I Like Pigeons Because Nobody Else Does

I’ll get right to the point:

Crotalus ruber - Red Diamond Rattlesnake

This was the highlight of the trip for me. We’ve spent a lot of time hiking in desert areas for the last year and have not found a rattlesnake, to my great disappointment. Our trip this week to Valle Vista resulted in not one, but two excellent sightings. I found the individul pictured above sheltering himself from the blistering sun inside someone else’s burrow. He posed for a few minutes before retreating to the bowels of the burrow.

This morning Jim and I were photographing insects and spiders in an area filled with shrubbery and sunflowers when he suddenly yelled that there was another snake directly in front of him. This time we got the full show – hissing, rattling and strike position:

Crotalus ruber - Red Diamond Rattlesnake

This animal did everything in its power to avoid us and unless we did something idiotic, we were in no danger of being bitten. If you want to read an account and see some seriously gnarly pictures of what happens to people who get bit by rattlesnakes, check this out.  Seeing these snakes really makes a person think a little bit more about where they step and what they grab.

I got a lot of good shots on the trip. But I’m tired and will post more later on.

This snake was beautiful

My friend Suzanne has a desert tortoise for a pet. That’s her on the left. Not Suzanne…the tortoise.

Big week coming up. Gene is leaving on Sunday for a week to get grilled in job interviews. He has two in Pennsylvania and one in New Hampshire.  One of the practices sent him an itinerary which details almost 12 hours in hell; interviews with 12 different people that includes a lunch and dinner. How long does it take to decide if someone’s a turd or not? Like 30 seconds?

Phil, Jim Spider (that’s certainly not his real name. He’s our spider expert) and myself are off on Monday before dawn to do the next segment of the San Jacinto survey. You can see where we’ll be – click here to go to a Google map. We’ll be working in the area North of Florida Avenue and Idylwild National Forest Highway. Due to permitting issues, the mammal crew is not going, unfortunately. In light of their absence we’ll only be spending three days at the site…in a hotel. I was hoping to return with stories of how we battled dehydration, scorpions, rattlesnakes and harvester ants in the 100°F+ desert heat like real explorers, but we were denied camping priveleges at the only available site, so a nearby hotel is our only option unless we want to be cited for squatting or vagrancy. Bummer. It’s just not the same with luxury accomodations.

Our next site is about 20 miles from the last, at the edge of the town of Hemet. If I remember correctly, our survey area abuts an orange grove so we can most likely expect a significant difference in species from that of the 1908 expedition’s results. We’ve expanded the scope of our invertebrate sampling, so Jim and I will be spending most of our time assessing the smaller members of the Valle Vista area. Phil will be doing birds, so we’ll help him also.

Sewing fans, the leopard dress is done…and meow! Anyone know where I can get a pair of white go-go boots? Wouldn’t that look swank?! I am thrilled with the results, as you can see in this abysmal photo. The pattern was a good choice for difficult fabric. Too bad I don’t ever go anywhere that requires one to drape themselves in polyester leopard print.

I pulled the car into the garage yesterday and when I got out I found this beautiful alligator lizard on the floor.  He was quite cold so it was easy for me to catch him. With lizard in hand, I single-handedly changed the lens on my camera and posed him on a card table with my right. He was warmed up after only a couple of shots and took off at what seemed like the speed of light. Afterwards, I read this on the internet and considered myself lucky that he hadn’t felt threatened enough to let me have it:

Alligator Lizards aren’t easily intimidated by humans, and, while not poisonous, can inflict a painful bite. They have an ornery disposition and if you decide to catch one, expect to pay the price.

The “multicarinita” in its Latin name means “many keeled”. You can see that its back scales are heavily keeled much like its namesake, the alligator:

Last Saturday when I was out taking the photographs in the previous post, I saw a snake. I was concentrating on a stinkbug for about 10 minutes when I heard a rustling sound at my feet. I looked down and saw a coiled snake about 10 or 12 inches from my foot. Being a snake lover, my immediate reaction was to try and snap a photo.  But the snake moved away just as I was in position to snap the camera’s shutter and I only got this lame shot of its tail:

I wondered if it was a mamushi (Gloydius blomhoffii), but figured it unlikely that I would be so lucky as to see one right outside our apartment building and on this base. But, with a shred of hope, I emailed the photo to Yabushita-san. He confirmed for me today that it was indeed a mamushi!

The mamushi is a venemous pit viper that is found in Eastern Russia, China and, of course, Japan. Although death by mamushi is rare, it does happen on occasion. Out of the 3000 people typically bit each year, only 10 of those die. 

How thrilling to know that such an exciting creature is living under the noses of so many people here and they’ll never know it!