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.