Category: Herps

Bosque del Apache NWR

I’m in the Bosque del Apache Birders RV park again. I paid for two nights. I’m doing pretty good on the birds I wanted to get here. I investigated a new place, Water Canyon in the Cibola National Forest about 15 miles west of Socorro. I’ve always wanted to check it out but I’m always towing the camper when I go by and I never want to explore strange Forest Service roads with the Scamp following me. It is actually OK for small campers, there is a campground and there are several dispersed camping sites. Located fairly high in the Magdalena Mountains (almost 7000 ft. elevation), it would be cool place to spend the summer sometime. It is pine forest with some spruce, and lower down juniper and pinyon pine. A small stream runs in the canyon.

Here’s a bird I’ve been hunting for, a Rufous-crowned Sparrow. I found two in The Box Recreation Area, west of Socorro.

I got several Mountain Chickadees in Water Canyon.

Also in The Box, a colorful Greater Earless Lizard. I haven’t seen one this vivid since my trip to Big Bend National Park.

I got a Whimbrel at Bosque del Apache, along with a lot of other birds. Here’s my eBird checklist with more photos. I’ve added 13 species to my year list since arriving here. Now at 245, compared to 154 at this time last year. My best birds were White-tailed Kites and this Whimbrel, both are species I’m not too likely to see again this year.

A 1st spring male Bullock’s Oriole at the visitor center.

Also at the visitor center, a Twin-spotted Spiny Lizard. I saw one of these last spring at Valley of Fire, but this is a much better photo.

I found this female Painted Bunting just across the highway from the visitor center. Not the best photo but good enough for eBird, which declares it rare here.

A flock of Phalaropes, there are two Red-necked Phalarope in the
bunch, can you pick them out? The answer is in my eBird checklist media notes.

Flowers and Plants Herps

Texas Horned Lizard

After all the miles of hiking around Granite Gap area, looking for lizards (and especially lifer herps!) I have never found a Texas Horned Lizard. This morning, I went to Lordsburg for groceries and gas and on the return trip took the road to Animas from I-10. About ten miles down the road, there was an odd looking lizard on the road, so I turned around and slowly approached it. It was a Texas Horned Lizard! Fortunately, State Highway 338 has very little traffic and I was able to take photos from the truck. I wanted to take more photos in a natural setting but when I parked the truck on the side of the road and started walking toward it, the lizard scooted off into some thick brush and I lost it.

And here it is. The light stripe down the center of the back is diagnostic, as is the arrangement of the occipital horns. There are also two rows of abdominal fringe scales.

Another angle. Over its range, Texas Horned Lizards are not doing well. The species has disappeared from nearly half of its original range.

Also along that road, I found several of these plants, Davis Mountains Mock Vervain, *Glandularia pubera*. Since the Davis Mountains are in Texas, it seems to fit with a Texas Horned Lizard. I can find no interesting facts about this plant.

Birding Herps Insects

Some More Photos

I’m still at Granite Gap. I’ve been making trips down to Cave Creek and the Paradise area. My bird list for 2024 keeps growing, now at 225, compared to 155 at this time last year. I’ve been doing some astro too, I’m working on a very faint planetary nebula called Abell 35. It is not ready to show just yet.

An Elegant Trogon I found in the South Fork of Cave Creek. I could hear it calling in a grove of oaks but couldn’t see it. Suddenly it flew out and landed right in front of me.

A female Arizona Woodpecker at the George Walker House in Paradise. I also got a Juniper Titmouse and a Band-tailed Pigeon, both of which were new for the year.

An Olive-sided Flycatcher that I got on my walk this morning, also new for the year. This was at Granite Gap.

Also from my walk this morning, a Round-tailed Horned Lizard. I’m still looking for the Texas Horned Lizard. I got pretty excited at first when I found this one, but it turned out to be a Round-tailed.

A Striped Plateau Lizard. These are common in the Chiricahua Mountains and Peloncillo Mountains, but are not found anywhere else in the United States.

Butterflies have been hard to find, other than the usual Checkered Whites and a few other species. This morning I got this Elada Checkerspot, I haven’t seen this species for a long time.

