Category: Herps

Migrating North

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date May 3, 2022

I left the Socorro area yesterday. Had a great day of birding at Bosque del Apache NWR but didn’t see anything very rare or exciting. No lifers. Some nice photos though. I headed east to Valley of Fires Recreation Area and stopped for a short walk, where I did get a lifer, an Eastern Collared Lizard. I’ve been looking for one of these for a long time. I’ve been told a good place to see them is Granite Gap, but I’ve never seen one there. I left Valley of Fire and drove north to get back on I-25 near Las Vegas. I was about 30 miles out when my phone started sounding the Civil Defense alarm and announcing evacuations of west Las Vegas and other areas due to the fires. I made it through with no problems, but the smoke was pretty bad. Last night I stayed in a free campsite on the Comanche National Grasslands (Timpas Picnic Area) near La Junta, Colorado. Now I’m near McCook, NE and should be in Pierre tomorrow, though it looks like I will be driving in rain.

It is hard to pass up a shot of a White-faced Ibis when it is offered.

My lifer herp, an Eastern Collared Lizard. This one is a female. Taken at Valley of Fires Recreation Area, New Mexico.

A Spiny Softshell Turtle basking. Bosque del Apache NWR.

This was the scene as I approached I-25 from Highway 84. Las Vegas is a few miles to the right. Taken with a 35mm lens. I would estimate the flames to be 5 miles away.

This is what it looked like with a 400mm lens. As always, right click and open in new tab or window for a larger image.

Astrophotography Herps

Back at Granite Gap

I left Ajo last week and drove to Granite Gap, just across the border in New Mexico. I planned to stay here awhile and do some astro and that has been working out OK. Otherwise, I think it is drier here than the Ajo area. There is not much vegetation that is green. There is a herd of cattle on this BLM land and I’ve been watching them eat prickly pear cactus. There is no grass for them to eat.

I’ve been adding more time to NGC 4725. I’ve lost track of the hours of exposure, but it must be around 6 or 7 by now. I think it is worth it. As always, right click on an image and open in a new tab or window for a larger image.

The larger, eliptical galaxy is M60. Eliptics by themselves are not very interesting but something else happened here. The small galaxy is NGC 4647 and what appears to be a star from our galaxy in the lower right portion is not. It is a Type 1a supernova in NGC 4647. I don’t have a before/after photo but a look at Stellarium confirms this. I read about this on Spaceweather.com and decided to try for it. Both galaxies are about 60 million light years distant in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Type 1a supernova involve a white dwarf in a binary star setting.

NGC 4753, also known as the Dust Devil Galaxy, is a lenticular galaxy in Virgo. It is known for the dust lanes that surround the nucleus. I wanted to see if I could capture those dust lanes. This is a very small galaxy and long way out there; the C8 continues to amaze me with its capabilities. The Losmandy G11 mount and the LaCerta MGen III autoguider gets a lot of credit too.

I’ve added more time to M104 too. The inner dust lanes are starting to show up.

Before I left Ajo, I went on one more night walk up Child’s Mountain Road. There, I found my 3rd Rosy Boa. It is quite fascinating to think about all the years I looked for this species and never found any and now, since last fall, I’m up to three.

There was also a Sonoran Lyre Snake. This is the only location I’ve found this species.

Bats Herps

Another Rosy Boa

A couple of nights ago I went back to Valentine Well to try for, once again, a good shot of a Townsend’s Big-eared Bat. I got no photos of that species. Bat activity at the well was pretty slow. All I got was more Yuma Myotis photos. I stayed until about 9 PM then headed back to Ajo on the Scenic Loop Road and Alley Road. As always, I was looking for snakes or whatever else might show and was pleasantly surprised with a Rosy Boa, only the second one I’ve ever seen.

The only keeper bat photo of the night was this Yuma Myotis.

Here the boa has rolled its underside up and one can see the black speckled markings there.

Astrophotography Birding Herps Photography

A Skull and a Snake, Among Other Things

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date October 12, 2021

Birding has really improved with the latest storm. Today I saw two American White Pelicans at the ponds (first time ever for Ajo) and two Lewis’s Woodpeckers at the golf course, only the second time I’ve seen that species in the Ajo area. There were three Red-necked Phalaropes at the pond too. I had one good night for astro before the storm and now the moon is getting too bright again. I am enjoying this cooler weather but will miss snake hunting, I suppose till next spring, although I did have an encounter with a snake recently.

I was checking out The Thicket for owls. I didn’t see any owls but I did come across this Coachwhip. It was close, laying there and watching me and I suppose hoping I would just go away. I have given up trying to catch this species for photography. Even if I could catch it, all they do is fight, bite, and try to get away. Not a nice snake to handle. And they are big, this one was about 5 feet long.

Zoomed out to see more of the Coachwhip, a very fast and powerful predator.

One of the two Lewis’s Woodpecker at the golf course.

A species of wild *Datura*, or Moonflower.

These wild Morning Glories are blooming by the hundreds in The Thicket.

I got about an hour on this, the Skull Nebula, NGC 246, about 1600 light years away. I have tried this before with the 500f4 but it is too small, it works much better with the C8. I am going to be adding more exposure time to this eventually. This is an interesting planetary nebula, located in Cetus. It has a central star, known as a white dwarf, that is forming the nebula, but also a second star and an even smaller third star, forming the only known planetary nebula with three central stars. None of the stars in this image are bright enough to be seen even with binoculars, the brightest is about magnitude 10.

