After making the comment back in October that I haven't seen many reptiles, I have made an effort to spend a little more time this Spring watching to see if my initial feeling was correct. Well, I have definitely seen more reptiles but still not in the numbers of my childhood. Not by a long shot.
A walk in the woods (across the street from my RV) has produced Anolis specimen but in small numbers. I can usually spot 5 or 6 in a half and hour walk. I used to be able to see dozens in that time period. I have seen a fair number in town (Gilmer) around houses.
My walks have also produced a few Five Lined Skinks, Plestiodon fasciatus, but I am still surprised that I am not seeing any Sceloporus in what I know is excellent habitat.
I also have been blessed with a breeding pair of Broad Headed Skinks, Plestiodon laticeps, who live in the stack of firewood next to my chair where I sit each morning and evening enjoying my view of the lake.
Last week I caught a four foot Texas Ratsnake, Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri.
I have seen several Broad-banded Watersnakes, Nerodia fasciata confluens.
A few days ago, I saw a Texas Ribbonsnake, Thamnophis proximus, at the lake.
While walking along the shore of Lake O' the Pines, I have seen a few basking turtles but not in large numbers.
Lately there have been numerous female Red-Eared Turtles, Trachemys scripta, apparently looking for a place to lay their eggs.
That is my inventory so far this year. I am seeing more reptiles than I saw last year but I am also spending more time looking. Then, too, it is Spring. I should be seeing a lot of animals this time of year.
But I stay with my earlier statement from last fall, the number of reptiles is greatly reduced from when I was active in the east Texas woods many years ago. It is not a small difference.
Michael is a former biologist and Texas Master Naturalist. Originally from Newsome, Texas (Between Pittsburg and Winnsboro), educated in Dallas & Garland schools, then off to the University of Texas system where he received a degree in biology and worked as a biologist with the University of Texas system. After many years away from nature and biology, he relocated to the banks of Lake O' the Pines where he has been rediscovering the joys of nature. He is somewhat surprised that he has become a birder. Most of his interest in nature was centered around reptiles. Perhaps just like birds evolved from reptiles starting in the late Jurassic, he has begun his own evolution. During his formal education, his interests in biology/nature grew to include community ecology and population studies, all with a binding of evolutionary processes. He liked birds, but they were secondary at best. All at once he finds them fascinating.
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