Sonoran Desert Wildlife
What’s that sound? What did I just see scurry under that rock? Is that branch moving?
The sound you just heard was a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus). Swooping down to get a mouse. What you just saw out of the corner of your eye was a Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister). They are comfortable hiding under rocks. And yes you did see that branch move. If you were looking at a Creosote Bush you might have seen the elusive Desert Clicker (Ligurotettix coquilletti) it looks like a grey grasshopper. Blended perfectly in with the greyish branches. Or, if you were looking at a branch on a Mesquite tree you might have seen a Lucy’s Warbler (Leiothlypis luciae). At only 4 inches long with a pale underbelly and a light grey back and wings, to top it off with a spot of rusty feathers on its cap and rump.
All hours of the day and night are alive with wildlife. From the cute ground squirrel, to the black light glowing scorpion. But for us, it starts with an early morning walk, coffee in hand to look for tracks in the dirt. We find tracks from rabbits, lizards, snakes, ground squirrels, roadrunners, javelinas, dogs, cats and a few others we have not identified yet. It is alwasy facinating what wanders in the evening while we are asleep.
During the day we will see roadrunners running across the drive, stop to look at us and then continue on. Cottontail rabbits hopping along. Lately, they have been making warrens throughout the property. Much to our chagrin, they have been making them at the base of the trees.
Ground squirrels are always seen at the base of creosote bushes. Nearly every Creosote bush is growing out of a large mound, full of holes. During the hot summer months, all of the creatures are looking for water. The monsoons were not plentiful this year but when we did get it, it would fill up empty pots about the property. Twice we had to rescue a ground squirrel out of a pot. Such a cute little thing.
Lizards are everywhere. Always crawling by rocks, wood piles, on trees, running in front of you. or surprising you when you pick up something off of the ground. Most of the photos were taken during the colder months when we have been cleaning up the property. We find them sleeping under the wood pile or by a tree we are trimming. The largest lizard we have picked up so far was the Desert Spiny Lizard. They have an amazing colored belly of blue, teal and green. The other lizard we find a lot, that is always a surprise is the Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos). So cute and curious and a great help at keeping the ant population in check.
The next population which luckily we do not see very often, are the snakes. One spring morning we found a Red Diamond Rattle Snake (Crotalus ruber) sunning on the top of a branch pile. Since it was a chilly morning we left it there to get warm. We came back later and he was gone. We have seen a few Kingsnakes (Lamropeltis getula) , and Gophersnakes ( Pituophis catenifer). The best scare and rare sighting was when Dave was doing maintenance on the septic tank. He saw something move in the water. “What the fuck was that?!?” He figured it was a snake and got the snake stick. It took a few tries but he got it out and put it in a bucket. Took some water to rinse off the yuck. To his surprise it had a black head that speckled down to the rest of the body which was a pale pink. Almost like it was sunburned. He showed me a photo of it and I looked it up. It was a Coachwhip. (Masticophis flagellum) When it let it go it was as fast as a whip down a ground squirrel hole.
There are insects everywhere. You have the normal flies, bees and mosquitos, but there are some cool ones too. Like the Creosote Katydid (Insara covilleae) These elusive creatures blend in perfectly with the lights, shadows and colors of the creosote bush. I was lucky enough to see one at night, only because it was not on a bush. It was on the door of the RV. Praying mantis are cool to find too. We found the little one that you see in the photo next to our foot when we were taking a break. Picked him up to take a closer look. What made the experience even greater is that there were lots of flies buzzing around and landing on us. One fly landed right near the mantis and he swooped it in no time. And then had a feast. He actually caught about 4 flies and then went on his merry way.
Scorpions are scary and cool. Scary because they can be anywhere, anytime, day or night. They blend perfectly in with the ground. But they mainly hide under things. (So be careful when picking up wood or rocks. ) At night is when the fun happens. A good black light, a night stroll about the property and BANG. Glowing Scorpions. We have found baby ones to large ones. (Hence the steak knife next to one) They will only charge if you provoke them. Otherwise they are scared of humans.
The most surprizing creature we have found is the Western banded gecko (Coleonyx variegatus). Usually one would picture them in a tropical setting, not in the hot desert. But to our surprise, there was one at the base of a mesquite tree. We gently picked her up to get a photo (since we didn’t know what genus it was ) After we got our fill of cuteness, we put her down and she ran and hid in a crack of the bark of the tree. Hence we named that camp site The Gecko.
There is wildlife all around the Sonoran desert. Sometimes we just don’t have our camera with us. But someday, I will post another blog with more photos. I hope you enjoyed this trip into some of the creatures we have encountered.