alligator lizard - lagartija lagarto

We close the month off with a photo from this beautiful lizard that has a vague resemblance to an alligator or what I at first thought was a snake because of its long and slender body. It was not at all camera-shy.

"Alligator lizard", Gerrhonotus liocephalus (Anguidae).
More pics can be seen in the naturalista record.

lagartija lagarto sureña

harvest, dry, process...and analyse

August has been all about herb quality throughout the paddocks. More specifically, the nutrient and fiber content of both graminoids and forbs, as well as some shrubs. With this we're exploring the quality of forage available to livestock in open pastures and pine-oak forests. Half the samples are already in the lab, the other just arrived fresh from the field and is being processed.

sun-drying the plant samples

ready for lab analyses

lo and behold...

a giant earthworm!...exploring the above-ground scene.
Primordial snake-reflex asides, it was a really nice morning encounter.
We both went our way.

a bit coy, it shrunk with the airlift

biomass - forage harvest

Now that grass and other plants have started to emerge and grow with the rains, cows are back in the field feasting on available forage. We started to quantify how much that actually amounts to in terms of graminoids and forbes. We just carried out a first harvest (21-23 July), simulating how cows regularly feed in the paddocks, and are currently busy drying and weighing the biomass samples back in Ecosur.

one square meter of green biomass

the rooftop drying method