I just come back from a 10 days trip in Southern Portugal and in the São Miguel Island (Azores archipelago). This trip was not specifically dedicated to fieldherping but before going there, I tried to collect some information about the common chameleon (C.chamaeleon, see viewtopic.php?f=24&t=846 for details) since I wanted to photograph the introduced population living close to the Spanish border. During my stay, I walked in the areas numbered from 1 to 4 on the two first figures, which were characterized by different habitats and climate conditions.
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Area #1:
Weather: Sunny and very hot (> 30°C in the afternoon), almost no wind
This area was centered on the Santa-Clara “barragem” which forms a large lake where you can find frogs, turtles (M.leprosa, 3 specimens observed in the morning and the afternoon) and lizards (many P.algirus). I was not able to find snakes directly around this lake, but was more successful nearby the rivers located in its surroundings. The first snake I saw was a reddish/brownish N.maura at around 7 p.m. It was swimming in a shallow river which was full of small fishes, frogs and also crayfishes. This specimen was approximately 60cm long and at first sight, seemed to be uniform in coloration. The second snake encountered was a molting and mid-grown H.hippocrepis, also observed in the late afternoon close to a river. According to the local people, this snake is frequently seen in this area and the high concentration of birds in this place could explain that (among others).
Area #2:
Weather: Sunny and hot (> 25°C), strong wind close to the coast
I walked in this region from Odeceixe to Sagres (furthest city to the South) in the “Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina” along the very nice coast (which turned out to be very windy too!). In principle, it should be possible to find V.latasti in this area (See for instance the map in http://books.google.fr/books?id=YJ8wV0R ... ti&f=false ) but I did not come across it. In the Eucalyptus forests, I had the occasion once again to find many P.algirus, a common yellow scorpion (B.occitanus) after flipping a large rock and several T.mauritanica basking on ruines in the morning. On the road leading to Sagres, I spotted a large DOR M.monspessulanus, a snake which is present all over the Portugal.
Area #3:
Weather: Sunny and hot (> 30°C)
I investigated this area to find common chameleons during the only real fieldherping session of my trip. C.chamaeleon is discontinuously distributed along the coast in the Algarve region (mainly), the biggest populations being close to the Spanish border. I started looking for them at around 9 a.m in the pinewoods and after 30 minutes of search, I discovered my first chameleon at 2m high in a tree. I then decided to move into the dune vegetation where I found 3 other C.chamaeleon in 1 hour. Below are some shots taken during this very good morning.
And to conclude with chameleons, just few words about the place where I found them: As pointed out by several studies, it is very close to touristic places and many people are walking at few meters from them (without noticing their presence, in general). However, they are suffering from a dense road traffic in summer, and this leads to a subsequent number of DOR chameleons.
Area #4:
Weather: Sunny, hot (> 25°C) and humid
São Miguel Island is also known as the “Green Island”, which is completely relevant as can be seen on the pictures below. Unfortunately, the herpetofauna on this relatively young and geographically isolated island is quite poor. To my knowledge, one could find only the following species: T.carnifex (not seen), T.scripta (introduced, not seen), P.perezi (abundant everywhere on the island), T.dugesii (introduced in 19. century according to Rudolf Malkmus’s book, can be found everywhere on the island at low altitude) and maybe P.ridibundus and P. kl.esculentus (to be confirmed). However, this is largely counterbalanced by the beauty of this place.
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Guillaume
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