My buddy Roger Repp is carrying out long-term studies on Gila Monsters, Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnakes, and Tiger Rattlesnakes. He uses radio telemetry to locate animals with implanted transmitters, whereupon he notes their location, temperature, behavior, etc. I first got to tag along on one of these sessions in May, at which time one of the Gila monsters and a couple of the diamondbacks were cooperative enough to be out and about when we went looking. The tigers were not so photogenic at that time; we looked for two gravid females, "Gracie" and "Kim", both of whom were nestled deep in some rock crevices. By contorting my body and staring at just the right angle, I could barely see about an inch of Kim's flank. Gracie was completely underground at the time. That glimpse of Kim was my first wild Crotalus tigris sighting, but such a weak one that I didn't list it here

In August I joined Roger again. Since my last visit, both Kim and Gracie had given birth and were now spending a lot more time on the surface. The first one pictured here is Kim; Gracie is the shy one hiding her head.

On my final morning in the Tucson area for this trip, I took one last early morning hike in beautiful Sabino Canyon, where I spotted this rather plain Crotalus tigris lurking beside a small trail, perhaps one used by appetizing rodents. This was the first Tiger Rattlesnake that I personally discovered, so it was a nice end to a great trip.