Last weekend was supposed to be the weekend where I don’t go herping. My brother is in town and I planned on wasting the entire time drinking and eating horrible things. Friday night went well, but by Saturday morning at 8 a.m. I was halfway up a mountain North of Phoenix.
The place kind of sucked. There was automatic gunfire from pretty much every direction. I realize they were most likely shooting at targets placed up against hillsides, but that’s a lot of trust to place in people. The other established trails were equally occupied with the most redneckingest redneckmobiles and douchy mountain bikers with their silly little hats and “I’m so much better than you” neon spandex.
I only found two things that I felt like taking pictures of.
First was a nice tarantula crawling across a wash; the first I’ve found this year. I’ve since seen two more, and will see hundreds more by years end. I wish I knew how to differentiate species.
The next thing was this Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister) that I was able to sneak up to within a foot or two of before he woke up and bolted.
I also saw a lot of Tiger Whiptails, though I didn’t stop to photograph them. I like them. They don’t seem as good as the other lizards at disappearing into the brush. Usually when I’ve disturbed one, it crashes loudly through the grass and makes no attempt to hide its location.
Tags: arizona, desert spiny lizard, douchebags, Field Herping, Photography, sceloporus magister, tarantula
