Pre Dawn Light

I never have been very good at getting up early in the morning. My Mom always used to have to force me out of bed to go to school and I certainly have no desire to get up in the morning in the city, especially as the vast majority of time it is to go to work - not a great incentive! But in the desert it is different, I am often up and out before the sun has risen.

 There is a wonderful gentleness to the early hours before the heat of the desert begins to take hold. The softness of air is matched by the softness of colours.

 I also love the opportunity to walk around our land and read the signs of who and what has passed our way during the night, it is rather like reading a nature journal written on the land.

A wonderful peaceful way to start the day and get in a positive frame of mind to face whatever the day may bring.

Nature Notes hosted by Michelle at Rambling Woods.

Cleaning Staff!

My husband had been sitting outside eating a granola bar and he had dropped a large nut on the floor. I went out after dark and happened to notice that the nut had gone.

It seems our local cleaning crew was hard at work. This adorable little pocket mouse had found the feast and wasn't about to give it up - look at his cheek pouch! That meal should certainly keep him going for a good while.

Feasting

There are virtually no fruit left on the prickly pears but this Cactus Wren found one of the few remaining and attacked it with great gusto!

He almost seemed to know that this would be one of the last until next summer.

And Bugs By Night

The last post was diurnal invertebrates so I figured I should feature the nocturnal ones now. In general they tend to be predominantly predators that gather around the exterior lights hoping for an easy meal. We have the regular 'fluffies', beautiful Arizona Blond Tarantulas. This one was a little shy. Tarantulas are nocturnal predators that never venture far from their burrows unless it is mating season. In winter they plug their burrows with soil, rocks, and silk and survive in a relatively inactive state. During this time the animals live off stored fat reserves.

A little later she came out of her burrow and showed off her full magnificence. Tarantulas have an interesting defencive capability in addition to venom. Some of the hairs on the top of the abdomen are specialised for defence. These hairs, are tipped with backward pointing barbs. If a tarantula is threatened in any way, it brushes these hairs into the face, paw or other body part of its attacker. Once these hairs are embedded, they are irritating and very difficult to remove because of the barbs.

 

  A slightly more intimidating predator is the Desert Bark Scorpion, smaller, easier to miss but significantly more venomous. The range of the scorpion is the Sonoran Desert, an adult male can reach just over three inches in length, while a female is slightly smaller, with a maximum length of 2.75 inches. The bark scorpion is particularly well adapted to the desert: layers of fat on its exoskeleton make it resistant to water loss. Nevertheless, bark scorpions hide during the heat of the day, typically under rocks, wood piles, or tree bark. Bark scorpions do not burrow, and are commonly found in homes, requiring only 1/16 of an inch for entry! And it gets better - the bark scorpion is the most venomous scorpion in North America, and its venom can cause severe pain coupled with numbness and tingling in adult humans, typically lasting between 24 to 72 hours. Temporary dysfunction in the area stung is common; e.g. a hand or possibly arm can be immobilised or experience convulsions. It also may cause the loss of breath for a short period of time. Due to the extreme pain induced, many victims describe sensations of electrical jolts after envenomation. Needless to say I took this photo on full zoom :)

 

  Another scary looking predator that is no where near as dangerous, despite it's name is the Tailless Whip Scorpion. Not actually a scorpion, to many it is still the stuff of nightmares and was featured in one of the Harry Potter movies! They possess medium to poor eyesight, however their pedipalps are modified and inward-adapted for grabbing and retaining prey, much like those of a praying mantis. The first pair of legs are also modified and act as sensory organs, while the animal uses the other six legs for walking. The sensory legs (whips) are very thin, have numerous sensory receptors, and can extend several times the length of body. Typically, the animal holds one of these legs out in front of it as it moves, and uses the other to probe the terrain to the side. But fear not, they possess no venomous fangs and they rarely bite if threatened. Don't be tempted to poke them though as they can grab fingers with their pedipalps, resulting in a thorn-like puncture injury.

And to end with, something less fearsome! This is a Mesquite Twig Girdler and it might not be scary to humans but you can be sure that Mesquite Trees are not keen on this little character! The adults emerge in August as the monsoon season is winding down, mate and then select a mesquite, or sometimes an acacia, as home base. The female then proceeds to chew a ring around a twig, stopping the flow of sap and eventually causing that part of the twig to die. She has prepared a nursery for her offspring, allowing her to lay eggs in the dead part.

Sweet dreams everyone :)

Nature Notes hosted by Michelle from Rambling Woods.

Bugs By Day

The monsoon has passed but there are still a few invertebrates that remain active around the yard. Arizona does remind me of Africa in many ways, not least of which in the aspect of there seeming to be no such thing as a small bug! Not true of course, there are a myriad of tiny critters but there is also a profusion of large scale characters that to many are rather creepy. This Robber Fly for instance was well over an inch and a half in length. These voracious predators are well adapted to desert climates, where they are known to thermoregulate in response to temperature variations throughout the day

And the distinctive Horse Lubber is hard to miss. Its big and noisy and when the males take flight they have bright scarlet wings. A relatively large grasshopper species found in the arid Sonoran Desert of the southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. The species is unique in using its black colouration to thermoregulate and the vibrant colouration warns vertebrate predators of its unpalatability and allows the grasshopper to roost conspicuously upon desert shrubs.

I caught this pair of Cactus Longhorn Beetles in a moment of passion before the sun rose one morning! They feed on chollas and prickly pear cacti, and are known to feed on saguaro seedlings. Larvae bore into cactus roots and stems, sometimes killing more susceptible individuals. Adults also feed on the surface of cacti, typically emerging during the summer monsoon season.

