Arizona
-
Desert Varnish
The “varnish” here, looking a little like apparitional tree trunks, is made up of clay, iron and manganese oxides, and some organic material. And time. The darker it is, the more manganese, a mineral rare on the planet. In some accessible areas, this thin layer can be chipped off to reveal the lighter rock beneath.…
-
DUE
At Cedar Breaks, a Ranger gave us a good mnemonic for the geological history of the Colorado Plateau: “Cedar Breaks is due for a change” with “due” initialing for deposition, uplift, and erosion. Ancient lake and sea beds heaved up and then slowly, differentially, whittled away…. Bryce Canyon in the fog. Not actually a canyon,…
-
Reptiles
There were a lot of lizards, which you would expect for a desert. They are tough subjects to photograph, though, being such dashers and darters. I got a few: This Garter subspecies was unfortunately run over by an earlier vehicle. Still kicking here, but extruding innards elsewhere, so it may not have made it.
-
Mammals, Too
We were pretty much surrounded by a Gunnison’s Prairie Dog colony, and heard them call from the meadow across the stream. A couple were sitting upright in the distance. Then a herd of Elk (Cervus elaphus) charged across the colony, surprisingly quiet, through the stream and into the misty meadow beyond. We also saw two…
-
Tarantula!
I think this is a male Arizona Desert Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes), also known as Arizona Blond Tarantula because of the female’s coloring. Our intrepid, and hawk-eyed, guide Jake swerved the van out of the way and then backed up to coax this spider onto his hand. And then, up his wrist.The males wander over a…
-
Birds II: Life Species
My cup overfloweth, and I didn’t have to leave the continent, much less travel south of the U.S. border. Cinnamon Teal:This is a female, with her very N. Shoveler bill. Neotropic Cormorant, smaller than our familiar Double-crested, with a pronounced white < chin patch. Eared Grebe:In breeding plumage. And below, another in non-breeding: White-faced Ibis.…
-
Some More Southwestern Insects
The largest beetle I’ve ever run across. It was wider than my thumb. Giant Palm Borer? Like the butterfly below, this dragonfly, a Pale-faced Clubskimmer (Brechmorhoga mendax) I think, was deceased.Queen male (Danaus gilippus) and the spider who caught him. This stink bug — genus Eleodes? — has assumed the position and is ready to…
-
Under A Big Big Sky
Petrified Forest National Park.Amid the lithified remains of an ancient forest, where the pebbles themselves were essentially petrified mulch, a moving white fluff on the ground was identified as a Thistledown Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla gloriosa), which is actually a wasp. The female is wingless and furry white, like the seedpod of a creosote bush or…
-
Birds I: Some Old Friends and Variations
I joined Wings Birding Tours for their tour of Arizona and Utah, Fall Migration in the Canyonlands. The tour superbly combined birdwatching with some of the most spectacular landscapes in the Southwest. I recommend it.On our first day on the road, we visited Boyce Thompson Arboretum, east of that sun-baked madness known as Phoenix, and…
-
Ol’ Number (3)54
The Navajo Bridge crosses the Colorado River at the narrow, northeastern start of Grand Canyon National Park, under the escarpment of the Vermillion Cliffs. Those are rafts down below in the not so muy colorado water. Next to the road bridge runs a pedestrian bridge, from where these shots were taken. I didn’t make it…
Backyard and Beyond 