"Learn Your Lizards" Guided
Tours May 10, June 1, June 14, July 12
Arizona
Herpetological Association member and Arboretum volunteer Jerry Feldner is
our special guest tour guide for the May 10 "Learn Your Lizards"
guided tour at 8:30 a.m. Walks are regularly offered on the second Saturday
of each month during summertime, and these continue June 14, July 12, August
9 and September 13 at 8:30 a.m. There are also two "Sunday Special"
lizards walks scheduled for 9:30 a.m. (note the different tour time) on June
1 and again September 7.
Hundreds of Arizonans attended these popular
walks this past season, and were rewarded with a chance to spend a morning
alongside MCC Professor Dr. Andy Baldwin and other special tour guides who
teach participant how to find species such as the impressive Desert Spiny
Lizard seen in the photo at right, and also Western Whiptail, Side-Blotched
and Greater Earless Lizard. One memorable day we crossed paths with a Great
Plains Skink! Guides also include authors Tom Brennan and Andy Holycross.
Have
you ever stopped to wonder why Arizona lizards do those comical pushups to
display their "abs of azure?" Learn Your Lizard walks are a chance
to learn why. Mesa Community College Prof. Andy Baldwin is an expert on the
subject of lizards and scorpions. Participants in the guided walks this summer
had many chances to observe unique reptile behavior and learn why lizards
have blue bellies and other Sonoran esert adaptations. Dozens of entertaining
reptiles scurry across the main trail at the Arboretum, where a variety of
species are common and many of the lizards are more accustomed to people walking
by than their cousins out in the desert.
Mornings can still be hot in September, so wear sunscreen, a wide-brimmed
hat and carry a bottle of water. Carry along binoculars for a close-up view
of reptilian colors, and a field guide to reptiles if you own one.
Visitors
will learn the meaning of the word "herpetologist" and are likely
to see a variety of "herps," and perhaps even a handsome western
diamondback rattlesnake basking quietly in the shade near the Boojum trees
in the Arboretum's Cactus Garden. Reptiles around the Arboretum trails are
more easily observed than along desert paths where their survival depends
on being wary and furtive. Just
ask Dr. Baldwin:
"Plants provide lizard
habitat, and what better place can you go to find shady forests to open cactus
deserts where all the plants are in prime condition than the Boyce Thompson
Arboretum? For great lizard diversity in a one-morning walk, you can't beat
it. In a couple of hours walking quietly around the trails, we start to observe
not only the lizards that are present, but the ways they move, sit, and the
type of habitat where you can find them. These are bits of information that
become very useful in identifying the lizard species.
"Every lizard walk offers
different species given the time of day, month of the year, the trail you
take, the weather -- your luck that day -- and who knows what else? Last Summer
our groups saw Tree Lizards, Greater Earless Lizards, Tiger Whiptails, Desert
Spiny Lizards, and even Side-Blotched Lizards. Less common are Zebra-tailed
Lizards, Collard Lizards.... and maybe even a Gila Monster. Sometimes, if
we're lucky, we will see a snake such as a coachwhip, gopher snake, or rattlesnake."
Dr.
Baldwin is on the Life Science Faculty at MCC; this Summer he is the Acting
Department Chair. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Arlington
with a study of evolutionary history of reptiles and amphibians; his master's
degree at Appalachain State University in North Caroline with research on
scorpions in west Texas and his bachelor of science degree at University of
North Carlina at Charlotte with a study of the ecology of carnivorous pitcher
plants. Dr. Baldwin's publications in herpetology range from East Coast salamanders
to Texas geckos and even cobras in South Africa. His present ressearch is
on scorpions of the Superstition range.
Do you want to see more images
of native Arizona reptiles? Check out the great website:
azreptiles.com
The impressive lizard closeup photographs on this page are used courtesy of
our Arboretum friends and photographers Gale Racut and also Richard
Ditch. To see more of their work or inquire about copyright and reprinting,
check their websites via the links on this page.
Read more about Boyce Thompson Arboretum weekend
nature walks and EVENTS
