Week 11 - From the Field

Week 11 found the crews split between Comanche and Cimarron National Grasslands in Kansas and Colorado, respectively. Cool weather and thunderstorms lead to many species not being detected this week, but those that move a lot with summer storms were out en force (e.g., Ornate Box Turtles)!

From the Crews:

Beth - "The North American Racer is usually a swift, active snake but the one I stumbled upon in Comanche National Grasslands hung around for a while. We startled each other in the short grass and the Racer posed uncharacteristically long enough for me to take some shots of its black eyes looking like an alien with its light green body. This is a species I was familiar with in the eastern U.S. before starting with the Reptile Monitoring Project. However, Racers in the Great Plains are not solid black in coloration like their relatives on the east coast."

Devin - "This week we switched up crews and Beth and I headed down to southern Colorado to check out survey sites in Otero County. While we were down there, we spotted a beautiful Prairie Rattlesnake sitting on the road that stayed put long enough to let us get some good voucher photos of it!"

Celina - "Texas Horned Lizards are always a delight to find. Somehow I find their almost grumpy and disapproving demeanor charming and find myself often surprised by how bright the yellow highlights on them can be in some individuals! They can be tricky to find again (for a voucher photo opp) when you see them run off the road into cover, but they tend to pose nicely once you find them again."

Jake - "Last week, I wrote about how cool it is to see severe storms from a distance... this week, we experienced the storms close up.  In SW Kansas, we had a major storm roll over us in the late afternoon, which forced us to take cover. The lightning was intense, and the rain and hail was so thick we could hardly see. I've never experienced a storm so violent. On the plus side, the rain brought out the Ornate Box Turtles in force, and we had our hands full trying to record them all! It was a truly incredible experience."