Perhaps I am the alien? Being placed in New Mexico is quite the change of pace from southern Pennsylvania. Not knowing anyone, the heat, and the new wildlife were all challenges I faced and seem to be getting by. Working for the Bureau of Land Management is different as well. I am not used to the government providing water for animals or talking about oil drilling. The BLM wildlife sanction has three species of interest; Kuenzler Cactus, Lesser Prairie Chicken, and the Sand Dune Lizard. These organisms are candidate species to be threatened/endangered and with ranching, oil drilling, and power lines being more and more prevalent, these species need careful attention. I will be working with two New Mexico State interns on the Sand Dune Lizard.
Here is where my eastern temperate woodland biological background has a little voice. In Pennsylvania, I studied salamanders for student research and caught them on a regular basis for fun. There are so many species and they are easy to study. New Mexico has three species of salamanders and has more lizard species than they know what to do with. Pennsylvania has only 4 species of lizards and I have only seen one in person. Needless to say I have very limited lizard catching experience. So after I got settled in, I went to a park to investigate the local fauna (and flora). The abundance of lizards amazed me. Not only that, but they are incredibly quick. I didn’t even bother attempting to catch one, but merely snagged a few photos.
Work begins, and I have no lizards under my belt. Luckily we were assigned some other projects with fixing and cleaning water troughs, removing Russian Olive from a spring, and setting up trail cams before actually starting the program. When we saw a lizard and had a bit of free time, we tried to capture it. Thus far we are about 3/50. Some practice, but the tested lizard capture method will be demonstrated soon enough, we actually begin the Sand Dune Lizard project this week.
All in all, once we get rolling with the lizards, the more fun we’ll probably have. Also, no aliens as of now, depending on your definition of “alien.” Best of luck to all the CLM interns! Catch ya at the Grand Canyon!
Grant Izzo
Wildlife Intern
BLM-Roswell Field Office

Me with a Lesser Earless Lizard

Lesser Prairie Chicken