[Mysticete]

Since I always abandon my year lists, and these particular lists don't really fit the bird lifer thread, here is my running tally of new herp and mammal species.

Had my first herp lifer of the year down in Pawnee National Grasslands, a pair of Prairie Rattlesnakes coiled together

Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis)

lucked out on Spotted Ground Squirrel, which would have also been a lifer

[Mysticete]

This weekend I scored a new mammal and 3 new herps:

Hopi Chipmunk (Neotamias rufus)

Woodhouse's Toad (Anaxyrus woodhousei)
Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotophytus collarus) GORGEOUS LIZARD
Northern Plateau Lizard (Sceloporus tristichus) not so gorgeous

Dipped on Spotted Plateau Whiptail and Tree Lizard, which should have been gettable. Also dipped on Midget Faded Rattlesnake, which was kind of a longshot but would have been cool.

[chris butterworth]

Originally Posted by Mysticete

Hopi Chipmunk (Neotamias rufus)

Sorry, but I can't get the thought of a 3 legged Chipmunk out of my head

Originally Posted by Mysticete

Midget Faded Rattlesnake.

How can they stick something with a name like that? It makes no sense - is the Rattlesnake small and faded, or, is it a 'normal' sized rattler that's been faded by a Midget or what? A perfect example of why we should stick to scientific nomenclature and not make up daft names .

Chris ( I think I'm rather tired )

P.S. Congrats anyway

C

[Mysticete]

Actually yes, it is small and faded compared to the other members of the Western Rattlesnake complex

I actually like the name; it distinctive, and much more original than all the eastern or western this-and-thats.

[Mysticete]

New mammal this weekend:

European Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) in East Anglia

[Mysticete]

Finally back from England, where thanks to the efforts of John Dixon (ie Farnboro John) I got to add quite a few new mammals and a herp to my checklist.

Mammalwise, we had only two dips as far as things we chased after. Water Shrew eluded us, mostly because the good site John had ended up drying up since the last visit, and evidently they were mostly foraging in the vegetation out of sight. We also failed to trap any Yellow-necked Mice.

We also didn't do that hot on herps...the weather was pretty abysmal and just wasn't conducive for snakes or lizards to be active.

Was able to add the following new species of herp/mammal (John also got me a Dartford Warbler and Yellow-legged Gull).

Grass Snake (Natrix natrix) at Hankley Common

Edible/Fat Dormouse (Glis glis) Wendover Woods

Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius) Arundel Castle

Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) Wendover Woods

Chinese Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis)

European Badger (Meles meles) Basingstoke Canal

[skink1978]

Originally Posted by Mysticete

Finally back from England, where thanks to the efforts of John Dixon (ie Farnboro John) I got to add quite a few new mammals and a herp to my checklist.

Mammalwise, we had only two dips as far as things we chased after. Water Shrew eluded us, mostly because the good site John had ended up drying up since the last visit, and evidently they were mostly foraging in the vegetation out of sight. We also failed to trap any Yellow-necked Mice.

We also didn't do that hot on herps...the weather was pretty abysmal and just wasn't conducive for snakes or lizards to be active.

Was able to add the following new species of herp/mammal (John also got me a Dartford Warbler and Yellow-legged Gull).

Grass Snake (Natrix natrix) at Hankley Common

Edible/Fat Dormouse (Glis glis) Wendover Woods

Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius) Arundel Castle

Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) Wendover Woods

Chinese Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis)

European Badger (Meles meles) Basingstoke Canal

Some nice animals there. Shame you didn't get an Adder but there's always next time.

[Mysticete]

Not a lifer, but I did get my best looks ever at American Pika this weekend. My only previous encounter was a distant calling individual high up on a scree slope on the Other side of a sizable alpine lake. Yesterday the sighting was brief, but at only a distance of 20 feet, and so it was more than a "gray animal shaped lump"

Consolation for my 5th or 6th dip of Brown-capped Rosy-finch at this site :(

[Mysticete]

A few more ticks this weekend:

Gunnison Prairie Dog - finally found a colony along US-50 in Montrose county. An endangered species that was actually kind of tough

Northern Grasshopper Mouse - Seen on a nightdrive in Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. A few Peromyscus were also seen, although I believe these were just the local forms of Deer Mouse.

Also the tail end of Smooth Green Snake along the South Rim trail at the same NP...an improvement over my only other glimpse of this species, a DOR animal as a teenager in MI.

