Just thought I'd share a pleasing encounter I recently had. I used to visit a section of land in southern NM to observe box turtles. Since moving away a couple years ago I barely ever get down to this area. I was in the region recently and decided to make a quick trip to check things out. Temperatures weren't optimal, but at least rain had fallen recently. Despite the rain, the area looks the worse I've ever seen it. Not much vegetation, and much of the existing vegetation sparsely leafed, if at all. Herp activity was sparse. The usual assortment of small desert lizards were few and far between. I encountered a small female box turtle foraging at the base of a saltbush. Looked closer and by gosh it looked familar to me! It turns out that this female was one I first saw 4 or 5 years ago. At that time she was a juvenile. It was great to see that animal. She was about 400m or so from where she was first found. Also saw an old male, I think he may be one I've seen before, but I gotta compare pictures. Found a perfectly intact, no sign of injury, large female, completely dried out. Guess she succumbed to the dearth of rainfall. She was sitting on bare ground near a system of kangaroo rat burrows that I've seen box turtles using before. Also found a turtle nest depredated by badger. ARG! Thanks for reading.

-ian

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