Birding Flowers and Plants Herps

On the Road Again

I left Ajo last Monday and drove to the Empire Ranch, also known as Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. It has been several years since I’ve stopped there. I spent 3 days birding in the Empire Gulch, Box Canyon, Madera Canyon, and the Patagonia area. I picked up a lot of birds that I haven’t seen for years, but the photography wasn’t very good. Some of the best birds were Thick-billed Kingbird, Berylline Hummingbird, Violet-crowned Hummingbird, many Gray Hawks, several Zone-tailed Hawks, and an Arizona Woodpecker, among many other species. Here are a few eBird checklists: Box Canyon, Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, Madera Kubo Lodge, Patagonia Blue Haven Rd., Pattons, and Empire Gulch. I’m trying to live up to my New Year’s Resolution, to pick up as many species as I can this year. So far, I’m at 191 species, compared to 145 at this time last year. Now, I’m at Granite Gap. I plan to continue birding in as many places as I can get to for the next few days, then focus on astrophotography.

Just before leaving Ajo, I got this photo of a pair of Western Screech-Owls, one with a Western Banded Gecko.

A Sidewinder I found by my camper one night after returning from owling, still in Ajo.

A male Wilson’s Warbler in Empire Gulch.

A Chihuahuan Meadowlark at Empire Ranch. Formerly considered a race of the Eastern Meadowlark, now it is a full species.

Cliff Fendlerbush, *Fendlera rupicola*. Whole hillsides displayed this shrub in flower in Box Canyon.

I had just drove though the gate into Granite Gap when this Gila Monster crossed the road in front of me. My first one this spring.

Herps

Return of the Long-tailed Brush Lizards

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 20, 2024
4 Comments on Return of the Long-tailed Brush Lizards

Readers may remember my first encounter with a Long-tailed Brush Lizard, about this time last spring. The story is at this LINK. I have been sort of looking around for more the last week or so but could not find any. Yesterday, I decided to take a better look around. After an hour of searching creosote bushes in vain, I switched to looking at some of the larger trees along the washes. Finally, after over two hours of searching I found one in a Cat’s Claw Acacia. It was immobile and perfectly blended into the bark. After taking a bunch of so-so photos (the lizard was almost inaccessible due the thorns), I tried again this morning. With a search image and a better idea of where to look, I started finding more, ending up with four.

My favorite, a displaying male. There was a female nearby. Too bad that one stick got in front of it.

The female, mouth open. To get the entire tail in the image results in this. I rotated it to horizontal.

I took over 100 images this morning! To avoid the effects of the harsh sunlight, I used flash and stopped down to f19.

A good view of the dorsal scales, there are six rows of enlarged scales running down the center of the back, diagnostic of Long-tailed Brush Lizard.

Last one, for now. It is very difficult to get a catchlight in the eye of lizards in general. Flash helps but they have to turn their head just right to get it. A catch light brings the eye to life.

Birding Herps

More Elf Owls and a Mohave Rattlesnake

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 16, 2024
1 Comment on More Elf Owls and a Mohave Rattlesnake

Last night, Vikki and Mark went out looking for owls with me. It sure helps to have someone along who can hear! They can hear Elf Owls far beyond my range of hearing. We ended up hearing four and seeing three. I got perhaps one of my best photos ever of an Elf Owl. Sometimes I think maybe my favorite is simply the most recent, it is hard to pick. At any rate, I’m already thinking about next years photo show here in Ajo!

Here’s the best one I got. These little owls aren’t really that difficult to photograph if one uses a good flash on manual exposure. They usually sit still long enough to get focus and shoot. They are only about 6 inches long. We located one pair that appear to be using a cavity in a Saguaro.

A Mohave Rattlesnake I saw on the road near my camper this morning. First Mohave I’ve seen this spring.

Although very similar to a Western Diamondback, Mohaves are generally more greenish yellow in color. The supraoculars (the large uplifted scale over each eye) are separated by two scales, diagnostic of Mohave Rattlesnakes. This species has large venom yields and very potent neurotoxins, making it one of the more dangerous rattlesnakes.

Astrophotography Birding Flowers and Plants Herps Photography

April in the Sonoran Desert

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 6, 2024
2 Comments on April in the Sonoran Desert

It has been a very cool spring. I actually had frost on the truck this morning! Normally by now we would be seeing highs in the low 90’s. It looks like that will be coming next week. The Ajo area got another inch of rain too. Birding is starting to pick up, just in the last few days, Franklin’s Gulls, Vaux’s Swift, Swainson’s Hawk, and lots of White-faced Ibis have been showing up. I have a lot of new photos to post.

This is NGC 4216, the Silver Streak Galaxy. I have imaged this before (in 2021, see inset), but I wanted to do it again because of a type Ia supernova that recently occurred. It was actually reported back in January but it is still bright enough to show up. All of the nuclear firepower on Earth would seem like a firecracker compared to this Ia supernova, the explosion of a white dwarf. The supernova is marked with two red lines.

