Night ride 4

9/19/2010

So I went out for another night ride on my bike looking for critters. And I must say I had a very successful evening. I was driving down Bush Hwy along the Salt River when I saw something in the road. I turned back and found this baby Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake. Very tiny. So I grabbed a stick and moved him off the side of the road. I continued on and soon came across another small snake on the shoulder. I took a picture or two before I realized it was a Mojave Rattlesnake. Now I've briefly mentioned this before, but there are about four ways you can tell the difference between a Diamond-backed and a Mojave. I know most people could care less but for those who find this interesting, here it is. The Diamond-backed is pictured above and the Mojave below. 

1. Look at the tail: They both have black and white stripes, yes, but there is a difference. The Western has roughly the same sized black and white stripes while the Mojave has smaller black stripes. Still, this can be difficult to determine by itself. 

2. Look at the head: They both have two stripes on the side of their face. One in front of the eye and one behind. The eye stripe behind is the difference. On the Western, it is more vertical and crosses the lip. On the Mojave it slants more and does not cross the lip. You can tell in the picture of the Mojave very well that this is the case. Look further in the post for the larger picture of a Western to see this feature better. 

3. Look to the Diamonds: Now it is true that they both have diamonds. Odd that only the Western is called the Diamond-backed. But if you look at the coloration of the diamonds, the Western has a "salt and pepper" look to it. The scales seem to be dark and light. In the Mojave they are a more solid color. I agree, this is not the easiest way to determine the species. 

4. Look back to the head: This one requires you to be the closest to the snakes head, which is why I don't recommend it as a determining factor. But if it's dead or something and you are checking, look at the scales on the top of the head from the eyes back. The Western DB has very small scales covering the entire head up until the eyes where it still has several scales at least between the eyes (or the supraoculars (scales above the eyes)). The Mojave has a plate like scales from its eyes back to the middle of the head. So the scales are much larger and therefore fewer in number. (Information expanded upon from my book A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles in Arizona).

I continued riding and went up to Usery Park and back. On the way back I stopped for a snake. It was a baby Gopher snake DOR unfortunately. My next stop was the Salt River parking lot by the bridge. I walked down to the river and saw what I call the Wild Horses of the Salt River. There were 6 of them including two colts that I haven't seen before. I decided to cross the bridge and hike down closer to them on the other side of the river. In total I saw between 6 to 8 skunks from the river to the parking lot. I drove across and parked and was about to place my hand down to jump over the concrete walkway railing when I saw a bark scorpion where my had was about to be placed. 

As I was making my way down to the river I kept seeing the kangaroo rats everywhere--really small ones too. As I was walking between two large trees I heard one on the right so I was looking at it and heard another one to the right. As I turned I realized it was actually a large Western DB! I took these pictures and then, as I had been wanting to taste rattlesnake, I killed it (sparing you the details). It was still moving for quite a while without the head as the muscles loosen up. So jumping ahead, I skinned it at home and prepared it for eating the next day. From an article I read, I put it in the freezer covered in salt water. This morning I thawed it out and then marinated it in Teriyaki sauce. Then this evening I grilled them and they were...quite delicious. Much better than I had imagined. Even my mom, who thought they wouldn't taste good at all, liked it. I searched for recipes but ended up just mixing a few together and it turned out well. You can find some videos on Youtube that show you how to skin them. Next time I want to tan the skin too. We'll see. And maybe make my own video showing how to skin them. 

I made my way down closer to the horses and as I was shining my light I saw a bunch of eyes at water level moving around. As I got closer I realized they were raccoons. A whole family. I never would have thought I'd see them right down at the Salt River. But there they were just fishing in the night. The horses were right behind them on a small "island" of grass. On my way home I stopped by the place where I had seen the Mojave and sure enough he had decided to cross and got run over. But I was able to get a closer look at the features that distinguish it from the Western DB such as the plates on his head. 

