Texas Rat Snake dilemma

Friends on facebook who have been following this adventure know that it started with an update:

BEST HUBBY EVER!! Brought me a Texas Rat Snake =D Yes, Sky, it is has been taken into custody until further notice. My sewing tote will need to be laundered after this, though.

 ...Sky Stevens was tagged in the note because last time the snake - this snake? - was found and identified, there was a bit of hesitance on the actual identification. Texas Rat Snakes (Pantherophis obsoletus lindheimeri) aren't supposed to be here. And they're certainly not supposed to be startling guests around town; that's how they get killed. And we don't want that to happen. They are NOT venomous and they eat House Sparrows among other things, what's not to love?

So Friday morning, when a handsome fellow showed up while I was at work and presented me with a lovely Texas Rat Snake, I was thrilled. It was alive, well fed (check out the lump in its belly!), gorgeous and definitely 100% Texas Rat Snake.

Snapping a few photos, the question soon became: how to keep it until 1) ID is confirmed by someone else, 2) it can be released where it won't return, since returning means eventual death, 3) ???

Not working at a pet store is kind of a down side - we end up with enough birds going to rehab that we probably should have some empty cages around. But while rehab birds can - and should - go into dark cardboard boxes lined with paper towels, well, that sounds like a recipe for escape with a snake. Canvas tote bag, it is! Sewing projects don't need a tote anyway.

Canvas bag courtesy of Irene Trudell, Texas Rat Snake courtesy of Matthew York, hand modeling and identification confirmation courtesy of Craig Trumbower. We have awesome neighbors.

Back to the snake - if it's the same individual that was found a few months ago and released a few blocks from the location... it's still healthy, bright eyed and well fed. Meal favorites are suspected to be House Sparrows, since it was caught among their nests last time.

A few less-than-flattering portraits of the lovely critter, held gently but firmly by Matt:

The patterning is really quite something when the photo is enlarged - most of the scales are edged in a bright, bold orange-red color! This photo also highlights the less-mouthy and more-stinky end of the snake... you can see where the ventral (belly) scales go from being double to single; and the cloaca is right where that transition occurs.

 To keep the discussion brief: these snakes don't belong here. They like to climb trees and eat baby birds... heat and humidity are part of their lifestyle. We're just not in their range. But shipments of plants, trailers of supplies, plenty of trucks and trailers and room for stowaways... most of the traffic out here comes from the direction of Dallas, Austin and/or San Antonio. Prime habitat, really.


 

The blue stripes are Baird's Rat Snake (Pantherophis bairdi) - most of Texas is shaded brown, where Texas Rat Snake is supposed to be found. We're also in the range of the Trans-Pecos Rat Snake (Bogertophis subocularis), but that's another story entirely.


Back to the quandry -
Texas Rat Snake of full-tummy has been upgraded from canvas tote bag to spacious tupperware digs; lovely cavern of overturned dog bowl and deer antler for ambiance. Spinach tub, trimmed down for a pool... filled with roof-caught rainwater. This whole featherless-bird housing issue is strange.

Well, now what? We have neighbors who occasionally head to San Antonio who could release it - but how good are the odds of survival? Better than a bird's would be, I have to assume. If released around here, eventually it will probably be killed by a person. Even if suitable enough habitat - like Post Park - could work, it stands a chance of interbreeding with locals and we have friends doing DNA work on snakes out here that would not be thrilled. A captive life would be cushy but... we like things to be living as naturally as possible. Does it have mites/ticks/other things that it could transmit to other populations? It is already here and probably still has whatever it came with - but is that a big issue with reptiles?

These are the things we are musing over. For now, a large plastic tub on our porch has a fat, healthy Texas Rat Snake as a guest. And it's a safe place until further notice.

August update

Last week we were asked to speak about the impact of drought on birds and other wildlife on Marfa Public Radio; the audio has been archived and can now be accessed anywhere, at any time, should you feel the urge.

