Greetings Fred, at al. &Ya shamed me into putting a bit more effort into it 
Heres some more nuggets & perhaps some useful txt from that long overdue sojourn...
Alamos Trip report 9.10-13.2004
This txt documentation initiated by John Gunn 9.17.2004. See also other jpgs bundled w/ this file in a folder named Alamos-9-2004.
EVERYONE HERPING THIS AREA NEEDS TO BE FAMILIAR W/ MOCCASINS & MICRURUS CORALES = Do not grab Sinaloan milksnakes by hand..A MISTAKE COULD & HAS BEEN... DISASTEROUS!
Local Biological Contact: Stepanie Meyer; For more information contact Stephanie Meyer, Natural History Tours, sameyer92@hotmail.com
David K, Dan J., & myself traveled to Alamos nearly non-stop on 9.10.04, a 12 hr. grind. Lots of Hwy. Patrol cars on Mex. 15, lots of toll booths too...we returned to Az the evening of the 12th, roadcruised the Ruby Rd & then camped out @ Pena Blanca, arriving mid-day back in the Phx area on the 13th. The trip was all of our firsts to Alamos Sonora, though Dan & I have been to numerous other locations in Mexico. Lots of cops ranging from local/state & army around Alamos, apparently this is a gateway to serious narco-trafficking area & eco-tourists need to stay near areas recommended by Stephanie Myer.
The weather in Alamos was warm to hot & very humid, it was not uncommon to step out of the truck & have ones glasses completely fogged! One morning was cool & relatively dry. One evening we had a heavy but brief "tormenta". The ground was damp, lower areas were flooded or muddy, mosquitos were an issue, tho manageable w/ OFF-DEET. Bufflegrass unfortunately was in many pastures & road edges. N. of Hermosillo; it is a disgrace what is happening to the lowland desert.
Alamos is apparently situated at the lower edge of the TDF veg. type. It apparently receives nearly 40" of ppt/annum. Likely largely in the summer monsoon. The area is apparently frost free, w/ many interesting vines & other flora examined, photographed & generally awed about. The columnar cacti growing in the limbs of the larger trees as well as up through the dense tangle of Burseras & various leguminous trees, festooned w/ flowering Queens Wreath or Morning Glory vines... created a spectacular floral visual in most viewsheds.
I had a long list of herps I was hoping to see, but I wasn't quite sure how many to actually expect. I think we did fairly poorly on herps., tho the trip overall was a hugely positive experience for all of us.
The only commonly seen saurians were Urosaurus & occasional Ctenosaurs [spiny-tails], largely green yearlings. One Anole was found as was a Calicephalus-type skink. The dense group of neonate zebra-tailed lizards on fluvial sediment bars along the Rio Chuchujaqui was a pleasant deviation from the norm of few if any feeder lizards in view.
One varanid was found, an adult male [DoR] H. horridum. It was located east of town on the dirt road leading to the Rio Chuchujaqui bridge. Pity.
One Chelonian was found, an adult male Spotted Box turtle [Terrepene nelsonii] w/ heavily scarred forelimbs.
On Anurans we probably did fair: Bufo xxx, Lepto...-xxx?, Rana xxx, Hyla xz,
On serpents we did terribly....DoR; 1 longnose, 1 nightsnake. We roadcruised after dark, during the AM's, & during the day. We did find 2 adult Drymarchon [Indigos] sheds along the banks of the Rio Chuchujaqui. David K. found a Tantilla under one of the many cover-sites he peered beneath!
The lack of snakes despite wet, late summer conditions [w/ a new moon] baffled all of us. Stephanie advised us of another group who had apparently faired poorly the week prior to ours. She also advised us that a large Indigo was seen basking by her front gate just the day before our arrival! On our return trip, we observed a live Pituophis, Masticophis piceus & bilineatus, & a Salvadora, mostly on the Ruby Road in Az. The lack of boas, indigos, vines, corales, & green rats still bothers me....the overall absence of rattlesnakes including DoR's is odd too. We noted a conspicuous lack of Thamnophis/Natrix along the several stream beds we walked all containing numerous tadpoles & fish.
Mammals...significant were grey fox, Mexican opossum, striped & hooded skunks, a few heteromyid rodents; pocket mice, K-rats [small]. Packrats, & Rock Squirrels were seen too. Few active rodent burrows were seen. Unfortunately, free roaming cats & dogs were commonly seen away from habitations while road-cruising at night.
Grazing of livestock & goats was apparent, but not nearly as heavy as it might have been.
Avian fauna was fabulous. Trogons, caracaras, black-vultures, greyhawks, a short-tailed hawk, gorgeous magpie-jays, Sinaloan crows, parrotlets, elegant quail, ground doves, & numerous beautiful hummigbirds reminded us we were truly in the tropics & made us look up often.
Once you're viewing this sign...you're about to explore an interesting area, complete w/ a live river, & canyon wall & terrace habitat. Heres is where we came close to the indigos...
One of our party absolutely horrified the other 2 of us by free-handling one of these horrible beasts, Id rather handle a krait!
I for some reason, was [& still am] blown away seeing organpipe cactus growing from the branches of this big Bursera tree.
See also Robichaux, Robert H., and David A. Yetman, eds. The Tropical Deciduous Forest of Alamos: Biodiversity of a Threatened Ecosystem in Mexico. 260 pp., 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, 19 halftones, 5 illustrations, 4 maps, 2000. Cloth (0-8165-1922-6) $52.00s.
See also http://www.desertmuseum.org/programs/yecora_fauna.html