Evening Finds 4

9/15/2010

Let's see...13 snakes in 2 hours. That is how our night went. It started off with dove hunting as usual, though dove season just ended so no more of that for a while. As the last two shots were made by my brother before we called it quits, as the sun was going down, the snakes came out. My brother was reaching down to pick up his shell when all of a sudden he reached back and said, "Snake!" It was a baby Diamond-backed rattlesnake! (See above). Less than a foot long and maybe as thick as a dime. The snake quickly scurried back into his hole. (Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera so we took pictures and videos with our phones but they aren't very good. So I apologize for the poor quality). I headed on over to grab my backpack from where I set it down earlier, and saw another rattlesnake coiled up by his hole. Then right near my pack I saw another rattlesnake. All the same size, probably just born this summer. Going back to meet my brother I saw the same one coiled outside his hole and then just past that my brother saw another one and then another one. Five baby rattlers in all within about 20 minutes of looking and not looking. 

We continued to look. I found and injured a small lizard and we tried to feed it to a snake but it was only interested in getting away from us and back in its hole. Then I saw a Long-nosed snake in its red splotchy phase, but it went down into a hole. I put a bone next to the bush so we could look later. Then my brother yells that he found a larger rattler (See right). So I went over and it was still a young snake but much larger than the babies. Then I noticed it might be a Mojave so we checked a few features on it and decided it was. We tried to feed the lizard to it by pushing it toward the snake with a stick but the snake just struck the stick and then we let it go on its way. We decided we'd make a loop to the water hole and back and keep looking. Shortly after heading over there, we were walking and I looked down and noticed that my brother had stepped right next to a coiled up Diamond-backed rattler about the same size as the Mojave. He didn't rattle or anything. But then we prodded him into a nearby Creosote bush. We split up and kept moving. I came across another DB rattler and then saw what looked to be a dead snake or lizard in a bush. So I got a stick and poked it and dust flew off it and it ran off. It was a huge Desert Spiny Lizard. Much larger than a quarter in diameter. 

We met up again at the water hole where we had fed the DB a week before in its den. My brother didn't find the snake but at the bottom of the den he found and retrieved two baby snake sheds. Going around the corner to where we had camped before, we saw a Sonoran Desert Toad, Woodhouse's Toad, and another coiled up DB rattlesnake. As of this time that was 9 rattlesnakes and a Long-nosed snake. On this trip we were planning on catching a Desert Banded Gecko to bring home as a pet and had seen quite a few but not as big as we had wanted. Soon after that I caught a decent sized one and we started the walk out. We soon came across another Long-nosed snake of the same coloration and a larger size (See above). I grabbed it before it made it into a hole and we took some pictures of it and then tried feeding the dead lizard we had gotten earlier to it. He grabbed it, coiled up and ate it! We let him go down a hole and then found another small gecko. The snake was coming back out so we tried feeding it again. Normally we wouldn't feed snakes geckos because they are cooler but we had seen like 15 or so in the last hour. The snake didn't seem interested so it moved to the base of another bush. As it did this another snake, a baby Gopher snake, came out of the bush (See below). The Long-nosed snake then snatched the gecko very quickly and ate it. It was such a docile snake and very pretty. We continued on. 

We got back to where the baby rattlesnakes were and grabbed our packs. Then I was showing my brother where I had seen the other Long-nosed snake and sure enough, there he was heading back to the same bush. I quickly grabbed him and we tried to feed him a small gecko we had just found as well but he wouldn't take. Instead the gecko ran into a very small hole and we left as the snake followed. Right after that we saw our last snake of the night. Another baby Gopher snake heading down a hole. Just a little bigger than the previous Gopher but still very tiny and skinny. Well that just about wraps up the evening. A crazy night of snakes all in about 2.5 hours. We will definitely be checking that place some more. We would really enjoy a Long-nosed snake as a pet but we'll see. 

Evening Finds 3

9/12/2010

As we are walking to and nearing the water hole that we like to shoot near for another evening of dove hunting, I noticed something, which I thought to be a Spiny Lizard, poking its head out of a nearby hole under a Creosote bush. I walked closer and saw it was a snake head! Most likely a rattlesnake from the looks of it. I found a stick and nudged him out, which is when he started rattling a little, but he came out and curled up at the base of the bush. From there we took pictures like the following. A beautiful pose in defensive position with its tongue out. We decided that this was a Mojave Rattlesnake. Due to its greenish coloration, smaller black stripes on its tail, eye stripes following the jaw-line, and the single palette. We let him be as we went along our way only to find other hunters at the water hole so we headed back to our next favorite spot. Upon doing so we looked back for the snake and it was gone. So we carefully looked in the surrounding bushes and finally heard it rattling as it was going down into a nearby pack-rat's nest, where we left it and started hunting. 