Photo/permalink via Marfa Public Radio:


Handy links from previous posts on the Big Bend Birds & Nature blog:
the drying, the drought (a bit heavy, but eye-opening)
in the meantime, pictures
freezer catch-up
and an optimistic final note: drought?

...in the meantime, things are keeping a hectic pace that neither blog quite reflects. We'd promise more updates if we knew there would be any soonish, but that's a long shot! Perhaps photos of some furniture projects one of these days, though...

goings on

My non-food Marathon post may have been too soon. Now that the community is overrun with tent caterpillars of some sort, I feel they're missing out on the limelight that the mites got. With last weekend's rain, there are also a few more mosquitoes around, too. Only one snake has been seen in town so far - another Kansas Glossy crossing the road.

Community update part 2: The somewhat locally made soap smells delicious and is quite gentle on the skin (the gal who makes the soap is from Minnesota but her dad lives in town - will have to elaborate on the rosemary soap some other time, but the 'air' has a slightly minty scent that's wonderful). In other news, dare we say food-related, Don of Shirley's Burnt Biscuits is back! The place won't be open for another week or two, but for someone who had heart surgery last month, he's looking great. Can't wait for those oatmeal cookies...

Site tidbit: on Sunday (the 15th) we had quite a fascinating visitor at the site, more will be posted about the Mohave Rattlesnake later.

But, on to a falcon update! The falcons are doing well, H7, the female from Group 3 is doing a splendid job of catching her own grasshoppers - she seems to have caught on while watching OK, our only black/red male from the first two groups. OK will sally from a shrub and nab a dragonfly midair, eat it, and grab another... and that will continue for quite a few snacks!

It has been nearly a week since C2, our red/black female - the last female from Group 2 - showed up just to show off that she wasn't hungry. She had skipped 2 days prior to last Friday, and showed up wiping her beak and didn't eat that morning, just in the evening. She must have been pretty full. That said, she has not been seen since. We're pretty confident that she's down the highway scaring the pants off of the little American Kestrels who have just started to show up this month. Ah, migration!

Big news for K8 - when C2 returned, K8 had been MIA for two days. So K8 skipped a total of 7 feedings (3.5 days) before showing up again and has been regular since Sunday. She is looking great, ragged tail and all.

Our most recent Wednesday morning was the first time we did not see a single falcon for the duration of the morning. None even observed in the distance. Everyone who showed up in the evening ate very well, but only five showed up for that. This (Thursday) morning was a bit of a surprise, since we generally put out two quail and have one left over - five birds showed up and only a few stray clumps and "spaghetti" of quail were left. [Ewww.]

So here's the remaining cluster:
H7 (female, group 3)
93 (group 3 - aka 'Peachy Britches')
OK
16
58 (now with his own 'scissor-tailed appearance)
95 (aka 'Leggins' on a good day)
K8 (the female known as 'Kate')
C2 (female, gone for a week now)

Oddly, 16 is a bird who is just plain normal. OK has a slightly pale rump, and is notable for being the black/red male who isn't 'Peachy Britches' ...he's otherwise pretty average, but 16? There's nothing particularly notable about him. He has a regular, striped tail, unlike our solid-tailed 95 and C2, or the ragged tailed K8 and 58. Perhaps H7 is then the next closest bird to 'normal' that we have since she has no distinguishing features beyond being not-K8.

One More Face

Not a member of the genus Falco.


Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata)

Heidi and I came across this guy on the property we work on. It seems if there is a turtle species that follows the two of us around, it's this guy. We love meeting this organism each time we are granted the opportunity.

There are a few of them around with all the rain. It was actually nice to find this one on private property rather than the side of the highway, hoping to cross.

It was mentally refreshing to see this terrestrial turtle. To be reminded of good things.
There are many turtle species that live on this land mass, not on the waters surrounding it.
Then there are the unfortunate souls, equal (in the least) to ours, that are in the Gulf of Mexico.
They are very closely related to fellow beings I worked with, lived among, and maneuvered around while on Tern Island of the French Frigate Shoals atoll. LINK.
Sadness.
I've yet to re-shape the particular and unique anger, so heart-hurting, that this BP event has formed in my core. It is only related to it and nothing else. I will continue to work on it. Presently, its shape remains the same.