This is NGC 4450, a galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, about 50 million light years out there. It is small from our vantage point in the universe, but it is about 70,000 light years in diameter.

Here is Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks (2024), again. It is getting low in the west but still high enough to photograph. It is easy to see with binoculars. I used a 200mm lens this time, hoping to get more of the long tail. It didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, probably due to being only about 10 degrees above the horizon and some stiff wind I had to deal with.

There was another rocket launch from Vandenberg SFB last week. For this one I used longer focal length (135mm). It worked out very well with the sunset. Right click and open in a new window for a larger view. Mercury is seen just above the exhaust in the center, and the booster can be seen falling away from the rocket in the upper left.

In this image the booster is seen in the exhaust plume. Nearer to the rocket are two bright objects that are the jettisoned halves of the protective payload shroud (nose cone), according my message from Launch Alert. It is amazing what can be seen from 500-600 miles away. There is another launch scheduled for tonight.

This morning Vikki and I were birding around Highway Tank when we found this Coachwhip. It climbed up into a bush and I got this photo. First one of the spring for both of us!

Last week, while watching some gulls at Lake Ajo, I noticed they suddenly went on alert, so I looked up and saw this Peregrine Falcon flying around the ponds.

Also from last week, a Lark Bunting at Highway Tank (there were two of them). First ones I’ve seen all winter and first of spring!

This spring there is a lot of this in flower, *Eriastrum diffusum*, Spreading Woolstar.

Dainty Desert Hideseed, *Eucrypta micrantha*. I could add many more plant photos but this will do for now!

Bats Flowers and Plants Herps Mammals

Some More First of Spring

Temperatures are rising and is so is herp activity. I made a trip out to Valentine Well one night but bats weren’t very active, I only got one good shot. The weather forecast shows another warm day today and Saturday, followed by a rapid cool down.

Yesterday I saw three Western Diamondbacks.

I also found two Goode’s Horned Lizards.

Last night, Vikki Jackson and I checked out the pond at the golf course. There were lots of bats flying around, but the best find was breeding Great Plains Toads. One has to be there to appreciate how loud these toads are. The sound is deafening at close range.

The only bat I’ve been able to photograph so far, at Valentine Well. I am not convinced that these bats are Yuma Myotis, but that seems to be the consensus at iNaturalist.

It is mating season for Black-tailed Jackrabbits too, and they are often seen moving around in daytime now.

Bluedicks, or Desert Hyacinth, are blooming profusely now. This plant is in the Asparagus family. Many species of wildlife and Native Americans use the root (known as a corm) for food.

Desert Wishbone, a flower with a nice drop of nectar at the base of the anthers. In the Four-o’clock family, the flowers open at night and only last one day. The common name comes from appearance of the forked and white-bleached year old stems.

Desert Lotus, or Desert Bird’s Foot Trefoil. The flowers are tiny, the plant forms low mats.

Astrophotography Flowers and Plants Herps

Another Comet and Few More Photos

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date March 14, 2024

Last night I finally got the 500 f4 pointed to Comet 12P/Pons Brooks. This is the comet that the media has somehow come up with the name of Devil Comet, due to its odd shape earlier this year. All the hype aside, it is a bright comet right now and can be seen with binoculars low in the west after sunset. 12P/Pons Brooks is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years. I thought I was going to have a hard time with it since the moon was quite bright, but it turned out to be quite easy to process.

I think if the moon hadn’t been so bright I could have got more of the tail, but I’m pretty happy with this. This is the result of 27 twenty-second exposures stacked in Deep Sky Stacker comet mode.

Emory’s Rock Daisy is quite common now, rocky slopes are loaded with it.

I haven’t seen much Owl Clover this spring. It is one of my favorite desert flowers, and had to photograph this one.

My first Desert Spiny Lizard of the spring, out getting warmed up in the morning sun.

Birding Flowers and Plants Herps

Back in Ajo

I left Granite Gap on Monday and drove to Ajo. Before next week is over I may wish I had stayed at Granite Gap, it is going to get hot again! I suppose I will survive. I’m glad I came here though, last night we got a California Kingsnake, a species that I’ve only seen dead on the road once before. This one was smaller and easily photographed and handled. Birding has been pretty good too. There is an invasion of Red-breasted Nuthatches, and they are turning up in places where the species has never been reported, like Ajo. Previous to yesterday, there were no eBird records of Red-breasted Nuthatch in the Ajo area, I’ve now seen three.