After finishing our hunting we broke out the UV flashlight that I had just bought to look for scorpions along with our normal flashlights for snakes and such. We quickly came across 3 or more very young scorpions of which species I'm not sure. But then after circling one creosote bush we saw what were were hoping to find--a Desert Hairy Scorpion. We wanted to catch one and keep it as a pet. The bigger scorpions just seem cooler! The following are a picture of it normal and then under the black light. Now tell me that isn't cool!

After seeing many more scorpions, including two more large hairy scorpions, we made it back to our car and headed home. On the same road that we previously saw the javelina and adult rattlesnake, we came across a baby rattler. Slightly smaller than the mojave found earlier, this was a Western Diamond-backed Rattler getting ready to cross the road. So we brought our BB gun out...and helped it off the road. Here he is in strike position after being startled by my brother's quick movement. Then just after that we saw a toad on the road. We shoed it along across the road and then I consulted with my handy guide book and saw it was a Woodhouse's Toad. 

P.S. 

    Pheww! All caught up with my adventures!! :)

Night ride 3

9/11/2010

So my other brother wanted to go out herping tonight so we took the car. We went driving down Bush Hwy again but nothing was out. We stopped where we had seen the Desert Hairy Scorpion before and looked around seeing a smaller Sun Spider and this little bird (pictured above). We got really close and my brother touched its tail feathers and then a little after it flew up into the tree above. After driving for a while we stopped to hike out where we had been quail hunting before. We walked for a while and didn't see anything but the very common kangaroo rat. But then finally I came across this little guy. So I yelled to my brother that I had found a baby king snake. So he rushes over but on his way over I picked it up and realized it was a Long-nosed snake. We handled him for just a bit and then let him go on his way. That was a very nice find. Only my second live Long-nosed snake I've ever seen. We headed back to the car after a little more hiking and then back home without anything else unusual. But the snake definitely made the trip. 

Evening Finds 2

9/09/2010

Another evening hunting but with an added twist--we were spending the night out there, looking for more snakes after hunting and then hunting again in the morning. So we made our way out, keeping a careful eye out for any snakes or other animals. Saw a few lizards darting back into holes as we walked by but nothing crazy. We checked out our rattlesnake den and sure enough he was still in there. After hunting the evening we got our flashlights out and went for a late evening walk looking for animals. We brought along a BB gun to try to get a kangaroo rat to try to feed to the rattlesnake. Very quickly we saw what we at first thought to be a kangaroo rat but turned out to be a large toad. After consulting my handy-dandy field guide book I found out it was a Sonoran Desert Toad. We found there to be a whole lot of young ones all around the water hole. We put a few down the rattlesnake den but he just rattled at them and let them be. We continued on and after a short walk we came across a Desert Banded Gecko. I do prefer them over the Mediterranean House Gecko that lives around your house in the city. 

We didn't find anything else even after a short drive up and down the road nearby. But we did manage to get a kangaroo rat and so we headed back to the rattlesnake den. I pushed the dead kangaroo rat into the den with a stick and the snake went right up to it and smelled it. Then I moved it a little bit more and the snake took it. Then we preceded to film it as you can see here.

After that amazing experience we were heading back to camp to sleep and came across another gecko. That finished out our night pretty well. The morning went by without any animal sitings but we had a good hunt as well.

Evening Finds 1

9/08/2010

What started out as an evening of dove hunting turned into a night of animals to find. While hunting near a water hole, I came across a hole in the ground. I thought it might be a den for some small animal but I wasn't sure. Then I looked further in and a rattlesnake started rattling at me! It was a young Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake. We looked at it for a while but then the dove started flying so we let him be for the night. After we finished hunting we were heading back to our car when we came upon a 4.5 foot long Gopher snake lying in a ditch all spread out. It shook its tail against the ground trying to imitate a rattlesnake. It also hissed and posed in a striking position just like a rattlesnake. And with its splotchy pattern it also can look similar to a rattlesnake which is why some people kill them just because they are scared. We put a dead dove down to see if he would eat it. He looked interested several times but just wouldn't take it. I touched it a few times but he kept turning around and hissing. But finally I was able to pick him up and he let me handle him. So my brother and I each held him and then let him climb up into a tree where he stayed as we left.

