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.