Easter Weekend 2002

With a three-day weekend, we decided to head out west and to try our luck flipping for alterna at a friend’s property in Val Verde County. We also planned on attempting to hunt sheep (Aoudad & Corsican) there in the mornings, then to head up to Barnhart to check out a possible new deer lease, flip roadside rocks in the area, then meet my parents at our Coleman lease for Easter-egg hunting.

On the way out Thursday (3/28) night, we raced west hoping to get to our Shackleford County milksnake spot before dark. We just barely made it, but found few snakes: 1 Sistrurus catenatus and 2 Crotalus atrox, along with 1 Eumeces obsoletus and 1 Sceloporus undulatus.

On Friday (3/29) hunted sheep in the morning – I passed on a very large Corsican Ram, hoping to put Marla onto it since I had already taken a Corsican off the property in February. We herped around a bit, but only saw a few lizards – Urosaurus ornatus and Sceloporus merriami. We also found Bufo punctatus tadpoles, and heard some adults calling at night. We did get some good scenery/wildflower photos, and of course its always nice to be out in Val Verde County when the temps aren’t too hot.

here's Cheyenne exploring a limestone canyon	the paintbrushes were growing right out of the lechugilla . . .	here's a close up. I wonder if this species is a root parasite?
Red yucca is a common native ornamental that naturally grows wild in a few places in central Texas. Its range was once perhaps more widespread?	Bluebonnets are a common roadside attraction in Texas, but the sparse growth here amongst the sotol was very attractive.

On Saturday (3/30) we got up early and drove to Barnhart to meet a guy about a deer lease property. After we finished looking over the property, we headed over to our milksnake spot to flip rocks along the roadside. We found: 1 juv Lampropeltis triangulum (in blue), 1 juv Masticophis flagellum, 1 Eumeces multivirgatus, 2 Eumeces tetragrammus, and 3 Sceloporus undulatus. We also tried to look for some milksnake habitat in Sliecher County, but only saw what was probably an E. tetragrammus – none of the habitat really looked suitable. Arrived at the Coleman deer lease to find that Dad had caught a large adult female milksnake there.

Here's me with the little celaenops I found. He was in blue, so I didn't take a close up.	The many-lined skink is common in that area, but has a really limited and poorly known range in Texas. This is a typical one.
This is the adult female milksnake that Dad found at our Coleman lease.

Easter Sunday (3/31) dawned cloudy and cold. Cheyenne was not really very interested in hunting Easter Eggs. We left the lease pretty early, and hunted with Dad along road cuts in Coleman and Callahan County. We found: 1 Lampropeltis triangulum (juv male), 4 Sonora semiannulata, 1 Tantilla gracilis, 1 Masticophis flagellum, and 3 Eumeces obsoletus.