Southern Arizona

 Where do I even start?

I can write about southern Arizona’s incredible herp diversity, or I can write about the stunning landscape - saguaros, sky islands, and epic sunsets.

But I think I’d like to start by touching on something I’ve thought a lot about the older I get, a deep appreciation and respect for all of the wonderful people I’ve met in the last few years who have taken the time to share their passions with me.  Who have taken precious time out of their schedules to introduce me to their neck of the woods.  Who have housed and fed me and sacrificed mileage on their vehicles for me.  I like to think that I sufficiently express my utmost gratitude to those people, but I’m not sure I do.  I do get caught up in novel moments - witnessing natural wonders for the first time or experiencing euphoria as we crest a mountain together or even dodge Africanized bees (I’ll get to that).  So as much as I say “thank you”, and as much as I insist on paying for gas (and gas station food), I’m left feeling like I’ve taken advantage of others.  I think that’s just a baseless mental thing on my end - but the feeling nevertheless endures.  On this trip, the experiences I had with my gracious hosts were unforgettable, and our cameraderie was unquestionably the highlight of the trip.

I knew I wanted to visit southern Arizona before I turned 40.  The idea had been in the back of my head for a couple years and lately I knew I was cutting it close.  I haphazardly booked my flight and rental car but really had no direction as to where to stay or where to go once there (tip:  don’t do that).  I reached out to a few of my friends who either live in or have visited the region for assistance, and though I received some much-needed herping tips, I was still left scratching my head in regards to where I’d stay.  During a consultation with a good friend of mine, he mentioned a mutual acquaintance (actually an old friend and colleague but to that point only an online acquaintance of mine at best) who moved to southern Arizona some years ago following retirement - John Murphy.  I then reached out to John, looking for suggestions on places to stay in the area.  With no questions asked, he offered his place south of Tucson.  I accepted his offer and within days I was on a plane to Arizona.

When I arrived at John’s place, I was immediately struck by how passionate the man was about herps.  I was long familiar with his book, Tales of Giant Snakes:  A Historical Natural History of Anacondas and Pythons (1997), and I was aware of some of his other books and various herpetological endeavors, but his entire home is an ode to herpetology.  His wife was most hospitable, and his dog was very friendly as well.  After a brief settling in, John and I were off to Madera Canyon, a modern-day Shangri-La amid the Santa Rita mountains.  I quickly felt like Madera Canyon could be on my top three most beautiful places I’ve ever known.

We hiked for a number of hours before heading back to the house for dinner.  As the sun began to set, we geared up for road cruising.  We road cruised for several hours that first night, enjoying a most productive evening and sharing some stories.  Sadly, but expectedly, we found a lot of dead-on-road (DOR) animals, but also some live ones too, for which we’d stop to move off the road.

The next morning, John decided to take me on a hike through a high-quality stretch of desert adjacent to his house that is very infrequently visited by humans.  It was warm, but overcast, so our herp expectations were tempered.  Still, being able to hike several miles through such a beautiful yet unforgiving place made me feel oddly privileged.  We returned to the Jeep, my boots, socks, and pants covered in really sharp seeds of some desert plant that make walking uncomfortable.  Tip - everything in the desert wants to stab you, so be prepared.

Our next destination was Saguaro National Park, where in the recent past a study had been carried out on the behavior of desert iguanas (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) by a friend of John’s.  I was really interested in seeing both the Saguaro-dominated landscape but also the desert iguanas and hopefully other species.  We mostly drove through the park, stopping occasionally at my behest for photo ops.  The park is magnificent - and I purposely avoided seeing most of this place because someday when I introduce my wife and daughter to it, I want to be as awestruck as I'd expect them to be.

That evening, after a Mexican dinner, John and I went road cruising once again.  Another productive evening of driving inky black mountain roads, oftentimes perilously close to the edge of a steep, crumbly drop off.  

The following morning, after breakfast, we spent some time in John’s office, where we reviewed digital photos of some of the herps he took the previous two days.  I also nosed through the book collection just because I’m nosey like that.  Soon I was off to hike Madera Canyon again, alone, to attempt to reach the peak of Mount Wrightson.  The hike is not an easy one, but it provides unforgettable views of the Santa Ritas.  I was even caught in a couple short drizzles.  Due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to make it all the way to the summit, but I got close.  I had to get back to town to meet up with John, his wife, and their friends for dinner at a local restaurant.

