Photo-less Update :(

Hello!

So a bit of an erratic day off this week, leading to this update with no photos (sorry). I drew the short straw this week and worked until 7:00 the night before, so I ran for Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in the dark and crashed in the Jeep. I awoke in the morning, went for a short hike, and returned to find that I had developed a severe coolant leak. After some consideration I decided to cut my visit short to drive to town and get it repaired. And so I drove from the desert, heater on full bore and pouring precious water into my thirsty vehicle, only to discover that it was Sunday and all of the shops were closed.

The silver lining to this cloud, as it were, is that on the highway north out of Kofa I spotted a largish (4 ft) Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum) crossing the road. I slammed on the brakes and skittered to the roadside, throwing my laptop and other paraphernalia against the dash, and bolted after the speedy serpent. Sadly my encounter was short-lived, as he disappeared into some dense brush before I could get myself repeatedly bitten. Still cool though.

One more cool sighting to report. The sound of slithering today drew me to a hefty Western Diamondback, mostly concealed under some brush. He was making some erratic movements and tongue-flicking rapidly, and it looked to me as if he was trying to court a mesquite branch. Then I noticed the scared-looking juvenile that he was trying to do the nasty with, and all became clear. She was not pleased, but I was elated at my dirty, dirty discovery.

Anyway, that`s all for now. More to come...
Kyle