2014 roundup thread in the main forum for some pictures from my Arizona trip last April.
Sabino Canyon is great for everything, I've seen Gilas there in May, and April-May seems to be peak collared lizard season if you're into them. I'd strongly recommend this book for more information. The eastern portion of Saguaro National Park is just as good.
For Gilas I've encountered them a lot more often road-crusing than hiking, they have such large home ranges you generally can't cover enough area on foot. Either way finding one is definitely more luck than skill. Check out my 2014 roundup thread in the main forum for some pictures from my Arizona trip last April.
Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
Cool, thanks!
Bart
Bart
- Brian Hubbs
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Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
Hmmm...did I just see a number of people violate the "no mention of specific localities" rule? Tsk, tsk on all of you...
- Southwest wanderer
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Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
Actually I have a couple aces up my sleeve.
Let me see if I understand this correctly…
A. Hubbs is just being sarcastic
B. We just exploited Sabino Canyon & Saguaro National Park (over 91,000 acres)
Run Gilas run!
Jefferyrichard I do hope you get to see a Gila Monster, I really do. Sometimes it just takes a very magical kind of day. I see them so rarely, so when I do I just tend to drop everything and follow them around a bit if they are cool with that. You will see cool herps, and if you want any road cruise ideas you can PM me.
Janine
Let me see if I understand this correctly…
A. Hubbs is just being sarcastic
B. We just exploited Sabino Canyon & Saguaro National Park (over 91,000 acres)
Run Gilas run!
Jefferyrichard I do hope you get to see a Gila Monster, I really do. Sometimes it just takes a very magical kind of day. I see them so rarely, so when I do I just tend to drop everything and follow them around a bit if they are cool with that. You will see cool herps, and if you want any road cruise ideas you can PM me.
Janine
- Brian Hubbs
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- Location: "Buy My Books"-land
Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
I was just making a sarcastic statement because last year there was a huge bruhaha about someone mentioning the same locality, which could be called the "Whitewater" of AZ...
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Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
Jeffrey, Catalina State Park is better than Sabino Canyon, in my opinion, especially if it's Gilas you're after. I don't make it down there too often, but I've probably seen 6-8. Go in April (mid-May might be fine) between 8am - noon. Find some good washes and walk slowly, constantly scanning. I often hear them before I seen them, thanks to the leaf litter and dried grasses. Careful not to step on WDBs!
- Jeffreyrichard
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Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
My wife and I visited Tucson for the 1st time in 2013 ... my daughter took us up to Sabino Canyon for a hike up to see the 7 Sisters. Wasn't a herping walk, but of course I was looking. We got up to the waterfalls, and there was a family up there that was probably 15 minutes in front of us ... my daughter went over to talk to the young boys, and they showed her pics of 2 g monsters they saw on the trail ... 15 minutes in front of me! That hurt ...Southwest wanderer wrote:Actually I have a couple aces up my sleeve.
Jefferyrichard I do hope you get to see a Gila Monster, I really do. Sometimes it just takes a very magical kind of day. I see them so rarely, so when I do I just tend to drop everything and follow them around a bit if they are cool with that. You will see cool herps, and if you want any road cruise ideas you can PM me.
Janine
- Southwest wanderer
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Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
Oh my goodness, OUCH! That does hurt. I'll tell you, I 've missed a lot of badass snakes by a few minutes. Just keep coming back. Keep doing more hikes. Something new will always present itself. That is what I love so much about Arizona.
J9
J9
- Jeffreyrichard
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Re: Visiting (again) Tucson from the East in Mid May
So I'm heading to Tucson tomorrow (Wed) ... if anyone has any updated suggestions I'd joyously accept them ... wish me luck, I hope to "bag" a camera full of herping memories