Gopher Snake Searching Cliff Swallow Nests in East Central Utah | Zendy

Nicholas J. Czaplewski | Zendy; Kent S. Smith | Zendy; John Johnson | Zendy; Crystal Dockery | Zendy; Brandon Mason | Zendy; Ian Browne | Zendy

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Gopher Snake Searching Cliff Swallow Nests in East Central Utah

Author(s) -

Nicholas J. Czaplewski,

Kent S. Smith,

John Johnson,

Crystal Dockery,

Brandon Mason,

Ian Browne

Publication year - 2012

Publication title -

western north american naturalist

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.303

H-Index - 34

eISSN - 1527-0904

pISSN - 1944-8341

DOI - 10.3398/064.072.0112

Subject(s) - cliff , canyon , climbing , nest (protein structural motif) , geology , eagle , geography , ecology , archaeology , biology , paleontology , geomorphology , biochemistry

. We report details of a serendipitous encounter in July 2010 with a gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer) hunting in the mud nests of Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota). The swallow nests occurred beneath a deeply overhung sandstone cliff ledge in a box canyon of Ferron Creek in the shale deserts near Ferren, Emery County, Utah. The inaccessibility of the nests and the movement of the snake to and through them attest to both the extraordinary climbing ability of the gopher snake and the nest site selection and nest construction ability of the swallows.

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