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?