Rio Grande Cooters Revisited

We returned to Devil's River with Dan and crew to assist with the Rio Grande Cooter study again. It took us a while to get everything in order, so we were a bit late leaving Friday afternoon. Additionally, on the drive out we got distracted with. . .

another Western Diamondback Rattlesnake,

a multi-colored burro

standing on the side of the road,

[When we stopped for a picture, we learned that this was a very friendly burro!]

2 Texas patchnose snakes (Salvadora grahamiae lineata),

and didn't arrive until late in the afternoon. The rest of the crew had already caught 40+ Cooters by that time and were tired out, so we helped get dinner ready prior to the processing and data collection. Dan showed us the MASSIVE Gopher Snake that he had found on his drive out! It was HUGE and strong!

Kevin and I stayed up past midnight helping them process all those Cooters!

This was the smallest and the cutest of them all and is actually a different species
(a type of Pseudemys, but not sure which).

Even though the children had gone to bed much earlier, they slept in later than us.

Imagine that!

After breakfast, Christine took Kevin, Ian, and Erin 

to release some of the Cooters and go swimming in the Devil's River.

Dallin opted to stay and play with his new friend, Forrest, 

the son of one of the researchers from University of Austin, so I stayed with them.

We saw a Ground Skink and some type of Whiptail (couldn't get a good look at it).

Then I was able to noose a male Canyon Lizard (Sceloporus merriami), and 

Dallin noosed a female. The male has the darker coloration on its belly.

It was exciting to find more new species of lizards!

We needed to get back for our Sunday commitments, so we left late afternoon.

On the drive out, Kevin stopped to photograph this old Scout Memorial.

And when we were back home unloading, 

the missionaries stopped by for a visit and asked to play with our critters. 

This is Elder Atagi holding Charcoal.

Blog Resurrection: Our First Texas Research Outing

Perhaps blogging was killed by Facebook, or maybe it was simply that our lives got increasingly busy and difficult, or maybe our dinosaur computer was just too much to deal with. One way or another, this blog has been silent for a couple of years. We were going to send out an email with lots of pictures documenting our first research adventure in Texas, but there were just too many photos. Hence, the resurrection of Flattail Family Adventures!

We accompanied Dan Foley (the other Sul Ross biologist and fellow grad student friend from our USU days in Logan, UT) and his group out to Devil's River (about a 2-hour drive north of Del Rio) to assist with a research project with the Rio Grande Cooter (Pseudemys gorzugi).

The Nature Conservancy owns the facilities where we stayed, and they are deluxe! They are primarily used by TNC donors but are also available for research scientists. Six bunk huts, complete with cots and mattresses, tables and chairs, and fans (for the summer months), line the roadway to the main building. We stayed all together as a family in one hut.

The main building has a HUGE kitchen with 2 refrigerators, 2 dishwashers, 2 giant preparation tables, a nice stove, and fully furnished with cooking equipment, dishes, cups, etc. Another outbuilding has flush toilets and showers with HOT water. A deck with a fire pit area overlooks the scenic Dolan Falls.

Friday afternoon, Kevin helped canoe during radio telemetry while the rest of us walked alongside the river.

Christine (Dan's wife and biology professor at Southwest Texas Junior College) attempted teaching us the new vegetation, but we have since forgotten most of the names of the plants. She said she would email us a list later.

Our trail soon started disappearing into the water, so we removed our boots and went wading. The limestone foundation was hard on the feet, not to mention we were introduced to saw grass (aptly named). We made some new memories hiking to the head of Finnegan Springs and beyond, returning with new bruises, scrapes, and the knowledge to bring water shoes or sandals next time.

Raccoon tracks in the mud

We went back to the cabin area where the crew prepared to catch turtles in the pool and river below Dolan Falls. 

Since the cooters feed on algae on the bottom of the river, you cannot set and bait traps for them. The method of catching is to grab them while swimming in the water, but the turtles are very fast with their webbed feet, and they can spend a lot longer under the water than a person can. Using scuba fins, Kevin dove and swam with Dan, Andrew, and Sash (sp? never asked how to spell his name, it's Indian) and had beginner's luck, catching a large female with a radio transmitter! He was pretty ecstatic! There are only 5 turtles with transmitters in the falls area and this female was about 30 ft below the surface. 

It was tiring work, and in the end they caught 12 turtles total (Dan and Andrew were responsible for all of the other 11). We helped put the turtles in laundry bags to await processing.

We took the cooters back to the field station for data collection. New individuals were given a PIT tag, measured, weighed, had blood drawn, and had notches carved into their scutes. They were released afterwards.

Saturday morning began with fishing! Kevin attracted a gar, but it didn't take the bait, and we all saw another fish come close to the surface. Alas, nobody caught one.

Dallin drew a picture of a cooter in his nature notebook.

Later on, the crew took the canoes south of the falls to try to find the remaining 4 transmittered turtles. This time Ian got to utilize the skills he learned from his canoeing merit badge, and he accompanied Dan. They ended up catching 4 more turtles, 2 with transmitters (they used the telemetry equipment to get the canoes right over the turtles, then Andrew dove in and searched).

Not as charismatic as bear cubs, but at least turtles hold still and show up better than horned lizards for taking fun pictures!

Erin insisted we go swimming in the shallows before leaving, which resulted in what Dallin later called "Another Wild Adventure Across Sharp Rocks."

On the drive out we had two exciting reptilian moments! First was a Baird's Rat Snake (Pantherophis bairdi). This is the first rat snake we have ever seen in the wild, and we all had some fun with it before letting it go. 

Just a few minutes later we spotted a large Western Diamondback! Kevin had seen Crotalus atrox in the wild before, but this was a first for everyone else, plus it was an impressively large individual. And with that tail, we end our tale!