May 13-20, 2008

May 13, 2008

Merrill, AM
- very little water in creek—not running
- no T.elegans

Christie, AM
- lots of adult T.elegans, some juveniles, easily found basking around rocks in grassy areas

Nameless, PM:
- only one juvenile T.elegans

Gallatin, PM
- 5/8 individuals captured were recaps from previous years
- other species:Sceloporus, raven, Eumeces


May 14, 2008

Mahogany, AM
- finally more T.elegans around, though still captured only 9
- dead neonate T. elegans found with head missing (two found in this condition in a previous year, one neonate and one adult)
- Hyla calling
- bald eagle

Marina, PM
-Sceloporus
-bald eagle calling


May 15, 2008

Papoose, AM:
- B3, snipe, sandhill cranes, robin
- found two headless snakes, like the ones at Mahogany: one juvenile T. sirtalis, with the tail also missing, and one juvenile T. elegans (with part of the neck also stripped)

Nameless, PM:
- Finally, after several visits, found lots of snakes! Since this was the first of a series of very hot days, they may have just emerged from hibernation; they were active out across the meadow in the grasses
- Many snakes emaciated, almost all very thin
- Bufo tads still present
- a couple T. sirtalis


May 16, 2008

Mahogany, AM:
-lots of snakes now out, both T. elegans and T. sirtalis
- T. sirtalis eating dead adult Hyla
- lots of Hyla egg sacs; possibility snakes were eating them, as one juvenile drooled a sticky substance upon capture


May 17, 2008

Marina, AM:
- species: cormorant, pelicans, grebes, large trout, Sceloporus

Gallatin, AM:
- lots of snakes, large adult gravid females out in water, where there were plenty of minnows
- 6/19 snakes captured were recaps

Papoose, PM:
- cool wind and clouds; captured 5 T.elegans for stress response (corticosterone) measures.
- other species: RWBB, B3, common snipe, minnows


May 18, 2008

Nameless, AM:
- caught lots of snakes that were deemed too skinny to bleed repeatedly for stress response measures
- caught 3 recaps from earlier in the week
- birds: raven, B3, robin
- one T. sirtalis

Summit, PM:
- caught 21 T. elegans, and a few T. sirtalis
- plenty of water, but no tadpoles evident
- faeces of T elegans looked as if it was from leeches
- birds: sandhill crane, robin, RWBB, Canada geese, Wilson’s phalarope


May 19, 2008

ELFS, AM:
- 7 large, gravid T.elegans, one adult male
- other species: osprey, Sceloporus, F. tern, B3, Pituophis catenifer (by the shore, see photo), crested and western grebe, minnows, and trout

Gallatin, PM:
- several smallish snakes, a couple gravid females
- no recaps in 10 captures, in contrast to the last visits
- birds: robin, raven, B3


May 20, 2008

Stones, AM:
- 9 very large gravid T.elegans, and one large male—the same, sole male captured last year, in a similar location
- one large female was almost black, with a bluish belly (see photo)
- other species: F. tern



Christie, AM:
- 3/7 snakes were recaps from earlier in the week--considering that 3 of the unmarked individuals were juveniles which we were not interested in during the last visit (since we were pushing to get our quota of adults at the time), the recapture rate may have been even higher than this--small transient population?

May 10-12, 2008

Eagle Lake news:

• The water level of Eagle Lake is very low this year. Tom Rickman (USFS) says that boats will have trouble getting in and out of the Marina--particularly large boats. They are calling this a drought year, like last year. It hasn't been as hot as last year but, like last year, there has been very little rainfall this spring.
• Due to the low rainfall, Pine Creek only ran a few days for spawning trout this year. They could not get enough eggs to donate to the other California lakes as they usually do. Papoose Creek hardly ran at all.
• A Marina employee gave us a dead snake she found in the parking lot. It was an adult female T.elegans. It had a green bruise on the ventral side in the mid-body region, with some scale damage on the dorsal side opposite. There also appears to be some scale damage at the head. It does not appear to have been run over by a car. The employee suggested that an eagle had dropped it there, which is quite possible as the Marina eagle's nest is occupied again this year. I have frozen the snake, and intend to take pictures (if I can get a camera battery in Susanville...).

FIELD NOTES:

May 10, 2008

Pikes, AM

• Saw 2-4 black-crowned night herons roosting near Pikes D (they kept flying away and back, so it was difficult to tell how many there actually were). Other species: Sceloporus occidentalis, Sceloporus graciosus, Eumeces, robin, B3, pelican, Western grebe, horned grebe, Forster's tern, Caspian's tern, lesser scaup, common loon, bufflehead, bald eagle, osprey, raven, cormorant
• Caught 22 T.elegans--lots of juveniles & "teens"

Mahogany, PM

• Parts of road covered with snow drifts. Made it most of the way up but had to hike for the last bit. Hyla metamorph on the road.
• At Mahogany, still patches of snow on the south side. Water level the lowest I've seen it.
• Saw 12 T.sirtalis (under rocks, out basking, feeding, and in the water) , but only one T.elegans.
• Birds: eagle (bald juv/golden??), bufflehead, mergansers
• Found (live) T.elegans on the road on the hike back to the vehicle; adult, non-gravid female. Also, another Hyla.

