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

7/09/10

Today my brother, friend and I went dirt bike riding near Florence Junction on the way to Florence. It was a nice day with some cloud cover. Shortly after riding I noticed some snake tracks in the path. I made note of where they were so we could check on it on our way back. Heading on we saw two large jackrabbits running near the trail and then off into the desert. As we were riding, I noticed that the prickly pare cactus had its fruits in bloom. All year my brother and I have been waiting for them to bloom after reading that they are good to eat. So now was our chance. You have to be careful with these because they have many glochids on them, each with tons of tiny hairs that are a big nuisance if they get in your fingers. So we carefully removed one from the end of the pad. They are redish pink in color on the tops of the green pads. I cut a hole in one and squeezed the oozing liquid and seeds out into my mouth. I sucked the liquid from the many seeds and then spit the seeds out. The flavor was pretty sweet and good. Because there are so many seeds they are a little annoying but not bad. They remind me of pomegranate because of the seeds. And a good source of food if you are lost out in the desert at this time of the year. I had read that they taste like kiwis and watermelon but my brother thought they tasted like cherries. I think they all have some credence. We took three with us and headed back to the truck to put it in the cooler. 

On the way back we stopped at the snake tracks. We followed it into some holes around a creosote plant and out of another. There were three different tracks either going from a hole along the path to the desert, or the desert to a whole, or right across the trail. But there was no sign of the snake. It was most likely a rattlesnake or a gopher snake. Both would easily eat the Round-tailed Ground Squirrels in the area. After some more riding and grabbing some more prickly pare fruit to take home we called it a day.