Alright... back to life. Back to these young falcons Heidi and I are privileged to associate with. Good times. Good work. Good things.

That which is beyond Self.

Good evening.

Christmas Mountains

Our last morning of the trip was spent at the Christmas Mountains Oasis - a lovely bit of private property that is birder friendly upon request. We did not meet Carolyn, but we fell in love with the inhabitants we did come across.



Of the two 'tanks' hosted a very long-necked cooter of some sort [a tank, in west Texas, is any depression, scrape, hole, container, pond, etc that can hold water].



The path next to the parking area hosted two of the smallest dung-rolling creatures I've ever seen. They were easily half the size of the dung beetles we usually find. Very shiny little fellows, not making much progress while I watched. For scale, the ball they were trying to roll was roughly dime sized.



The desert scrub hosted a good number of singing Rufous-crowned Sparrows (Aimophila ruficeps), like the male in the photo above, as well as Black-throated Sparrows. The songs were faintly wafting up from all around, giving the property an ethereal break from silence. The occasional croak of Common Raven demanded attention, but otherwise the rhythms of summer heat were all that we heard. * there will be a cicada post eventually



Insect life on the property was abundant. I think we ended our visit with over a dozen species of butterflies alone. Desert plants in bloom are magnets.



Lesser Nighthawks (Chordeiles acutipennis) were the expected nighthawks for the area and the early morning acrobats were skimming low above the vegetation... except for the unfortunate creature above. One guess is that it went down in the hail storm from the previous day. Another guess is that it was already there, based on the amount of debris that had settled on the submerged feathers (by the time we left, the carcass sank, lending support to the hail theory). Unfortunately, it was never close enough to fish out for further inspection - and as much as I've fished dead things out of sewage ponds and everything else, this just never got close enough for an attempt.



I hadn't expected to get this shot of an adult male Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), but it turned out far better than the 3-pixel butt blur of Varied Bunting that will not be posted. Ah well, the mulberry trees were full of berries and being feasted upon by at least 5 different Western Tanagers.



Our new love: Western Black-necked Garter Snake (Thamnophis cyrtopsis collaris). There were at least 3 individuals seen, but no stellar photos beyond the one from Matt's earlier post.



...the view, graciously shared, of beautiful wilderness.

Photos from the field

Just a few fellow earthlings we ran into in the trans-Pecos:


Western Black-necked Garter Snake (Thamnophis cyrtopsis cyrtopsis), s. Brewster County, TX

This was a new herp for us. There were a pair of them in a water tank. -h may have a few better photos of these guys.

Also, hovering around the same pool of water in this portion of the Chihuahuan Desert were numerous ...


Flame Skimmer (Libellula saturata), s. Brewster County, TX

A day or two earlier we spent some time in the Davis Mountains, enjoying great birds and bugs. A few of the leps we came across:


Phaon Crescent (Phyciodes phaon) Jeff Davis Co.
We had a few Vesta Crescents (P. graphica) and later had Tiny Checkerspots (Dymasia dymas) in south Brewster County.

In the Davis Mountains the Satyrinids flying were

Canyonland Satyr (Cyllopsis pertepida), Jeff Davis County

This was a new lep for us and nearby was an equally new yet entirely uncooperative Drusius Cloudywing (Thorybes drusius). We were psyched about that species. -h did get a digi-bin of the drusius just for our records.

One bug we tried to turn into a Mexican Sootywing (Pholisora mejicanus) but just could not was

Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus) Jeff Davis County

The underside hindwing just was not helping our cause to make this bug P. mejicanus.

While enjoying all, and photographing some, of the leps we had Hepatic (Piranga flava) and Western Tanagers (P. ludoviciana) making their presence known along with Gray Vireos (Vireo vicinior) and Gray Flycatchers (Empidonax wrightii). The latter was a seriously excellent bird as its summer range in TX just touches the sky-island habitats such as certain elevations in the Davis Mtns.

