This was followed up by catching the very range restricted black-spotted newt.
Thanks to some afternoon showers, we were able to see some Texas tortoises.
This old guy below shows the typical wear the coastal tortoises undergo. The tend to obtain a shell fungus, and as they hibernate in woodrat middens they also
exhibit gnaw patterns on there shells.
Around the buildings at night, we would observe meditteranean geckos
and Rio Grande chirping frogs.
and a ribbon snake.
A neat find while searching through debris was a Brahminy Blind Snake, a parthenogenic species that has been introduced around the world.
Obvisouly the birders in the group went nuts being on the coast. Here are some herps gone bad:
Long-billed Thrasher
Green Jay
A tri-colored heron out fishing
and laughing gulls.
The laughing gulls were observed at a neat site for keeled earless lizards.
which occupy sand dune habitat
adjacent to the ocean.
After lizard chasing, and a nice swim, we observed this beached loggerhead turtle. Unfortunetly, it was dead.
The saddest part of this leg of the trip though was visiting the sable palm habitat along the Rio Grande. Thanks to the much needed (being sarcastic here)
border wall, we will no longer be able to visit this habitat as it will be on the Mexican side of the wall. That's right, The United States is loosing
millions of acres of land because the can't build the wall on the flood plain. How idiotic! Do we really need a wall anyway? So if you haven't
visited, do so soon so you can say goodbye to Sabal Palms and Black-striped Snakes!
