Desert Gazette

I haven’t paid too much attention to my little scurrying friends in the last couple years.  But lately I found that if I move slow, and talk low, I can sit down right beside them and have a nice little one-sided chat.

This first one is a common side-blotched lizard I became acquainted with during a hike to Keane Springs in Death Valley.

Just behind the right front leg is the identifying side-blotch.  It looks sort of like a halfmoon, or boat shape just inside the shadow.  I was sitting about 3 feet from him/her.  I told the tiny creature (about 6 inches long) that I wasn’t interested in eating right then and thank you for the photo op.

This is another common side-blotched lizard I found roaming around while I was hiking at Amboy Crater in the eastern Mojave.

This creature apparently had been attacked, maybe a year or so ago.  Most lizards have regenerating, breakaway tails.  This comes in handy when a predator grabs it by the tail. The lizard releases the end portion and runs off. The predator gets a little lizard snack instead of a full meal.  The tail eventually grows back as can be seen by the difference in texture on this itty-bitty beast.  Almost seems like a win-win for both predator and prey. Again the identifying side-blotch can be seen on the body just behind the front leg. The lizard was about 8 inches long.  Notice the difference between the design on the back of this lizard and the one from Death Valley above.  I told this animal that their home was in a beautiful place and thanked them for letting me enjoy it with them.  I was kneeling about 3 feet away.

This last lizard is a Mojave fringe-toed lizard I sat next to in a remote sand dune field in the east Mojave.

This lizard was about 9-10 inches long.  I sat about 2 feet from it while talking about how it was the longest, fattest, juciest, looking lizard of its kind I ever seen.  Notice the fringed, or extra long toes on the feet.  These act sort of as snowshoes keeping the tiny little feet from sinking in the sand.  Other features include reversed nostrils and interlocking eyelids.  Both of these help the reptile when under the sand, which they often are to regulate their sensitive body temperature.

I’ve never ate a lizard, but someday I might.

More about desert lizards

http://digital-desert.com/wildlife/lizards/

They are big and they look mean, but Chuckwallas (Sauromalus ater) are harmless herbivores feeding on desert flowers, fruits and leaves. Young chuckwallas are known to try a grasshopper or two, but usually stick entirely to plants by the time they are a year old. Chuckwallas get all their water from the plants they eat and never drink, even when water is readily available. Instead of urination to void their body of salts, these wastes pass through and build in their nostrils as crust which breaks up and falls out when the reptile exhales. They are adept at living in rocky areas under 4,000 feet elevation. As well as dodging into cracks of the rocks in which they live when threatened, they inflate themselves with air making it nearly impossible to remove them by brute strength.

http://digital-desert.com/wildlife/chuckwalla.html 

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I don’t have too much time, then yet I never do. But I just wanted to point out the new section on raptors/birds of prey.

http://digital-desert.com/wildlife/raptors/

The coolest thing (although there are many), is that they have three eyelids.  One movable from the top, one from the bottom and one from the side, a membrane which they use in flight to keep their big ol’ eye moist and protected in the wind.

Got to run, tomorrow I have a class, the Mining History of Joshua Tree National Park, at the Desert Institute.  I have a great time at these and look forward to them.

bye.

That didn’t take but a couple months before I lost interest in ‘blogging.’

So anyhow;

Updating:

Wildlife > Reptiles >  Snakes>

 Western Shovel-nosed Snake

There will be more to come and will be added above.  The latest frenzy of activity is caused by the momentum of adding a Joshua Tree National Park Reptiles page.

Just wandering…

They come out late at night, stand on their hind legs and scream…  (more…)

These creatures leap about precipituos cliffs and rocky outcroppings seemingly without a care in the world.  It is rare that a bighorn sheep will fall, but when they do, it is usually to their death or to an injury that will result in their demise.

Sometimes they’re lucky, (more…)

Before I get into this, “Mojave Green”, is a slang name for the Mojave Rattlesnake. I didn’t know that until a couple years after I moved to the desert. Sometimes though, the facts are just plain boring and a bit of B.S. can brighten things up and even change our lives.

(more…)

So, editing a section for the natural history of the wildlife of the Mojave Desert, I keep running into the phrase, “Avian predators.”  I think that sounds so cool!  In relation to lizards, such as the zebra-tailed lizard, this phrase keeps coming up.  I wonder what a red-tailed hawk or great horned owl would want to have to do with such a small meal? This is what I’m thinking when I read the phrase.  (more…)

The phainopepla is a pretty bird. I’ve seen quite a few of them at the Oasis of Mara in Twentynine Palms and flitting up and down washes where willows are plentiful. The males are jet-black with white patches under the wings, the females are sort of a blue-grey and both have the redest eyes I’ve ever seen on any kind of animal. (more…)

I’m continually impressed by the wildlife photos of Raymond J. Barlow. Inspired in fact; To the point where I thought, that maybe if I could do even 1/10 of that good I could use the shots I took on my web site.

Not so- in any way.

So I spent a few hours trying to capture some birds in flight. (more…)