Colman, PM

• Hyla calling but no snakes along eastern shore. Water level very low.

Nameless, PM

• Unlike last year, green and lush. Water warm. Lots of tiny Bufo tads and water arthropods. Juvenile bald eagle. No sign of snakes. Too late in the day (~5PM), despite warm water??

May 11, 2008

Papoose, AM

• Hardly any water in Papoose Creek. Water level across meadow very, very low, but springs still running. Saw one minnow in Spring B, lots in Spring C.
• Caught 23 T.elegans. Lots of neonates. One neonate T.sirtalis.
• Birds: red-tail, raven, juv. bald eagle, snipe, RWBB, sandhill crane, robin, flicker, kestrel

Marina, PM

• Cool and windy. Only caught two non-gravid adult snakes.
• Birds: Raven, osprey, pelicans, turkey vulture.

May 12, 2008

Nameless, AM

• Extremely cold! Caught one very cold T.elegans.
• Hyla calling.

June28-July6

June 28

--During my first bird survey at Nameless, I saw our friend the harrier, twice. Same, low-hunting sweep all around the periphery of the meadow as I’ve been seeing at Mahogany. (That was a great picture from Josef, by the way.)

June 30
--The camp talk! More people than we were prepared for, logistically, but I think it went off well. Kylie only used the term “Crikey” a handful of times while sharing her vast knowledge of the reptile world. In the week following I have been accosted with questions herpetological while buying ice cream in the store, eating dinner, and actively using the “facilities”.

July 2
--Kylie and I came across three gopher snakes in the road in one afternoon. Two near Spalding, one alive, one dead (~2 PM). And one on the dirt road near the Lassen County Youth Camp (~3:30PM).

July 3
--Another successful feeding of the Mahogany transplant snakes. Only three of the lakeshore snakes persist in not eating—the same ones as last week. No one else held back.

July 4,5,6
--Incredibly HOT days at Eagle Lake.

June 7- June 13

-- We got the reciprocal transplant experiment going at Mahogany this week. There are enough retreat sites in each enclosure to hide at least 20 snakes--when you get there in the morning no one is visible. But they get sun on and off through the day, and then you can see plenty of them. Here is a picture of one of the enclosures:

-- It was easy to catch plenty of tadpoles at Roney in just over an hour for feeding the transplant snakes. They are very big and fat now, and most have tiny legs partially or completely emerged.

-- Apart from tadpoles, we also found a sandhill crane has taken up residence at Roney.

-- On June 12 at 10:30 AM Mahogany, while waiting for transplant snakes to feed, we saw a medium-sized hawk pass directly in front of us, and circle the lake twice, flying low along the shore. He dove twice and circled over small areas, but appeared to miss what he was looking for. This was the most like snake hunting before I have ever seen in a raptor. I wish I could have identified him exactly, but he seemed so much blonder than any of the hawks in my field guide, that I'm having trouble making a match.

May 30 - June 5

- Spent time this week getting reciprocal transplant enclosures set up. Was fortunate to have three days of help from USFS in scouting out appropriate sites, construction and snake collecting. Two enclosures are now in place at Mahogany, and two at the Osprey Management Area just north of Wildcat. Am having great difficulty getting adult male snakes from the lakeshore.

- Saw two sandhill cranes at Colman. This is apparently a hard nesting year for them, as water levels are so low. They are at Papoose as usual but they are not, for instance, at Summit (according to Forest Service surveys).

- Disturbed a great blue heron on the shore at Pikes B while collecting snakes. The long-established heron rookery at the Osprey Management Area is apparently not active this year. Reasons unknown.

- First afternoon/evening thunderstorms this week. Strong winds, some rain. Yesterday and today have been COLD. Last night there was snow on the surrounding hills. Below are pictures from Gallatin beach (the white on the mountains is snow, the white along the shore is some strange, thick foamy stuff), and on one of the A1 turnoffs to Mahogany. Interesting weather, but it has not made snake collecting for the transplant proceed any faster!

May 22-29

Tuesday, May 22

- Marmot at Wildcat! On the sandy side of the beach, but high-tailed it to the rocky side when disturbed. You can just barely see him here.

- No small toads evident at Wildcat. Only found two snakes.

Wednesday, May 23

- Found snake at Marina with large chunk of flesh missing.

- Meeting with Tom (USFS). Mentioned there is a proposal to fill in the 6 foot ditches in Papoose (apparently left over from the Dairy Farm?), so that the meadow will re-flood instead having a lot of its water diverted to Papoose creek. Thought we might like to know, since it may affect our snakes in some way.

Thursday, May 24

- Scouted out Dean’s at 4:30 PM. Found no snakes, but startled one juvenile and one pre-adult (balding?) bald eagle on snag. These started circling in sky, and were soon joined by three other eagles. Maybe part of the same crowd we saw at Mahogany the other day?

