Colin Donihue

At my last post I was on Paros waiting for the winds to die down so we could get out to survey the experimental islets. Well, they never calmed. While I think we could make the kayak across the straits in one piece, the lizards are wisely hunkered down and we really can’t expect to get a decent count. So, instead of twirling our thumbs on Paros questioning the whims of Aeolus, it was back to Naxos to fill in some gaps in my lizard data from last year.

First though we had to try out the kayaks. It’d been a year and I couldn’t wait to get them set up again.

Here we are on our way to Paros… undaunted as of yet by the wind.

Just a pretty kayak shot against a beautiful cycladic door.

All set up and ready to get their first taste of Mediterranean this year!

Kayaking around the ramp and into the wind.

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The first effort on Naxos was to survey herpetofauna in the lush northern valleys of the island. I should have taken some more landscape pictures – I was too busy flipping rocks – but we hiked a beautiful stretch of flowing stream with tall trees and diverse understory flora.

Here’s a beautifully built old stone house. I’m not sure if it belonged to a miller or to a shepherd but it’s withstood countless decades and will no doubt last decades yet.

One particularly exciting find near that stone house: this frog! Amphibians are hard to come by on the Greek islands. Most of the isles don’t have enough consistent water to support an amphibious lifestyle. This fellow’s name is Pelophylax kurtmuelleri. We were very excited to catch it!

After that survey it’s been 100% Podarcis. We’re stomach flushing again to get some more information on the diet of the lizards. We’ve already caught over 60 individuals and we’ve our eye out for a few more soon!

Finally, here’s a pretty erhardii from the field.