Month: May 2023

Still Heading North

I left Valley of Fires on Saturday and drove north into Colorado, stopping for the night at the Timpas picnic area. Timpas picnic area is actually a Forest Service (Comanche National Grassland) picnic area/campground of sorts, there are some picnic tables, shelters, a restroom, interpretive signs, and best of all, some pretty good birding. It was here, many years ago, that I got my lifer Cassin’s Sparrow. I saw some again on this stop, along with abundant Lark Buntings, some Curve-billed and Sage Thrashers, meadowlarks, and others. For me, the Cassin’s Sparrow was the most interesting.

Timpas is open for camping and is free and quiet. There is no water and no phone/internet service. There is a railroad that runs close by, but every time I’ve stayed there the only train is an Amtrak that comes by around 8 PM. I left Timpas early this morning and drove to Red Willow State Park near McCook. I like this park but it sure is expensive, $42.00 a night. At least it is quiet. After free camping in the Sonoran Desert all winter, I shouldn’t complain.

I got some pretty good photos of Cassin’s Sparrows. They aren’t much to look at, but their song makes up for that. They fly high in the sky, like Lark Buntings, while singing.

I saw more Eastern Collared Lizards at Valley of Fires. This one is a large male but lacking any color. I’ve read about melanistic individuals living in areas of dark rocks, maybe this is one of them.

This is a blister beetle, *Epicauta atrivittata*. I saw a couple of them on the walls of the restroom at Valley of Fires. There isn’t much information on this beetle, it is known to feed on mesquites and some species of nightshade.

Also, at Valley of Fires, Red Barberry. The Apache ate the fruits and made a yellow dye from the roots.

I came across two different plants named after the same botanist, Augustus Fendler. I got curious about him and found out that he led quite an adventurous life. Here’s a LINK to a Wikipedia article about him. This flower is Fendler’s Desert Dandelion, *Malacothrix fendleri*.

And here is Fendler’s Penstemon, *Penstemon fendleri*.

Herps

Valley of Fires; More Lizards

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date May 17, 2023
1 Comment on Valley of Fires; More Lizards

I left the RV park this morning, undecided about where to go next. I had almost decided to make a long day’s drive but a check of the campground at Valley of Fires Recreation Area revealed several vacant campsites, one of which I took. My total miles of driving today is only 64 miles. This is a great campground, electric sites are $18.00 and with my senior pass only $9.00. I paid for two days. I stopped here a year ago and saw my lifer Eastern Collared Lizard, so I was hoping to see more and get better photos, this time of a more colorful male. Well, that all worked out and even more.

Almost the first lizard I found was this female Eastern Collared Lizard, just like the one I saw a year ago. Maybe it was the same one. It let me get very close.

I walked down a small canyon, and it wasn’t long before I found this guy, a nice male Eastern Collared Lizard. This one did not let me get close. He kept trying to hide on the other side of whatever rock he was on. I waited him out, after about half an hour he came back out. This photo was taken when a small cloud went over the sun.

Male Eastern Collared Lizard, another view.

Finally, he climbed back up on top and did some pushups. I took lots of photos in full sunlight. Now that I know where he lives, I may take the 500 f4 down there tomorrow.

This one was a surprise, a Twin-spotted Spiny Lizard. A lifer for me. There is another spiny lizard that occurs in this area, the Crevice Spiny Lizard, which so far has eluded me.

Birding Flowers and Plants Herps

Heading North

I left Granite Gap this morning. I’m currently at the Bosque Birder’s RV Park, near San Antonio, New Mexico. I took a short drive through the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge this afternoon. I was quite surprised that nearly all of the ponds are dry. There is a lot of water running through the ditches in the refuge, but I guess the management plan is for dry ponds for now. There is water in the Boardwalk Marsh and that’s about it.

A few days ago, I checked on the Great Horned Owl nest. The lone young owl was out of the nest, but it hasn’t moved very far.

