SW New Mexico & SE Arizona Herping

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BrandoBourassa
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Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
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SW New Mexico & SE Arizona Herping

Post by BrandoBourassa »

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on here, so let's see if I can figure out what I'm doing.

My fiance Candace, our friend Tom, and I went down to the Bootheel of New Mexico July 30-August 1, primarily hoping to photograph some Mojave rattlesnakes. Unfortunately, every scute we came across was freshly DOR. The first herp of the trip was a Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) found alongside the highway in Luna County, New Mexico.
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The only snakes we came across while road cruising in Hidalgo County, New Mexico were the standard, yet attractive SW NM atrox.
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On August 1, we met up with Michael Jacobi for an excursion into the Chiricahua Mountains in Cochise County, Arizona. Along a dirt road, we found a lifer northern green ratsnake (Senticolis triaspis intermedia), but it was moving around so much that I didn't manage to get any decent shots.
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We went up to about 8,300 ft. to look for twin-spotted rattlesnakes (Crotalus pricei) on a particular talus slope that they are known to inhabit. While climbing the slope, we couldn't help but notice the abundant food supply for the pricei. There were Yarrow's spiny lizards (Sceloporus jarrovii) all over the place.
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I finally stumbled across a pricei, but it retreated into the rocks faster than I could get a clear photo.
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We continued to search the talus slope, but all we came across was the sound of rattling descending into the depths of the slope. The highest pricei that I heard was at 8,500 ft., by far the highest altitude that I've ever observed a rattlesnake (I'm originally from Oklahoma and lived in Florida for while, not much altitude to begin with). After all of the effort and bruises we put ourselves through, Michael, who opted to avoid injuring himself on the slope, shouted from the base that he found a neonate. We stumbled to the bottom to find the neonate pricei posing perfectly on a log.
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That's pretty much it. We capped off the trip with a visit to the Chiricahua Desert Museum in Rodeo, New Mexico, which I highly recommend if you find yourself in SW New Mexico. Also, just a word of warning if you're planning to go herping in the Chiricahua Mountains. On our way down the mountain, we were pulled over by a USDA criminal investigator who apparently caught us on video at the slope. They are heavily monitoring the site to prevent illegal poaching of pricei. So just be aware that there is a good chance that you are being watched if you are tempted to manipulate the snakes in any way, or do any other illegal activities. We didn't do anything illegal, and we allowed him to search the truck, so we were able to continue on our way.
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Scott Waters
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Re: SW New Mexico & SE Arizona Herping

Post by Scott Waters »

Photobucket isn't having it. A lot of hosts are blocking usage on forums, etc. You can attach ALL of your images directly here on FHF. See the attachment option.

Scott
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BrandoBourassa
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Joined: August 3rd, 2017, 3:25 pm
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Re: SW New Mexico & SE Arizona Herping

Post by BrandoBourassa »

Scott Waters wrote:Photobucket isn't having it. A lot of hosts are blocking usage on forums, etc. You can attach ALL of your images directly here on FHF. See the attachment option.

Scott
That's strange. They show up when I look at it. The photos were too large when I tried to attach them directly. I'll see what I can do. Thanks.
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