After dinner, we - you guessed it - went road cruising.  It was the final night and we wanted to try for a green rat snake, but the night turned out to be fairly slow despite reasonably warm temperatures.  We still found some great species, and our conversation was as convivial as ever.

Leaving the following morning was difficult, because there was still so much I wanted to see and do, but more than that, I missed my family at home so it was all good.  I’m already looking forward to my next visit to southern Arizona, and being able to see my new friends again.

A cool, clear stream in the Santa Rita mountains

I believe this is a Yarrow's spiny lizard (Sceloporus jarrovii)

Walking along a path, I heard a tiny buzzing at my feet.  I looked down and saw this young Arizona ridgenosed rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi) dodging me.  Not a bad first snake for the trip!

Here, the ridgenosed rattlesnake assumed a defensive position for a moment while I photographed it

John photographing a lizard basking on a rock

                                       

Views like this are plentiful

What I believe to be a Sonoran whiptail (Aspidoscelis sonorae)

I climbed on and around these boulders looking for canyon treefrogs because John told me this was a good site for them.  Inside a crevice, I saw a big, freshly shed checkered gartersnake (Thamnophis marcianus).  I hesitated for a brief moment so that I could figure out a way to catch it, and it capitalized on that lull by retreating back into a deep fissure and out of sight.  

The genesis of road cruising, evening #1

My first western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) was this DOR individual.

And here is my first tiger rattlesnake (Crotalus tigris) escaping into the roadside grasses.  This one was a step ahead of us.

A red-spotted toad (Anaxyrus punctatus), one of many along a roadside seep

My first live western diamondback, a young one we moved off the road.  From this point onward and throughout the trip, no other diamondback was photographed - there were too many and we focused on getting them off of the road to safety.

A western banded gecko (Colyonyx variegatus) John spotted while driving.  Not sure how, it was tiny.

This is a variable sand snake (Sonora straminea) John found on the road that he let me photograph before he released it. 

During our morning desert hike, we saw this large, downed Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea).  We inspected it, and at one point I used my hook to turn a dry, dead appendage of the flesh, which produced Africanized bees.  We promptly jogged away.

Recent historic monsoons produced the perfect conditions for flowers and insects.  This is an Arizona poppy (Kallstroemia grandiflora)

Desert thornapple (Datura discolor)

This part of the Sonoran desert is decidedly grassier than surrounding low elevation desert landscapes

John hiking alongside a saguaro

John brought this to my attention - an interesting structure created by termites. We saw many more occurrences of these.

This circle of rocks looks too good to not be a relic from prehistoric humans.  It looks like a firepit, and nearby I found a fragment of a spearpoint.  

The flint fragment

I loved this little guy.  Not sure about ID

We got in the car and headed to our next destination, Saguaro National Park.  But long before we got there, we stopped for this western coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum).  Unfortunately it had already been hit by a vehicle and suffered devastating injuries.

Adding to the carnage was this DOR Sonoran desert tortoise (Gopherus morafkai) 

Once we arrived at Saguaro National Park, we began looking for desert iguanas.  We ended up seeing several, but they were not willing to let us approach.  I took a few shots from the car as the lizards foraged among the tender new plant growth bolstered by the recent rains.

A scene from SNP

As we began the second night of road cruising, we spotted this diamondback along the edge of the road (we did assist its crossing).

This brute of a tiger rattlesnake was a highlight.  We ended up seeing a couple more that night.

This road cuts through the sides of mountains.  See the inky black drop off to the left.  I broke into a light sweat once or twice...

A large Sonoran desert toad (Incilius alvarius).  The first of this species and the only really big one we'd see - later, we'd run into hundreds more.

A DOR mojave rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus)

A giant hairy desert scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis)

Some quality time with Hondo

From my solo hike up Mount Wrightson

Velvetpod mimosa (Mimosa dysocarpa)

Unknown succulent 

I think a Santa Rita hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus santaritensis)

One of many little waterfalls

Palmer's agave (Agave palmeri)

Paravaejovis spinigerus, found under a rock near an active picnic grove

A view from our final evening of road cruising

Finally, a canyon treefrog (Hyla arenicolor) in the same place we had found the red-spotted toads a coupe nights before

 

A Couch's spadefoot toad (Scaphiopus couchii)

A young Sonoran gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer).  We had gotten a few that off the road that had been hit, and this was the first intact gopher (also the smallest by far).

