On our way down, still north of Hermosillo, we pulled off the road to hike around a bit.
We found our first ctenosaurs, a desert tortoise, and this very nice Sonoran coachwhip (Coluber flagellum cingulum):
Coluber flagellum cingulum (Sonoran Coachwhip) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\We got to Alamos after dark. On the way in we cruised up a pretty longnose snake and a long, thin snake that I believe was an Imantodes, but unfortunately got off the road.
Right around our hotel I found one Mexican treefrog (Smilisca baudinii) and several awesome Mexican leaf frogs (Pachymedusa/Agalychnis dacnicolor):
Pachymedusa dacnicolor (Mexican Leaf Frog) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\At 12 AM, before turning in for the night, a couple of us went out for a quick road cruise. Soon I spotted a tiny snake crossing the road:
Gyalopion quadrangulare (Thornscrub Hooknose Snake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\We also found our first beaded lizard of the trip:
Heloderma (horridum) exasperatum (Mexican Beaded Lizard) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\Early the next morning we headed up to the ranch, where we would spend the following six days.
The rest of this account isn't in chronological order, partly because that would take a long time to write out and partly because I'm having trouble remembering what we found in each day. Instead I'll show some of the better finds, along with bits of commentary.
Lots of anurans were around; I believe we documented twelve species around the ranch. Mexican treefrogs (Smilisca baudinii) were among the most common:
Smilisca baudinii (Mexican Treefrog) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\Their relatives, lowland burrowing treefrogs (Smilisca fodiens), were also out in numbers on rainy nights:
Smilisca fodiens (lowland burrowing treefrog) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\Mexican west coast indigo snakes, aka red-tailed cribos (Drymarchon melanurus rubidus), were the most conspicuous diurnal snakes around the ranch. We turned up multiple adults,and I also spotted a yearling basking high in some vegetation. Here are a couple shots of the largest one I found:
Drymarchon melanurus rubidus (Mexican West Coast Indigo Snake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\
Drymarchon melanurus rubidus (Mexican West Coast Indigo Snake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\
Drymarchon melanurus rubidus (Mexican West Coast Indigo Snake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\}
This big guy was pushing six feet in length, and had an attitude to match.
I spotted a couple Sinaloan milksnakes (Lampropeltis polyzona "sinaloae") on the crawl. Someone else in the group turned up a couple coralsnakes (Micrurus distans, which I unfortunately didn't take the time to photograph). Here's one of the milks:
Lampropeltis polyzona "sinaloae" (Sinaloan milksnake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\
Lampropeltis polyzona "sinaloae" (Sinaloan Milksnake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\I also found two cat-eyed snakes (Leptodeira splendida) our first night on the ranch. The first escaped down a crack but I was able to grab the second, larger one by making a full body dive into a deep plunge pool and plucking it off a rock face. I came back soaked but victorious:
Leptodeira splendida (Splendid Cat-eyed Snake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\This neotropical whipsnake (Coluber mentovarius) unfortunately looked to be in poor health:
Coluber mentovarius (neotropical whipsnake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\We saw several species of turtles and tortoises on the ranch, but none were cooler than the ornate wood turtles (Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima rogerbarbouri). We turned up six of these over the course of the week. Here's a young one:
Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima rogerbarbouri (Ornate Wood Turtle) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\}
One night Cody spotted this Mexican lyresnake (Trimorphodon lambda) crossing a dirt track:
Trimorphodon tau (Mexican Lyresnake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\
Trimorphodon tau (Mexican Lyresnake) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\He also found this boa constrictor wedged deep in a crack in the rock, just after I said it looked like a perfect spot for a boa:
Boa constrictor imperator in situ by wyman.jules, on Flickr\We found a decent number of beaded lizards on the trip. Here's an in habitat shot of one:
Heloderma exasperatum (Beaded Lizard) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\Last but not least, someone turned up a juvenile cantil! This was a huge goal of the trip, and an incredible snake:
Agkistrodon bilineatus (Cantil) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\
Agkistrodon bilineatus (Cantil) by wyman.jules, on Flickr\We found lots more, but those were some of the highlights for me. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!