Here is the white dwarf, cropped out of the image above. The large second star is also visible. I am pretty impressed with my Celestron C8 reflector since it can actually resolve these two stars. Not many scopes can. The third star is too small or maybe is hidden behind these stars, I don’t know. Here’s a link with more information:
Eerie Skull Nebula glows bright for Halloween | Space My little C8 can resolve the central stars just about as well as the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope! I need more exposure time for the dimmer stuff.

Astrophotography Birding Herps Photography

Eye of Sauron?

I think the heat of summer is behind me now. By next week it looks like an even more significant cool down is on the way. I’ve been getting a little bit of astro done too. I decided that I’m going to spend more time on fewer deep sky objects. I started out with the Helix Nebula. As always, one can right click on an image, open in a new tab and see a larger image.

The Helix Nebula in the constellation Aquarius. This is one of the largest and brightest planetary nebulas in the night sky but even at this latitude (32 degrees north) it only rises to about 35 degrees above the horizon, so I am shooting through lots of atmosphere. I’ve got almost 7 hours on it now (with the C8) and the faint outer bands of glowing hydrogen are starting to show up. I’ve become somewhat of a Lord of the Rings fan and I think it looks like the eye of Sauron.

My snake hunting is going OK, I’m finding lots of snakes but mostly of three species, including this one, the Long-nosed Snake. I have photographed these before but here’s a new one.

A young female Red-naped Sapsucker that let me get very close.

Herps Insects Photography

Ajo, Late Summer 2021

Last year it was way too hot to come to Ajo until later in October, but this year, it isn’t too bad, so far. The big difference is that there has been rain this summer and that helps cool the ground and keeps the surface temperature lower. Last year it was so dry that all the vegetation was brown, this year everything is green. The herping has been great, as I already verified by finding my first ever Rosy Boa. Most nights I go out and find at least a few snakes, but nearly all are Western Diamondbacks or Sidewinders. I have seen one Long-nosed Snake. At the top of the list of what I want is Tiger Rattlesnake, Speckled Rattlesnake, Western Shovel-nosed Snake, and Coral Snake, and there are more that could turn up. Arizona has 52 species of snakes! Today I found a Regal Horned Lizard, only the second one I’ve seen and the first for the Ajo area.

Regal Horned Lizard, very small so just recently hatched. The county has just repaved the road that comes out to the campground. The fresh, black asphalt makes it easy to spot snakes and lizards. I would have never seen this one otherwise. It is probably about 2 inches long. Separated from other horned lizards by the four horns on the back of the head all touching at the base.

Last night I was making a turn around on a dirt road when I saw something hopping in the shadows. I thought it was a cottontail rabbit at first but it was a giant Sonoran Toad. One has to see these to appreciate how big they are.

A Cloudless Sulphur in Alamo Canyon. There were hundreds of these big sulphurs.

This is from Granite Gap. One night I went out to look around and saw that my hummingbird feeder was overrun with Honeypot Ants. They are mostly nocturnal and they sure liked that sugar water.

Herps Photography

A Rosy Boa

I’ve been looking for one of these for a long time now. Tonight I finally found one. A nocturnal snake, this species is a constrictor that feeds on small mammals and birds. It is highly sought after by herpers because it is very docile, easy to take care of, and makes a good “pet”. I just wanted to find one and photograph it. I was walking up an arroyo that comes out of the Little Ajo Mountains and suddenly, there it was in the beam of my light, crossing the arroyo bottom. Made my day! There are two subspecies, the Desert Rosy Boa (which is more rosy colored) and this one, the Mexican Rosy Boa. Some herpetologists consider them two different species. (In my excitement last night, I forgot to mention that I am in Ajo, AZ now.)

Rosy Boas are a joy to handle, very docile and cooperative. This one was about 16 inches long.

The tongue seems small compared to other snakes, but maybe I just haven’t seen it extended very far. As always, right click on an image and open in a new tab for larger image.

Astrophotography Birding Herps Photography

Astrophotography at Datil Well

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date September 13, 2021
2 Comments on Astrophotography at Datil Well

This area of New Mexico has the darkest skies one can find anywhere in the United States. It is a great place for astrophotography but this time of year, one has to deal with the monsoon season and clouds. To top that off, the moon is getting bright again. I got in a couple of pretty good nights though. It is amazing to be out at night here and see how bright the Milky Way really is. There are lots of birds around too. I have a couple of feeders up and one hummingbird feeder. The Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jays have eaten all of my black oil sunflower seed already and there is no place to buy more. A large flock of Pinyon Jays is roaming the area and but have been difficult to photograph.

Last night I worked on the Fireworks Galaxy. I got some time on this last June in South Dakota and added it all together to produce this.

Same with the Crescent Nebula. I really need a lot more exposure to make this one look impressive but this is what I have so far.

Probably the best shot I have ever taken of a Juniper Titmouse. I have a few of them coming to my feeder. The nice perch and clean background with nice light are a tough combination to get.

There are lots of hiking trails in the hills around here. I have found two of these lizards on the trails. This is the same species of horned lizard that occurs in western South Dakota, Greater Short-horned Lizard (*Phrynosoma hernandesi*).

A close-up of one of the short-horned lizards.

As always, right click on an image and open in a new tab or window for a larger image.

Birding Herps Photography

Full Moon Days

Nothing going on here for astrophotography, the moon is too bright. Birding is still very slow and in my walks around the desert I’m not finding many flowers or butterflies. All in all, not much going on. At least the weather is nice. Many of the campers have left now, the campground is very quiet again.