I finally get paid...

When almost every trap I open has a rodent to process...

Grasshopper Mice

They may be bitey and stink to high heaven, but you've got to admit grasshopper mice (Onychomys spp.) are badass:

1. They regularly hunt and eat scorpions, one of the few carnivorous New World rodents
2. They can turn off pain signals from scorpion stings
(Research paper at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172297/)
3. And they howl like wolves to advertise their territory

 

El Sauz Ranch

Arrived at El Sauz Ranch, which is located around Port Mansfield, TX. The ranch itself backs right onto the beach, although the murky waters on the bay side of Padre Island are a bit less picturesque than Florida blues and greens. The ranch itself is much smaller than San Antonio Viejo, and is made up of rolling dune grasslands, wetlands, mesquite, and oak woodlands. Lots of turkeys and nilgai, and sadly some ticks. Very beautiful place, though from the little I've worked there so far it looks like it's going to be an uphill battle. Our first big grid caught about 125 animals the second day of trapping (of about 180 traps)!

Turkeys near the ranch house at El Sauz

Bunchgrass area with lots of captures, was burned last summer

 Rolling grasslands on interior of ranch

Where El Sauz meets the sea

New species! Texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri)

 

Have yet to get a good photo of the nilgai, but they have a solid presence out here. Each day we've seen about 10-12, some in small groups. The males and females have different colorations, with males being more gray and females a rusty red. They harvest them every once in a while using helicopters, since they're an invasive species here and apparently taste good.

Also have seen another two rodent species, the hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) and northern pygmy mouse (Baiomys taylori), which I need to get photos for.

Next time off I have some more options of things to do, may go to Padre Island or down to Harlingen.

When our crew leader makes a consolation pie for tough field work...

 

Another week of trapping done! Though the daily routine varies, usually its constant bouts of checking and setting traps, interlaced with flagging new grids, setting up and taking down grids, and everyone's not-so-favorite, washing traps. I'm starting to get the hang of processing my "smammals", getting it done fairly quickly and not playing so much cat-and-mouse with the bagged mouse. It does taking a little to get used to, you afraid you're going to hurt them. They get a little scared of the big hand coming after them, but most times they figure out you're not a predator and chill out once you have them in hand. Loose procedure follows:

 

1) Slide mouse from trap into plastic handling bag (Ziplocs for me, some people use bread bags)

2)Weigh in bag

3)Check for recapture in bag (look for Sharpie colors on stomach)

4)Catch in bag and "scruff" (pinch the loose skin on the back of their neck)

5)Pull out and determine sex/reproductive condition

6)Use Sharpies to color code them or renew present code

7)Release and weigh empty bag

 

So far I've found the grasshopper mice are the most fierce, and they're definitely bitey. Must be because they're used to hunting, and hunting sometimes dangerous stuff like scorpions. 

 

Ord's kangaroo rat in the grass after release

White-footed mouse being "scruffed" for handling

White-footed mouse after release

Merriam's pocket mouse

 



Made a trip to Rio Grande to get groceries, and have resumed working my shift. Tomorrow half of us head out to the other major ranch near the coast, El Sauz. Hopefully will see more cool stuff, maybe some new species. 

Flowers of S. Texas

Some flowers I seen blooming on the ranch, though I'm still trying to work out the IDs...

Prickly poppy (Argemone albiflora)

?

Winecup? (Callirohe spp.)

?

Microdwellings

Crazy ideas, neat execution. These places, usually about 200 square feet give or take, are pretty nifty. And stuff I apparently will obsessively look at on my days off...

http://www.fourlightshouses.com/blogs/news

http://thetinylife.com/

Rookie week continues

Still the rookie, but I've been getting better with the kangaroo rats. No escapes past couple of days, since last post. Their kind of squirmy in hand, and can kick pretty ferociously, but they don't automatically go to bite. Our crew closed that grid, so I'll soon be moving on to new territory in the northern reaches of the ranch.
In the mean time, I've had some new observed species, including the verdin (Auriparus flaviceps), white-tailed hawk (Buteo albicaudatus), black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus), and Merriam's pocket mouse (Perognathus merriami). With the verdin I thought I was seeing things, kept trying to look up warblers with yellow heads and red shoulders and getting nothing. Good to have a bunch of birders around: I described it and they led me right to it.
All in all I think I'm starting to adjust. Definitely not liking the random cold days, but the only way I can change that is by being prepared and sucking it up. The crew here is pretty nice, and we keep finding new ways to stay amused in the off-time, namely perfecting our card games, horseshoes, and water pong.