More from this trip later...

feet

Friday's CBSP trip gave us post fodder for a looong time - so there may be a few installments of the April adventure well into May. Ah well, it's exciting! So in this post I'd like to offer you feet. Yes, feet. Other posts have included plenty of my feet, so Matt's are the primary focus... at least, the creatures that investigated his feet, anyway.



Impromptu foot model, indeed. The poor Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth (Lycomorpha pholus) inadvertently mistook Matt's ankle for a delicious spot to nectar (nectar as a verb = +4 points!) ...and you're saying "that moth is black and red/orange!" and you're right. But the name is still Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth (kind of like Ring-necked Duck, whose neck-ring is invisible, their names mock us).



Great product placement, I know. First we have a nice big TEVA label and now you can see the inside ankle strap configuration. Matt's old ones were falling apart (sole was delaminating), so these shiny new ones attracted... shiny new bugs. You can tell the bug isn't "new" because something has already taken a chunk out of its shell! Lest you think this sprinting creature is too cute, its common name is Caterpillar Hunter (Calosoma scrutator). Had Matt wiggled his toes, they may have become a snack! Kidding there, I hope, but how ridiculously awesome is that name?? Unless you're a caterpillar, anyway.



Now, the pour off where Matt and I first lounged in July of 2007 is absolutely gorgeous. The biodiversity along this stretch of Colorado River tributary is astonishing. We never did ID the two snakes we came across, since neither were close nor cooperative. One in the water was large and boldly striped (almost like a broad-banded water snake, but not quite) and the tiny fellow streaking through the forest was long and slender and had three pale stripes running its length. Ribbon? Garter? Could have been either.



The fishies that I've been so smitten with are either sunfish or bluegill or known by any number of common names, and the rather large Red-eared Slider was quite at home with them. But more cooperative than any of the aforementioned critters: little aquatic invertebrates. From a distance, the rocks merely looked slightly hairy with plant growth. They're not plants at all; they're thirsty freshwater fringes of invert life!



If you didn't realize that you were looking at a limestone pour off, you might be inclined to call them anemones. They sway in flow of the water and asynchronously bend as if the water was far deeper and insignificant in their wiggles.



Beautiful little foot-mouth creatures, no?



Leeches! Seriously, who doesn't love leeches?? Okay, most people don't realize how endearing they are. They are fish food, turtle food, bird food and on rare occasion, a slight inconvenience to humans. These are apparently fond of fish due to their cylindrical shape...

"The leeches that attach to people while swimming in Texas ponds and lakes are usually those that normally parasitize water animals but will affix to swimmers when attracted by factors such as movement. Their size is typically less than one inch long or at most one and a half inches. Leeches do not transmit human diseases and skin damage is considered quite minor. Leeches that are attached to people may be merely removed by hand or encouraged to release by application of table salt."

From the "Leeches In Texas Waters" pdf
S. K. Johnson, Extension Fish Disease Specialist
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Texas A&M University



So nothing to worry about. My right ankle showed a trace of blood when we got back to the Jeep, but it could have been a scratch from vegetation as much as anything else. But because it didn't want to scab and had no visible puncture, I suppose I did my part in supporting the food chain. Since Matt's feet got all of the other "visitors," it was my turn anyway!

Your bloodthirsty water-thirsty adventurers:

RGV wrap up

Weeks after our most recent RGV adventure, I think I'm down to the last post. All of the birding has already been covered, so this is simply a matter of highlighting our favorite B&B and visiting some friends in Kingsville.

Alamo Inn is essentially our home-away-from-home when we're in the RGV. Owner Keith Hackland and Office Cat Gordon are gracious hosts for birders and non-birders alike, offering incredibly comfortable and unique lodging on a quiet corner in Alamo. It's the closest lodging to Santa Ana NWR as well, so when I was an intern at SANWR, it's where my folks stayed. My folks had a wonderful suite - Matt and I generally aim for the smallest room because we'd stay forever otherwise. If we were any more comfortable there, we'd never make it out for the birding! You see the dilemma.