Friday, May 25

- Tom surveyed the bald eagle nests. Eight out of nine nests on the West shore (including Wildcat) are occupied this year.

- We have also noted that the osprey and bald eagle nests at the Marina are active, as well as the osprey nest at the Osprey Overlook, and the red-tailed hawk nest near Aspen Campground.


Saturday, May 26

- Went to Eagle Lake Field Station. Didn’t find a ton of garters, but caught two Coluber constrictor (have we seen them there before?).

Sunday, May 27

- Scouted out Ashurst at 10:30 AM. Found 12 T.sirtalis, but no T.elegans.

- Scouted out Colman at 4 PM, but found no T.elegans on East or West shore, or on fabled Island of Gravid Females (but there was one T.sirtalis there). Hyla tadpoles abundant, adult chorus. Adult bald eagle flying low over water.

- DOR: Adult female T.elegans ¼ mile south of Papoose turnoff on A1; also found large Pit. cat. on A1 near Brockman flats. Both killed in middle of day.

Monday, May 28

- Jeremy departed, after catching many snakes, and several fish (the other three fishermen in the boat caught a single fish among them; Jeremy caught these four).

Tuesday, May 29

- Did predator survey at Pikes B. Saw lots of raptor activity--bald eagles and osprey. One osprey landed on shore near group campground, but appeared to be drinking (?). One bald landed on the shore at Pikes A and stole a fish from a seagull who had been picking at it for about half an hour.

- A veteran hunter/fisherman from the area apparently stumbled over a rattlesnake buried in the pine needles at Christie Campground. According to the camp host (whom I personally interviewed), he described it as a large snake (up to 5 feet) with several rattles. It was next to a “grinding site” (i.e. where sewage is processed). It looked to me like it could have come out of holes in the cement.



Miscellaneous Notes/Word on the Street:

- Talked with ranger in charge of recreation and “land” for USFS. Says there are proposals into the BLM and USFS for wind farms around Eagle Lake. USFS property of interest is Blacks Mountain. He says proposals are likely a “slam dunk”.

- Long-term head of this ranger district, Bob Andrews, is retiring this summer.

- Owners of private property across A1 from Merrill want to have it zoned for agriculture; logical next step (according to the grapevine) is development. Causing some consternation among Eagle Lake devotees.

- Forgot to mention that at the meeting of the Fish and Game Commision the other week, we met an 80+ year-old man who is thought to be the best fly fisherman in the region. When he heard we studied snakes, the first thing he said was, “You know who eats your snakes? Osprey! I seen ‘em lots of times.”

May 16-21

Wednesday, May 16:

- Scouted out Mahogany after arriving at Eagle Lake in the afternoon. Saw 13 bald eagles circling overhead! At least three were adults, the rest appeared to be juveniles.

- Saw a possible mating ball--a large group of male and female T.elegans were concentrated in a deep grassy area.

- Found a dead T.sirtalis half-emerged from a rock. Cause of death unclear--several maggot holes.

- The road up to Mahogany was completely dry and passable (in contrast to the extreme muddiness and impassibility of last year). This is apparently a really dry year--Tom Rickman at the USFS said they had something like 30% less precipitation than average.


Thursday, May 17:

- Visited Nameless in the afternoon. It is completely dry. We saw no snakes. It might have been too hot, so we will try again in the morning some time. But it doesn't look promising out there for tadpoles.

- Schools of minnows at Pikes.

- Found a dead gravid female--appeared to have a smashed head. Someone may have stepped on her.

- Went to a meeting of the Lassen County Fish and Game Commission at Spalding. The new fisheries biologist for the department of fish and game gave a talk on the status of Eagle Lake water quality and trout fishing. Eagle Lake water levels are continuing to go down, and pH levels are continuing to rise. They are advocating a "catch and keep" policy--since fish damaged from capture are unlikely to be able to survive in these conditions. However, the Eagle Lake trout appear to be getting bigger and bigger every year--likely a direct result of their selection of eggs from the biggest fish. Apparently the pelicans are almost missing this year--only a few hanging around (usually they mob the Marina when the trout from the hatcheries are deposited in the lake).


Friday, May 18:

-Saw a mating ball at the Marina--one female with two males stretched out alongside.



Saturday, May 19:

- Papoose has plenty of water! Minnows in the springs. Sandhill cranes courtship calling?

- Found a Wilson's snipe nest in the grass near Spring A.




- Went to Roney and saw both adult Hyla and abundant tadpoles.

- Karen, Aspen Camp Host, let us set up a little Biological Station in a shade tent, equipped with one of her boat batteries. This is our blood processing center, complete with rain tarp.




Sunday, May 20:


- Jeremy found a beautiful black T.elegans with a blue belly at Gallatin.



Monday, May 21:

- Jeremy & Karen. Karen has given us everything we could possibly need in terms of research "equipment" as well as plenty of good company. Jeremy is this May's enthusiastic snake catcher, temperature taker, weigher, and all-around terrific assistant.