As we got on the road we soon saw a dead javelina in the middle of the road so we moved it off to the side. We had been by that road 3 hours earlier so it had just happened and probably within 2 hours. Rigor mortis hadn't set in yet so we were pretty sure it hadn't been too long. But we kept going. Just past that a ways was a dead rattler on the side of the road. It looked as if someone had already drug it to the side of the road and cut off the rattle. It was a fairly large Western Diamond-backed rattlesnake.

Springerville

This weekend we went up to visit our family just across the boarder near Springerville. Our little cousins love to catch horny toads. This is one of them. Actually a Greater Short-horned Lizard. Next we caught a Ornate Tree Lizard. It was male as can be seen from the bright coloration on the belly. After a night ride on the quad, we got back to the house and found this toad on the ground. It turns out to be most likely a Mexican Spadefoot. We also saw some Elk coming in on the dirt roads. One bull at least out of three that we saw. 

Night ride 2

8/29/2010

A few days before this I went out riding my bike at night down Bush Hwy to look for animals. This is known as herping (Herping is a term often used by professional and amateur Herpetologists to signify searching for reptiles or amphibians), Though I was in look for any kind of night animals. I really wanted to find some snakes. So I set out and unfortunately my battery in my camera shortly thereafter ran out so I don't have any pictures from that ride, but I do have stories. I saw many kangaroo rats and rabbits along the dirt trails just past the B-line on Bush Hwy. I stopped to look at a rat that just ran across the road and a rabbit hopped out of a bush and hopped directly at me while my bike was still on and light shinning right at it. So I just sat there and watched it slowly hop away. I drove down to Butcher Jones at Saguaro lake and saw a skunk so I sat and watched it eat an entire prickly pear fruit, then wander off into the trees. And last and not least I saw a deer on the side of the road. It was a nice mule deer buck with velvet still on the antlers. Probably a 3X3 or 4X4. I couldn't quite tell as it bounded back into the desert away from the road and my lights. 

A few days later my brother came out with me on his scooter. Boy did we get to see a lot this trip. Before we even got to the salt river we saw a snake on the road. Unfortunately, like others that night, it was DOR (dead on the road). It was a nice sized California King snake as you can see from the picture. We took this trip to see animals of any kind, whether live or dead, and also use it to clean up the roads. We moved anything we found on the road off of it so that it wouldn't get any more desecrated by cars and make a mess. We got back on our bikes and immediately turned around after seeing something small on the road. It was a Praying Mantis up close and personal. Just past the first salt river parking area we found another snake on the road. This one was also DOR and so we moved it off and got a picture. This was a Long-nose Snake. These look similar to the king snakes but have some distinguishing characteristics. These have black bands on white but the bands do not wrap all the way around the belly. There are also white or cream patches on the sides of the black bands near the belly. This one happened to still have some of its red in it from that phase. They can become even more blotchy with more red and less of a noticeable stripe system. 

Next on the list we saw a coyote on the side of the road running off into the desert and just down the road found a young coyote pup DOR unfortunately. The poor little thing. But we were able to get it off the road so it wouldn't be run over any more. And along with that we saw a dead Javelina. This is the 3rd javelina I've seen DOR along Bush Hwy. It is a heavy crossing area for them on either side of Saguaro lake there. We noticed a scorpion traveling across the road so we stopped and after a shot time were able to find it again. It was a Giant Desert Hairy Scorpion. Our plan now is to find at least one of these and keep it as a pet. We could put in a black light to turn on at night seeing as they are florescent under those lights--a neon blue. We saw several more skunks down by Butcher Jones area and headed home. Coming back out we saw something small once more crossing the road. It was what I believe to be a Camel Spider (Upon further research I found that this is called either a Sun Spider or a Windscorpion). A creepy-looking little bug. 