View Larger Map

Google maps indicates that Alamo Inn not just a B&B, it also has an "outdoor store" - just about anything a birder could need if luggage was lost or destroyed. There's a variety of optics, outerwear, reference materials, you name it. We're always a bit sad to leave, but on the bright side, we've got about 40 more years to make our annual winter pilgrimage to the RGV before we're too feeble... hopefully Keith's operation will still be thriving with a new set of folks at that time!

Anyway, our drive back north was highlighted with a visit to Texas A&M's Kingsville Serpentarium - we caught up with some long lost friends and learned about the venom research and how different parts of toxins can be isolated and used for medical purposes.



You might recognize those baby spoons: they're baby spoons. They're also wrapped with a thin layer of a plastic wrap type substance. They're labeled and sitting on ice because they've been used for "milking" a Coral Snake. (L) D tube-feeds a Coral Snake.



See? Tube-feeding a Coral Snake. And being watched by a rattler.


Examine the photo below. That's at D's house. Think about it.



For a close-up of one of the residents of that room:



It boggles the mind to think of how certain researchers live and breathe their work - it follows them home (dead birds in my dorm freezer comes to mind), but it's just a part of life. And every line of work is different. You know, I think I'd draw the line at venomous snakes in my bathroom. Dead birds and rehab birds are fair game, though.

Lest I leave you with nightmares from this post, here's Happy Puppy (for lack of a better name), the little fellow who serves as welcoming committee for the Beeville Northern Wheatear:

SW thumbs, day 8

As mentioned in one of the earlier posts, our visit coincided with one of the busiest two weekends of the year, Indian Market. Since Matt and I were both familiar with the blankets-on-sidewalk weekend sort of market, we decided to check out this giant fest of green chili cheese bread (sorry, ate it without pictures), fashion shows (too crowded to see), and absolutely mind-boggling pottery and sculpture and jewelery and paintings. Admittedly, there was one fellow who was selected for his feather work and a photographer posed the fellow where Matt and I had been sitting.



To backtrack for a moment, since we got there really early and walked a few of the side streets before delving into the crowds, I snapped a few quiet pictures: looking up towards a courtyard, and a set of adobe-clad french doors that still managed to produce a strong reflection. I do admire adobe construction because it tends to favor glass surfaces that are not as risky for birds.



I didn't photograph the crowd (we heard French, Spanish, some British accents, etc), nor the art - I hope the 2009 video will make up for at least the art portion.



On our way back from the market, we passed another fine example of local art. The Mona Lisa on the corner of the Paseo and Bishop's Lodge:



Knowing that our last day was all too rapidly drawing to an end, Matt suggested one final visit to Randall Davey Audubon Center. This time I managed to get a less blurry photo of the tricolored bumble bee (noted by its bright orange stripe) and the crazy white bees that seem to be Xeromelecta sp (methinks). One of our familiar Waco moths - the corn earworm moth - was there as well.



tricolored bumble bee (Bombus ternarius, Xeromelecta sp(?), corn earworm moth (Helicoverpa zea)

Finally, we also cornered a non-snake herp for the trip - a shy, but photogenic Five-lined Skink. Skinks are pretty much glossy lizards, extremely fast and often only detectable by the rustling of leaf litter. This fellow was basking at RDA's amphitheater, much to our pleasant surprise.



Five-lined Skink (Eumeces fasciatus)

As promised, this post does contain more exciting creatures than humans, insects and a skink. Hardly human, but the bestest SUPERhuman: Grandma! When we got back from RDA, it was time for dinner and we got to hang out with our cousinlet's favorite superhuman in the whole wide world. Hopefully she'll forgive me for intruding on her Grandma time...



Grandma time was followed by bouncy chair time, which was full of colorful objects that spun and could not be dropped or thrown. Happy noises ensued. The rest of us were even able to eat because she was so distracted.



The evening was also full of love. And waggles. And playing catch. And so ended our NM trip...



Matt's fan club: Blue (peeler of the tennis ball) and Bobby (Grandma's puppy).