Now is the time to play in the Sonoran desert, before it gets unbearably hot.
April gets to continue radio-tracking FTHL and see giant bombs on occasion.
Our family took the scouts out (again!) for a night trip. Here they are posing by the Mexican border fence with a very nice glossy snake that had been crawling across the road. And although the bulldog picture might be considered graffiti, it's rather artistic in our opinion.
The following night, we took the Horrocks family out so Jacob could complete one of his Cub Scout requirements. We were lucky enough to track a flattail in the dark. Dallin is proudly showing it off.
Porter and Jacob with the horned lizard
Then it was SCORPION CATCHING TIME!!!
And we caught a shovel-nosed snake too!
All in all, we had a successful evening.
Random Photo Spot
We discovered a rabbit graveyard out on the Goldwater Range (we cheated and followed a group of turkey vultures). Apparently the military traps rabbits in orchards on leased land (that surrounds their bunkers and such) and dumps the bodies out in the desert. Anyone needing a good model for a comparative vertebrate anatomy class can contact us and we could probably get you a nearly complete rabbit skeleton.
One More Desert Outing
We forgot to mention that we've been collecting sidewinders for a locomotion study at Georgia Tech. Our friend Joe came out with some engineers to film sidewinders in the wild and pick up the ones they are taking back. We failed to take photos of him and his group in the desert, but we got one of Ian and his friend, Hyrum, with the shovel-nosed snakes we caught that night!
...and another small sidewinder!