Then we neared the spot where I moved the Long-nosed Snake off the road and it was back on the road!! Another animal must have moved it back on. Then not 20 yards away, as we were driving away, we saw another snake. A live snake! It was another king snake similar to the first but slightly smaller. It crossed the road and went off into the trees. A great end to a great night. 

Dirt Bike Riding: Florence Junction 2

8/13/2010

We went back to the same location between Florence Jct. and Florence to do some more trail riding. Along the way we stopped to gather some more prickly pear fruit. I've mentioned them before and they are very good to just eat out on the go, though kind of tedious to get around the little glochid spines. This time I wanted to try to make something out of them so before we went out I gathered a few recipes found online and decided I needed at least 20-30. We gathered them and kept riding. At home I made a very good dessert dish that everybody thoroughly enjoyed. The following is the recipe I found and used to make this dessert. There are different ways to prepare the prickly pear juice that I've found but I kind of combined a few and did it my own way. I sliced the ends off so I would have something to touch with no glochids. Then I sliced off the skin with a serrated knife so there were no glochids left on. Then gathered them all in a bowl and put them in the blender. I blended it so that there were no more chunks. I suppose some water could be added though they are juicy enough to blend up nicely. Then strain the broken up seeds out and there is your juice to use in the recipe. Next I want to try cookies and jelly, and of course this dessert again. 

Desert Dream Delight

1. Crust: 1 cup flour

1 stick butter

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix together and press in 9" x 13" pan.Bake at 350 degrees F until brown. Let cool and add second layer.

2. Mix: 8 oz cream cheese

1 cup poudered sugar

1 cup Cool Whip (large carton)

Spread evenly over cooled crust.

3. Boil: 1-1/2 cup prickly pear juice

1-1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix 1/2 cup corn starch and 1/2 cup water to make a smooth paste, add to boiling mixture gradually, stirring constantly. Cook until thick and remove from the heat. Combine 4 beaten eggs and 1/2 cup lemon juice. Stir into mixture. Return to heat and cook stirring constantly until it bubbles. stir in 4 tablespoons butter. Remove from heat, cover, and cool until lukewarm. Pour over cream cheese layer. Spread evenly. Top with remaining Cool Whip.

--Nancy Hutto   

As we continued to ride I stopped abruptly when I saw a white lizard run between bushes. I got off my bike and pulled out my camera hoping to get a shot of what could have been a Desert Iguana. I noticed it stopped and realized it was just a Zebra-tailed lizard. A species that is much more white than the pictures and previous lizards I had seen. Can you spot it in the picture above? The picture to the right is a close-up of the lizard. While I was looking at this lizard my brother and friend noticed another and followed it into a pronghorn cholla. I came over and snapped the following picture. It was a Desert Spiny Lizard. It's amazing how their armor scales protect them so well they just run along on cactus spines. 

Animals of Prescott

8/6-9/2010

This weekend I went up to a camp in Prescott with my friend's church for a nationwide conference. While up there I had a few run-ins with different kinds of animals, some that I have never seen before which was exciting. On the first day I was walking around the camp with a friend and as we were nearing the cabin at the edge of the property, he yelled, "What is that!!" There was a short snakish thing scurrying toward a hole under the cabin. I immediately ran at it and stopped it from going under. Then we got some pictures of it and noticed it had tiny legs. My first thought was a skink, but then I remembered another similar lizard that had another name but I couldn't think of it at the time. After that I got my reptile book out and found it to be the Madrean Alligator Lizard. 

That night in the cabin a large beetle was wandering around. I got some pictures of it, the rhinoceros beetle. Then I went outside and saw a skunk off in the distance. I ran inside, grabbed my camera, and followed the skunk through the forest, taking some pictures as I went. 

The next day I was wandering around the forest where the alligator lizard had been when I heard a squirrel barking at me and making lots of noise up in a tree a little ways away. I kept walking and it stopped. Then I went back to the same spot and it went crazy again. Every time I walked on this little plot of land it would yell at me. My guess is he hid something there or I was near 'his' tree. On the last night a few of us were left gathered around the camp fire at the amphitheater. Then I saw something scurrying under the top bench. So I went up and it was a tiny mouse. So I followed it taking pictures until it stopped and then  I got the following one of it.