Robert C. Jadin

Summer 2003 (Southwest)

This trip took David Kahrs and I to southern New Mexico, Arizona, California and nearly into Mexico to catch and photograph reptiles and amphibians, collect insects, and watch for birds in these desert habitats.  This trip took place on July 31st and lasted a little over two weeks.  We both shot a lot of film and took some very memorable images.  We also video taped much of our excursion, which was a change for me.  I hadn't gotten into documenting my journeys through video in a long time, since summer 2000 when I realized that I pretty much sucked at it, so it was really fun to start over again.  These are some of the photos that I took on the trip.

 

Of course like always, none of the specimens captured were harmed in any way.  We neither keep the animals we photograph nor put them in coolers to make them more easy to handle and photograph!!!

Had we kept them and sold the herps that we caught we probably could have paid back for our trip 5 fold.

However, people that truly love herpetology don't do that.

 

Herp List Bird List
The two links above are to lists of the herps and birds that we saw on our trip.  Although David was looking for all sorts of insects, there were three scarabs that we were trying to find more than any other in Arizona and we found all three species:  Chrysina beyeri, Chrysina gloriosa, and Chrysina lecontei.  They are very beautiful beetles and related to some of the beautiful tropical species in Central America. 

 

 

Tarantula Arizona Coral snake

(Micruroides e. euryxanthus)

Couch's Spadefoot

(Scaphiopus couchii)

Black-tailed rattlesnake

 

On this trip, David and I also collected quite a few insects.  David Kahrs is studying to be an entomologist, as well as overall naturalist, and has a spectacular insect collection as well as an incredible eye for insect photography.  I too enjoy insects and found it very fun to collect and learn with him on many nights.  Although I like reading up on insects and faired well in a very difficult college course of entomology, David's overly vast knowledge on insects makes me look like I had never stepped in the classroom.  David has a broad interest and knowledge in biology which has allowed him to do research on insects, herps, and birds.

Insect lights and sheet

 

 

David taking a photo of the gloriosa.  One actually flew away while he was photographing it, haha.

 

My photo of

(Chrysina gloriosa)

 

 

My photo of

(Chrysina beyeri)

 

 

Sinoloan Narrowmouth Toad

(Gastrophyrne olivacea mazatlanensis)

Some Arizona landscape Mountain Skink

      (Eumeces callicephalus)

 

 

 

A good portion of the reptiles and amphibians that we caught and photographed on this trip were at night so the flashes and lights made some of the herps difficult to photograph.  If you'll notice all of the rattlesnakes were photographed at night except the twin-spotted.  Certainly a good learning experience on photography for me.

      Sonoran Striped whipsnake       

(Masticophis b. bilineatus)

Tuscon Banded Gecko

(Coleonyx variegatus bogerti)

Spotted Night snake  

(Hypsiglena torquata ochrorhyncha)

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 "Red racer"      

   actually a red coachwhip

(Masticophis flagellum piceus)

 

Cacti in southern Arizona.  This was a beautiful habitat and there were a lot of reptiles as well as quite a few birds.  Above you can see I combined two photos.  Both photos had the same exposure and were taken at practically the same time, so I don't know what my film's problem was.
          

 

 

Southern California

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Southern California's Imperial Sand Dunes Desert Iguana

(Dipsosaurus dorsalis)

Desert Tortoise - (Gopherus agassizii)

This guy was so cool.  Now I only have the Texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri) left to catch and photograph in the U.S. and then the Bolson tortoise (Gopherus flavomarginatus) in Mexico.

 

 

 

 

Back to Southern Arizona

Western Black-necked Gartersnake

 (Thamnophis c. cyrtopsis)

Mountain Spiny Lizard

 (Sceloporus jarrovii)

 Ornate Tree Lizard

(Urosaurus ornatus schotti)

 

Tiger rattlesnake - (Crotalus tigris)

This snake seemed a little high strung when we caught him.  We caught 5 rattlesnakes that night and they all seemed that way.  Each of the 5 snakes were trying nothing more than getting away from us and weren't very easy to be handled. 

Notice the small head to body ratio of this snake.

 

 

 

 

Western Diamondback rattlesnake - (Crotalus atrox)

This snakes is undeserving of its reputation.  We caught three Western Diamondbacks that were three and a half feet or slightly longer and they were not nearly as aggressive as they could have been.

 

 

 

 

 

Northern Black-tailed rattlesnake - (Crotalus m. molossus)

We caught quite a few of these in southern Arizona and I found them one of the least defensive species.  

 

 

Arizona Mountain Kingsnake

(Lampropeltis p. pyromelena

Big Bend Patchnose snake

(Salvadora deserticola)

Sonoran Gopher snake - (Pituophis catenifer affinis)

 

 

Mojave rattlesnake - (Crotalus s. scutulatus)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Western Twin-spotted rattlesnake - (Crotalus p. pricei)

The twin-spotted rattlesnake was one of my greatest finds ever.  I loved this little guy and found him very easy going. 

The twin-spotted rattlesnakes feed almost exclusively on Sceloporus species of lizards, such as the Mountain spiny lizard (Sceloporus jarrovi) aka Yarrow’s spiny lizard.  They are also known to feed on small rodents and baby yellow-eyed juncos.  They are a mountain species and in the U.S. can only be found in a few remote areas of southern Arizona.

 

 

 

Some photos from our video!!!

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Tarantula in Az.  

They were everywhere.

The Arizona Coral snake.  My first elapid.  I always figured that I would catch Micrurus fulvius fulvius before any other but I caught this on my very first night herpin' in Arizona. Catching a Sonoran Desert Toad 

(Bufo alvarius)

aka Colorado River Toad 

Sonoran Striped Whipsnake with Arizona scenery around me.
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David at the insect light Catching Mountain Spiny lizards with a lizard noose.  

Actually just a fishing pole and dental floss.


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