[Mysticete]

Still need to do a trip report, but the following are additions to my life list from my recent South Florida trip

MAMMALS
West Indian Manatee - Trichechus manatus - Great views at the marina in Flamingo...okay views at the Big Bend power plant near Tampa

Marsh Rabbit - Sylvilagus palustris - Good views on the grassy berms at Green Cay Wetlands

HERPS

Pig Frog - Lithobates grylio - Loxahatchee NWR

Indo-Pacific Gecko - Hemidactylus garnotii - Presumably this was the species present around the lights at the Dania Beach Motel 6

Giant Ameiva - Ameiva ameiva - Present in the Parking lot of Crandon Park

Northern Curly-tailed Lizard - Leiocephalus carinatus - Butterfly Gardens at Loxahatchee NWR

Gray's Spiny-tailed Iguana - Ctenosaurus similis - Crandon Gardens

Green Iguana - Iguana Iguana - Crandon Park

Brown Anole - Anolis distichus - Abundant pretty much everywhere

Florida Softshell - Apalone ferox - Loxahatchee and Crandon Gardens

Peninsula Cooter - Pseudemys peninsularis - Green Cay Wetlands and Loxahatchee NWR

Florida Red-bellied Cooter - Pseudemys nelsoni - Less were seen then expected, but present at Loxahatchee NWR

Gopher Tortoise - Gopherus polyphemus - One scurried quickly across the tracks at Oscar Scherer SP

American Crocodile - Crocodylus acutus - good views at the Flamingo Marina

[csanchez7]

Looks good, Morgan. Glad you got the American Croc. Surprised not to see any snakes on your list.

Carlos

[Mysticete]

I had two "snakes" one was probably a water snake but I could only see patches of it's coloration as it slithered quickly away into thick vegetation. Couldn't see enough to rule out Cottonmouth so I didn't lunge after it. The other snake was heard only but disappeared because I could see it.

I roadcruised two nights but didn't see anything snake wise. I suspect the relatively cool conditions on the second night played a role. I think I would have had better look during breeding season, after hatching, or later in the year when reptiles would be more reliant on basking. At any rate, I still have a ton of birds I need for Florida, so I will have future opportunities to try for more snakes.

[Mysticete]

Not really seen any new lifers yet this year (although might be twitching Common Crane next weekend!), however did have some good birding last weekend I might as well share. Highlights were probably 60+ Lapland Longspurs, a new bird for my lower 48 list, and bazillions of American Tree Sparrow, not a new bird but something I don't see enough of.

Did add a couple of other state birds to my list, including Ring-necked Pheasant and Cackling Goose

No herps yet (no surprise really) and the mammal list remains pretty small, but have already seen Red Fox, White-tailed and Mule Deer, Black-tailed Prairie Dog, Eastern Fox Squirrel and Mountain Cottontail

[Mysticete]

Back from a weekend in SE Colorado. I already reported the bird lifers elsewhere (BLACK RAIL!!!)

Hope to get a few more rodents (via night-driving) and finally knock off Spotted Ground Squirrel, but no love there. The places I stopped at actually were not that great in regards night driving opportunities, at least without getting loss. Did see some of the usual stuff however (Pronghorn, Golden-mantled and Rock Ground Squirrels, Prairie Dogs, etc). Probably best critters were a road-cruised Raccoon and Red Fox.

I was also hoping to get a few herps, at least a new gartersnake and Plains Leopard Frog. I did MUCH better than I hoped for here, as I added three new species and 1 "relifer" (not seen since third grade). New species are as followed:

Plains Leopard Frog (Lithobates blairi) - Pretty much seen in every pond of small water body in SE Colorado

Plains Gartersnake (Thamnophis radix) - Also common...I think I had three, usually near the the leopard frogs

Speckled Kingsnake (Lampropeltis holbrooki) - totally unexpected...road-cruised and caught this beautiful snake in the late afternoon on my first day out.

Great Plains Ratsnake (Pantherophis emoryi) randomly flipped a board while walking and and was able to capture this nice little snake...although ID was tough as I originally was not aware that this snake was even in range.

Prairie Ring-necked Snake (Diadophis punctatus docilis): a new subspecies and a probable future split. My only experience with this species before was some childhood captures in Florida

Besides the above, I also had several Wandering/Western Terrestrial Gartersnakes, Prairie Lizards, and a Ornate Box Turtle. Great (incidental) herping!

[Mysticete]

Haven't had much chance to go out lately, but a recent research trip to San Francisco allowed me an opportunity to go on a Farallon Island whale watch.

Managed two lifers:

Blue Whale: Balaenoptera musculus

and the Pacific form of Minke Whale: Balaenoptera acutorostrata scammoni

Also finally added Harbor Porpoise to my NA list