A Greater Earless Lizard. This one is starting to develop some color, but it is not even close to the ones I saw at Big Bend National Park a few years back. Photos of those can be seen at the LINK.

I got some more shots of the Lesser Nighthawk, this time I got closer and in a nicer setting.

A couple of days after finding my first Round-tailed Horned Lizard, I found another. This one is so different in coloration and pattern, that one would almost think it was a different species, but it is not. The size and placement of the four cranial horns and the short, round tail with black bars is diagnostic.

There are some Desert Marigolds, *Baileya multiradiata*, in flower now. These are quite large and showy flowers.

Flowers and Plants Herps

Another Lifer

This is another species I’ve been looking for a long time. The Round-tailed Horned Lizard is the smallest of the horned lizards. It has a fairly extensive range across northern Mexico, New Mexico and west Texas, including this area of New Mexico, so I expected to stumble across it someday. I just didn’t think it would take this long. Finding horned lizards in general is mostly luck. This one seems to require more luck than the other species. Round-tailed Horned Lizards are masters of crypticity. Only when they move to get out of the way, does one see them.

A Round-tailed Horned Lizard. I got this one on a four-mile hike this morning. This species, like most horned lizards, can change its color to match the substrate.

The light was pretty harsh, but the photos turned out OK.

I also found this flower. I’m pretty sure this is Small Wirelettuce, *Stephanomeria exigua*. It may be another species of *Stephanomeria.* I’ll try to get an ID from iNaturalist.

Birding Flowers and Plants Insects

More Granite Gap Photos

I’m still here. The weather is pleasant, it is quiet, for the most part, and I’m still finding new things to photograph. I said it is quiet for the most part, but last week, there was an accident on I-10 east of Wilcox. A truck hit an overpass bridge and damaged it so badly that the westbound lane was closed. The traffic was all routed down state Highway 80, which goes right past me. I’m about 1/4 mile from the highway but it was still pretty noisy with all the trucks rumbling by. That lasted for two days. Most of the time there is very little traffic on Highway 80.

An Acmon Blue, living dangerously. Can you spot the crab spider?

A new species of cactus for me, Beehive Cactus, *Escobaria vivipara*.

One could almost pass this flower off as a bladderpod, which were extremely abundant earlier this spring. But it is later now, and I took a closer look. This is Golden Linanthus, *Leptosiphon chrysanthus*. I cannot find much information about it besides the name. It is in the Phlox family.

This strange plant is *Jatropha macrorhiza*, Ragged Nettle-Spurge. It is reportedly rare in the United States. It occurs in southwest New Mexico and southeast Arizona but is more common in Mexico.

I came across a pair of Black-throated Sparrows feeding this young bird that is fresh out of the nest.

A Lesser Nighthawk roosting. This is the first time I’ve been able to get a shot like this, in fact the first time I’ve seen a Lesser Nighthawk roosting!

*Mammallaria heyderi*, Pancake Pincushion. First one I’ve ever seen. During wet periods, the cactus will pull in enough water to swell up to the size of a basketball.

Mexican Cactus Fly. The larvae feed on dying cactus. This one is nectaring on Brittlebush.

Birding Flowers and Plants Insects

Exploring New Areas at Granite Gap

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date May 2, 2023
1 Comment on Exploring New Areas at Granite Gap

This morning I took off on a long hike to investigate a mountain I can see in the distance from the rim of the Peloncillos. The mountain had a sheer face with lots of large boulders piled up at the base. Looked like good herp habitat. In addition, the big rock face will run off lots of rain into the boulders at the base, therefore should be much wetter than most of this area. When I got to the scene, that is what I found. The mountainside is pure granite with a large jumble of boulders at the base. There are many types of plants growing in the boulders that I don’t see elsewhere around here. Most notable, lots of Soapberry. There is a butterfly called a Soapberry Hairstreak that I’ve been looking for, this could be the place to get it. I didn’t see any today though. There was also more Gambel’s Oak.