And this one was just about to take the plunge into our pool, thankfully I was there to fish it out! Like many flightless beetles, these beetles have limited wing musculature with a rounded abdomen and thorax. Cactus longhorn beetles resemble and mimic the behaviour of noxious stink beetles.

Down and Up

The sky was spectacular last night, as the sun settled down below the horizon a whole riot of colours lit up the evening sky.

Then a fearsome cloud took shape looking very much as if it would consume all in its path.

 Slowly the colours faded and the mistress of the night sky appeared sailing across the velvet darkness.

But eventually she was consumed............................

That Fur Coat

What to do when you are a little rabbit wearing a snuggly fur coat and it is over one hundred degrees outside?

Well, you dig a little rabbit shaped trench under the shade of a big agave plant and you take a nice peaceful siesta!

And snooze away a hot Sunday afternoon.

Sorry about the poor photos but little rabbit was right outside our dining room window so I was shooting through glass whilst trying not to disturb him :)

A Family Visit

We popped out for dinner the night before last and while we were out my wildlife camera captured a family visit. When I first saw the picture I only noticed three Javalina, it wasn't until I cropped it that I spotted the fourth.

A Personal Favourite

You may have realised by now that I love Herps. They are not to everyone's taste I know but I really enjoy having them around and there is one particular species that is a personal favourite.
The Desert Spiny Lizard was the first close reptilian encounter I had when we first moved in. We had a group of people working to clear all the Buffle Grass that had taken over our land. It was a chilly winter morning. The grass was being bundled into bins before being put onto a trailer. I walked past an empty bin and saw a pair of eyes looking up at me. One of the guys had found a lizard and put it in a bin! I wasn't sure what his long term plan was for the lizard but I didn't want it kidnapped lizardnapped so I asked if I could move it. The lizard was cold and so very sluggish so it tolerated me lifting it out of the bin and carrying it to a warm sheltered spot to thaw.

 Ever since that day I have been smitten! This one lives outside our bedroom and each morning is perched on the same rock, catching the warming rays of the rising sun.

And this one hangs out by our kitchen window. He has a favourite tree where he rests up during the heat of the day.

And this wily character sits under the outside light at the front of the house and feeds on the insects that come to the light.

I love my scaly neighbours.

Nature Notes hosted by Michelle at Rambling Woods. 

The Family Unit.

They are certainly not a rare sighting in my yard but how can you not love these little charmers? They are not particularly smart and they fuss and chatter all day long but they are such a ubiquitous part of the scenery round here. When we first viewed the house, long before we purchased it, the first species I saw was the Gambell's Quail and so they were the very first post on this blog and I continue to photograph them year in, year out.
The chicks were a little late appearing this year but here are a few that I managed to get some shots of last month, just when they were getting to that scruffy, adolescent phase.

Here are Mum and Dad introducing one of their youngsters to the delights of the quail block.

And showing them were to pick up spilled seeds from under the feeders.

Checking out the yard from the wall, before dropping in for lunch!

 Remember those dreadful school photos that we all have hidden away somewhere? Is this the quail equivalent I wonder? We all 'grow into it' eventually!

So small and vulnerable

Good job Mum is keeping a good sharp look out for potential danger.

Three little bundles of feathers, so perfectly camouflaged but they've all got their heads down, I hope Mum is keeping watch close by.

Nature Notes hosted by Michelle at Rambling Woods

Multiplying

All the jokes have been made about how quickly they reproduce and maybe if I was planning on ploughing up my beautiful desert landscape and planting lots of vegetables I would be less keen on these little guys but for me they are just a part of a balanced ecosystem. If all the predators were to disappear, heaven forbid, then I am sure we would be very quickly over run but thankfully we have a strong population of snakes, hawks, owls, bobcats and coyotes so all is well.

So I can happily watch the rabbits foraging outside the office window without being concerned about priceless petunias.

And when the little babies appear I don't moan at the thought of lost plants

Instead I respect these little fluffy bundles for surviving in such a harsh climate where food is scarce and danger is plentiful

And if they do appear to be multiplying at this time of year I know that is natures plan, to keep others fed.

I enjoy their long-eared antics and who can resist this little one?

Detective Work

I had seen them swooping back and forth across our land but with their constant motion I couldn't know for sure if they were breeding here. One afternoon I heard their familiar strident chirping and looked up to see a family unit using the nearby power lines as a rest stop. My hunt was on - did they use one of the saguaros in our yard to nest?

As the Purple Martins swooped and swirled overhead I walked quietly through the vegetation watching the parents teach the fledglings how to become masters of the air. The male settled again

 

He stared down at me with his intense jet black eyes then the female called to him and settled close by.

 
She was clearly a little upset by my presence which made me think that her nest must be close by. Of course I didn't want to unsettle her so I walked away and let her settle and quieten down. There was a group of three giant saguaros close by and my suspicion was that her nest was somewhere there. I stayed a safe distance away and sure enough when she had decided I was far enough away she returned to her family and I had my perfect photo op'.

Thank you so much Mrs Purple Martin for letting me share you secret and thank you for making me feel so lucky by choosing this spot to raise your family.

Nature Notes hosted by Michelle at Rambling Woods.

A Natural Model

The Thrasher is often overlooked as a rather plain, brown bird but I enjoy them and the very best time to photograph them is in the soft evening light. They have such a dramatic silhouette.

This one was perched atop a dead Saguaro and the light just caught his eye as I raised the camera.

A perfect model.