I’m an author and wildlife videographer who is fortunate to live next to some pristine wild desert (the Haley Hills) managed by the Bureau of Land Management in northwestern Pinal County, Arizona.  Specifically, the area is about 50 miles southwest of Phoenix and about 2.5 miles directly east of the Maricopa Mountains Wilderness in the Sonoran Desert National Monument.  The Haley Hills is a diverse and ecologically rich wildlife corridor to those areas and a significant xeroriparian habitat, as it includes a major portion of the Vekol Wash. 

Each year in the spring and early summer, we are blessed with at least 2-3 Gila Monster sightings on and around our 4 acre ranchette. This year, however, we've had 5 sightings in 7 weeks -– all within the same square mile area or less.  I’ve documented each sighting with photos and video except for one.  By comparing the stills I’ve determined that two were the same monster, and the other two were different individuals.  Scientists say that such frequent sightings are rare, so that leads me to believe that a healthier than normal population flourishes here. 

For the past year or so, we’ve seen a dramatic rise in illegal off-road vehicle use, due in part to suburban sprawl from Phoenix spilling over in this direction.  I’ve documented the damage extensively and have a blog and a page on this website dedicated to this issue:  (www.judykennedy.com/haleyhills.htm.)  I’ve been working with the Pinal County Sheriff & development department, Arizona Game & Fish, and the BLM addressing this problem.  The most that anyone’s done yet is to put up signs, which are largely ignored.  We may end up filing a petition with the BLM to get the access road closed as it is no longer used by the ranchers.  In that event, we need to gather whatever data we can. 

I’ve also sighted desert tortoise in the area at least 4 times, twice captured on video.  Those sightings in addition to the sightings of the Gila Monsters are within 30-100 feet of illegally made ORV tracks.  

Here is a brief summary of Gila Monster sightings to date:

1.  First lizard of the season was sighted in my back yard on April 29, 2007 in the morning:

It is the subject of my best Gila Monster video – Gila Monster in the Wild (several thousand hits on YouTube and other sites so far, albeit without music.)  It was walking among the creosote bushes and finally went into a burrow, which I marked.  In the past few years, I’ve seen other burrows on our property used by monsters but not this particular one.  I believe these burrows for the most part were initially dug by our prolific round-tailed ground squirrels.  

2.  Second sighting was on May 10, 2007, early morning.  Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead so I was unable to get this one on record.  This lizard was sighted almost exactly where I’d sighted one the previous year – crossing the BLM access road just north of the Vekol Wash.  This area is probably within 500 feet of our property. 

3 & 4.  Third and fourth sighting took place on the same day within an hour of each other--- May 17, 2007, also in the morning.  The first lizard was on the BLM land about 120 feet from our property and less than 200 feet from where the 1^st monster was sighted.

This monster stayed under the creosote bushes mostly, perhaps because there were hawks overhead.  In any event, we got them all on the same video which was pretty cool -- Gila Monster vs. Hawks.  After this same monster reappeared 25 days later, I named it “Glow” for identification purposes.  The second lizard of the day was sighted on our property, less than 400 feet from where this first monster was sighted.

I tracked it for a while, and it was heading right towards where the other lizard was, but then veered off to the northeast and disappeared into a dense bush on the south bank of the Vekol Wash.  This monster is the star of my Gila Monster’s Journey video.  Were these monsters rival males or a courting pair perhaps?  In any event, I got the second one on video crossing the road twice.  This video has descriptive narration.

5.  The fifth and most recent sighting took place on June 12, 2007, at dusk.  This lizard was crossing the front side of our property going northwest toward the BLM land.  You can tell it is Glow by the head markings.

Glow was headed in the same direction where he or she was sighted exactly 25 days earlier.  I don’t know if Glow went back to that same burrow, however, because she or he parked under a creosote bush on our property and didn’t leave until well after dark.  So I made a second video of Glow called Gila Monster Returns (with music.)  At the end of this video, you can see the dust cloud and hear the engines of some ORVs in the distance.  This monster was less than 30 feet from a road that the ORVs regularly use to get back to the BLM land.

Additional photos of all these beautiful lizards can be seen right HERE. 

The Gila Monster is a threatened species in Arizona and it is unlawful to harass or harm them.  But this is precisely what the ORVs do in my opinion.  I’m very careful when I video these guys – frequently using zoom and staying pretty far back when they’re walking so as to try not to influence them.  I’m proud to say that none of them have appeared bothered enough to hiss at me while I was filming.  Same thing with a rattlesnake I recently rescued from my dogs and set free: Rattlesnake (Mohave) in the Wild.  It rattled at my dogs, but not at me.  Don’t worry -- I stayed well out of striking distance!

Here are some great places to learn all about Gila Monsters:

http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_gila.php

http://www.desertusa.com/sep97/du_gilamonster.html

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/banded_gila_monster.htm

http://www.drseward.com/

ATTENTION HERPETOLOGISTS AND REPTILE EXPERTS:

If you have any idea about what may be going on here, I'd love your feedback on it.  Why am I seeing so many of these gorgeous lizards when such sightings are supposed to be extremely rare?  Any recommendations for further research?

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