This was the big exciting find from my day #herping in Mojave National Preserve, my first chuckwalla! Wow they do live in the desert areas I'm used to hiking in, I've never actually seen one. After finding six other species of lizards in the same morning, I decided this would be my day to find a chuckwalla.
As I was driving through the Preserve, I spotted a low, basalt escarpment above a dry wash. Everything I'd read suggested that was perfect chuckwalla habitat.
I walked a quarter mile across the desert and then down to one end of the escarpment then all the way back up to the other and then on the way back down, I saw it! This handsome critter was surveying its domain from its perch about 15 feet up the cliff. Conveniently, it posed for a while before dipping out of sight.
Based on californiaherps.com, I believe this is the Western side-blotched lizard, Uta stansburiana elegans.
Saw several of these in the rocks where I found the chuckwalla, Mojave National Preserve.
I also saw a tiger whiptail, zebra tailed lizard and lots of desert iguanas. I don't feel bad about not getting good photos of any of these, because there are tame individuals of these species in my yard in Arizona 😆
Edit: looks like the whiptail is a Great Basin whiptail, Aspidoscelis tigris tigris according to CaliforniaHerps.com, as opposed to what Tucson Herpetological Society calls tiger whiptail, Aspidoscelis tigris. 🤔
This is the first time I've ever seen zebra-tails or desert iguanas outside of town, where I guess they must be a little more used to people. These ones would bolt full sprint 50 to 100 feet away from me. The ones in town are highly skittish, but you can generally get a little bit closer to them.
If you want to see pictures of these species, just look back at the hashtags in my profile.
Another "life lizard" from my day #herping near Kelso Dunes, Mojave National Preserve. Long nosed leopard lizard. It sat there letting me photograph it for a while, then got bored and disappeared into a hole.
Today's #LizardReport is a little different because I am on a road trip. Camped out at Kelso Dunes and spent the morning herping in Mojave National Preserve.
7 species of lizard, 4 of them "life lizards"! Here's the first, Phrynosoma platyrhinos, a horned lizard. Look at that camo! They're sooo cute!
(It's intermission at a live theater performance, so I'll post more later or tomorrow in this thread.)
#LizardReport
It's been cool the last few days since I got back, but warmed up enough today that the lizards started coming back out. Still haven't seen Bill or Donna, but Cutie, the tiger whiptail, the zebratail and the white iguana came over to get fed.
While I was feeding Cutie, a big ol' bobcat strolled down the alley 30 feet away. The great horned owl, which for some reason was out during the day, hooted at the bobcat from up on its perch on the power pole.
After lunch, one of the neighborhood Harris' hawks popped a bunny rabbit right in the front yard and flew off with it.
And then just now, on my way out the front gate for a walk, I happened to look into one of the cactus clumps right next to the sidewalk. Now I know where the Western diamondback rattlesnake I saw two days ago hangs out.
And the day isn't even close to over yet!
#HerpReport
It's beeen a #MutualOfOmahasWildKingdom kind of day.
Well, today's #LizardReport it's pretty easy: no lizards. It was cool and cloudy, only into the 70s so nobody even got up. I miss them!
But, I was doing some work in the carport, turned around and saw the big gopher snake going into a little hole under the concrete slab by the back door.
This is the second rattlesnake in my yard in a few weeks, plus the one I relocated from my neighbor's yard. I've never seen one in my yard before though I've seen a couple on this block relatively close.
What I'm guessing is that this is actually a normal number of rattlesnakes, but I am seeing them now because I'm usually not here in early May, plus we had that bizarre heat wave in late March, which probably woke all the snakes up and brought them out of hibernation early. This is also probably why it feels like there are far more lizards than I've ever seen here before. I usually have to leave by late April and it's usually not this hot yet.
The fact that we had an extremely dry winter and there's virtually no annual vegetation growing anywhere probably also contributes. No plants means no flowers which means no seeds which means no food for rodents, so I'm guessing that snakes probably have to wander much further to try to find a meal.
This afternoon I was planting some cactus in the front yard and I saw the big gopher snake again, slithering along the wall…
"Gopher snake"... um... then I saw the black and white striped tail and the rattles as it emerged from behind a cactus. Another western diamondback rattlesnake!
I got my camera with the telephone lens and got a bunch of close-ups, then went back to get my snake stick and a bucket. Unfortunately the critter was behind a very spiny hedgehog cactus and pulling it out would have potentially hurt it, so I let it get away into the rock pile.
I continued about my work, and then saw it a little while later over under the pomegranate tree. Then a few minutes later I didn't see it. It's out there somewhere 🤷♂️
Given that I don't have to get under the house to do any work anytime soon, I'm not gonna worry about it.
I'll just think of it like inspector Clouseau's manservant Cato, there to keep me on my toes.
My camera shoots fascists