And finally, a big Arizona blonde tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes)

A parting shot that John took as I searched a boulder pile for rock rattlesnakes the first day.

South Carolina 2021

Having family in the coastal plain region of South Carolina is quite advantageous if you've got a strong interest in amphibians and reptiles, because the area's herp diversity is among the best in the country.  Made famous by herpetological luminaries such as Carl Kauffeld, the region's array of ecosystems hold an impressive number of species.  It had been awhile since our last trip there, so I was pretty excited to get down there.

Our first stop was a hotel in Myrtle Beach.  Since we were bringing our daughter for the first time, we wanted to make sure we got some beach and pool time.  As far as I'm concerned, the beach was great but the pools weren't...my daughter felt the opposite.  At the hotel, I managed to find some of the more common urban lizards such as green anoles and southeastern five-lined skinks.  My young nephews had a particularly good time catching these, and they got really good at it after a few hours.  

A green anole (Anolis carolinensis) & skink (Plestiodon fasciatus or inexpectatus) found on the hotel property

Vibrant young Plestiodon

                A side trip to the Brookgreen Gardens resulted in a few turtle sightings as well as lizards and an alligator or two.  There is a children's play area built on a sandy rise that was home to several racerunners.  These are pretty hard to catch by hand but I tried anyway, looking sort of eccentric in the process.  A nice lady we had struck up a conversation with, and her two kids must have thought I was nuts. The park is incredible - full of big old live oaks draped in Spanish moss.  

An evasive racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineatus)

During the early morning hours of July 8, Hurricane Elsa, by now in a reasonably weakened state, hit Myrtle Beach.  We were awakened by the most obnoxious emergency notification alarms on our phones and so we got up to check out the storm from our beachfront deck.  The water was rough and some of the pool chairs were blown around, but that was about the extent of it all.  Within a couple hours we had packed up and were headed to the aquarium, then directly to Florence.

Late that evening, my nephews asked if we could go out and look for some herps.  I took the three boys and we simply walked the subdivision with flashlights.  We didn't find anything rare or mind blowing, but the kids were super excited to see toads and all sorts of insects and spiders.  We did find some DORs, including a narrowmouth toad and a plainbelly watersnake. 

A beautiful southern toad (Anaxyrus terrestris)

The next day, I met up with Dr. Jeff Camper, professor of biology at Francis Marion University, for a little herping adventure nearby where has some established cover board arrays.  Jeff is another Chicago-area native who is pretty familiar with many of the Chicago region's natural areas, yet has been our east for some time and has become an expert on South Carolina herpetology.  In fact, he is the author of the excellent The Reptiles of South Carolina (2019).  The area we explored was mostly upland sand hills dominated by longleaf pine.  It was hot and very dry, poor conditions for herping South Carolina in July.  But we did it anyway.  Getting to spend time with Jeff was time well spent.  I learned a lot about the region's ecology during our outing and that alone made the trip worthwhile.

Hiking to the board array

I liked the contrast between these flowers (some species of Tradescantia?) and the rusty old piece of corrugated metal

Some skink eggs found under a wooden board

One of two southeastern crowned snakes (Tantilla coronata) we found while flipping cover.

Most surprising, considering the dry heat, was this marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum)

This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in South Carolina reptiles

I promised my daughter and nephews we'd look for alligators at a swamp so we ended up visiting the same Carolina bay I visited with my wife six years ago.  On that day six years ago, it was over 100 degrees yet we found a plethora of herps.  This time, somewhat milder and not a good day for herps (go figure).  We (barely) spotted an alligator or two, one or two flashes of skink, and a few shy carpenter frogs.  The kids got bored.  No alligators sitting out exposed, no canebreaks, nothing impressive.  However, the place is as beautiful as ever.

Carolina bay, nearly devoid of herps during our visit but a wonderful place regardless

                

Carpenter frog (Rana virgatipes)

                

Overall, the trip was really good.  I think the next trip to SC will be in April - almost guaranteed improvement.

A young mantis 

                

My first ever velvet ant (Dasymutilla occidentalis).  It was moving very quickly, so it was difficult to get a good shot.  I had to stop the car and exit to take these photos - glad I did!