Expériences de travail sur le terrain (Field Work Experiences) -- By Princeton Vaughn

(Today's post is written by Princeton Vaughn, student at Ohio Wesleyan University).

Waking up at 5 am and the sight of urban landscapes was not what I had in mind when Dr. Gangloff said ‘field work’. Still, I greeted Dr. Gangloff and entered our conspicuously-marked OWU van and went to pick up Wyatt, another member of the GLARE lab. After some remarks about Dr. Gangloff loving this time of day (I’m more of a 12-3 am type person myself), we picked up Wyatt. Armed with his camera, he was ready to both catch and take incredible pictures of Podarcis in Ohio. After the 2 hour drive to Cincinnati, everyone was buzzing with excitement to catch some of our scaly friends. Our first location was Jim Terrell Park, a beautiful area next to a river. We didn’t find any Podarcis, but we did find a common garter snake basking in the early morning sun. She was beautiful, with a model-like presence as we swarmed her to take pictures.

A lovely garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) takes in the morning Ohio sun.
Photo credit: Wyatt McQueen

Moving on, we stopped at a roadside wall that looked promising. And it was! Unfortunately there was only one lizard, but we were so excited that we finally found one. We reached our next site at around 10 am. It was so picturesque, so natural, so beautiful. It was a little rock wall next to a four-way intersection. ‘I could’ve been in the mountains of France right now,’ I thought to myself, beholding this crummy site. But crummy as this site may be, it sure held a lot of lizards!

Our site in the Madisonville neighborhood of Cincinnati.

Unpacking our gear, we got to work. We retrieved our fishing poles (many people asked if we were going fishing) and started looking for male Podarcis (to eliminate the effects of reproduction) for my experiment. I saw this large male and I went for it. He actually tried to eat the slip knot, which I found amusing. I carefully maneuvered the lasso around his neck and...BAM! I caught my first lizard! Him being the first, we numbered him "Pm01." He is a beautiful male with a very long tail (to this day, he is my favorite lizard we have). 

Unfortunately, Princeton's huge smile is hidden by his mask.

Later in the day, after we caught a fair few lizards, I spotted one. A large male. He was sitting on the rock wall, eyeing me suspiciously. I decided then and there that I would catch him. I crept up on him, moving slowly as though I was a tiger stalking its prey. I positioned my fishing pole, moving it slowly but nonetheless closer to my target. My heart beating loudly now, I was determined not to mess this up. I almost had it and...ZIP. He ducked into a crevice. Dangit! I was determined to catch this lizard, so I decided to come back later. Later, he was out again. It was fairly hot out now so I knew he was warmed up and ready to run. This was my last chance. Again, I crept up on him and again, he eyed me. I moved slowly this time. By now, Wyatt and Dr. Gangloff were in the van processing the females for release. It was just him and me now. I slowly moved and, in the blink of an eye, he dashed away and stopped, still looking at me. I made another attempt and yet again, he dashed away, near the speed of light. 

Princeton stalks lizards.

Again, I made my move. Heartbeat roaring in my ears, I finally caught him! I shouted to my lab members in the van and I attempted to hold him to my chest, as not to suffocate him by dangling on the line. Finally, I caught this little guy. After so many attempts, I finally got him! As my lab mates rushed to me, I noticed the lizard squirming around. Turns out, when I held him, I loosened the knot around his neck enough for him to escape. And escape he did. I felt him wrestle free of my grip and I saw him jump off of me and run back to the shelter of the rock wall. I was defeated. I probably spent around 30 minutes just trying to catch this lizard and when I had him, I let him get away. I fell onto the ground, in disbelief of what just occurred. After sulking, we decided to name that lizard Nemesis.

After heading back to the van, I learned how to process lizards in the field. Releasing the females we caught, we decided that our collection of 4 males from this site was good enough, plus we were tired and sweaty. It’s a good thing we left when we did because, on our way home, we were caught in heavy rain. After the long drive home, we dropped Wyatt off and headed to the lab to process blood and set the animals up in their enclosures. After another couple of hours in the lab, we were finally done. I was absolutely drained. As soon as I got back to my dorm, I crashed out in my bed. Despite my luck with Nemesis, that first trip to Cincinnati will always be memorable.