Category: Herps

April in the Sonoran Desert

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 6, 2024
2 Comments on April in the Sonoran Desert

It has been a very cool spring. I actually had frost on the truck this morning! Normally by now we would be seeing highs in the low 90’s. It looks like that will be coming next week. The Ajo area got another inch of rain too. Birding is starting to pick up, just in the last few days, Franklin’s Gulls, Vaux’s Swift, Swainson’s Hawk, and lots of White-faced Ibis have been showing up. I have a lot of new photos to post.

This is NGC 4216, the Silver Streak Galaxy. I have imaged this before (in 2021, see inset), but I wanted to do it again because of a type Ia supernova that recently occurred. It was actually reported back in January but it is still bright enough to show up. All of the nuclear firepower on Earth would seem like a firecracker compared to this Ia supernova, the explosion of a white dwarf. The supernova is marked with two red lines.

This is NGC 4450, a galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, about 50 million light years out there. It is small from our vantage point in the universe, but it is about 70,000 light years in diameter.

Here is Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks (2024), again. It is getting low in the west but still high enough to photograph. It is easy to see with binoculars. I used a 200mm lens this time, hoping to get more of the long tail. It didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, probably due to being only about 10 degrees above the horizon and some stiff wind I had to deal with.

There was another rocket launch from Vandenberg SFB last week. For this one I used longer focal length (135mm). It worked out very well with the sunset. Right click and open in a new window for a larger view. Mercury is seen just above the exhaust in the center, and the booster can be seen falling away from the rocket in the upper left.

In this image the booster is seen in the exhaust plume. Nearer to the rocket are two bright objects that are the jettisoned halves of the protective payload shroud (nose cone), according my message from Launch Alert. It is amazing what can be seen from 500-600 miles away. There is another launch scheduled for tonight.

This morning Vikki and I were birding around Highway Tank when we found this Coachwhip. It climbed up into a bush and I got this photo. First one of the spring for both of us!

Last week, while watching some gulls at Lake Ajo, I noticed they suddenly went on alert, so I looked up and saw this Peregrine Falcon flying around the ponds.

Also from last week, a Lark Bunting at Highway Tank (there were two of them). First ones I’ve seen all winter and first of spring!

This spring there is a lot of this in flower, *Eriastrum diffusum*, Spreading Woolstar.

Dainty Desert Hideseed, *Eucrypta micrantha*. I could add many more plant photos but this will do for now!

Bats Flowers and Plants Herps Mammals

Some More First of Spring

Temperatures are rising and is so is herp activity. I made a trip out to Valentine Well one night but bats weren’t very active, I only got one good shot. The weather forecast shows another warm day today and Saturday, followed by a rapid cool down.

Yesterday I saw three Western Diamondbacks.

I also found two Goode’s Horned Lizards.

Last night, Vikki Jackson and I checked out the pond at the golf course. There were lots of bats flying around, but the best find was breeding Great Plains Toads. One has to be there to appreciate how loud these toads are. The sound is deafening at close range.

The only bat I’ve been able to photograph so far, at Valentine Well. I am not convinced that these bats are Yuma Myotis, but that seems to be the consensus at iNaturalist.

It is mating season for Black-tailed Jackrabbits too, and they are often seen moving around in daytime now.

Bluedicks, or Desert Hyacinth, are blooming profusely now. This plant is in the Asparagus family. Many species of wildlife and Native Americans use the root (known as a corm) for food.

Desert Wishbone, a flower with a nice drop of nectar at the base of the anthers. In the Four-o’clock family, the flowers open at night and only last one day. The common name comes from appearance of the forked and white-bleached year old stems.

Desert Lotus, or Desert Bird’s Foot Trefoil. The flowers are tiny, the plant forms low mats.

Astrophotography Flowers and Plants Herps

Another Comet and Few More Photos

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date March 14, 2024

Last night I finally got the 500 f4 pointed to Comet 12P/Pons Brooks. This is the comet that the media has somehow come up with the name of Devil Comet, due to its odd shape earlier this year. All the hype aside, it is a bright comet right now and can be seen with binoculars low in the west after sunset. 12P/Pons Brooks is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years. I thought I was going to have a hard time with it since the moon was quite bright, but it turned out to be quite easy to process.

I think if the moon hadn’t been so bright I could have got more of the tail, but I’m pretty happy with this. This is the result of 27 twenty-second exposures stacked in Deep Sky Stacker comet mode.

Emory’s Rock Daisy is quite common now, rocky slopes are loaded with it.

I haven’t seen much Owl Clover this spring. It is one of my favorite desert flowers, and had to photograph this one.

My first Desert Spiny Lizard of the spring, out getting warmed up in the morning sun.

Birding Flowers and Plants Herps

Back in Ajo

I left Granite Gap on Monday and drove to Ajo. Before next week is over I may wish I had stayed at Granite Gap, it is going to get hot again! I suppose I will survive. I’m glad I came here though, last night we got a California Kingsnake, a species that I’ve only seen dead on the road once before. This one was smaller and easily photographed and handled. Birding has been pretty good too. There is an invasion of Red-breasted Nuthatches, and they are turning up in places where the species has never been reported, like Ajo. Previous to yesterday, there were no eBird records of Red-breasted Nuthatch in the Ajo area, I’ve now seen three.

This is the first Red-breasted Nuthatch I saw. It was in Bud Walker Park.

Yesterday Greg Gilson found this Palm Warbler at the golf course. This morning, five of us were treated to see it as it was still here. Another first for the Ajo area. Greg also saw a Golden-crowned Sparrow yesterday, but we could not find it today.

Here’s the California Kingsnake. It is very similar to the Long-nosed Snake, but the snout is shorter and the black bands go around the entire body. The white patches are wider at the bottom too.

A pair of Western Diamondbacks we found under some old plywood at the golf course.

I went to Highway Tank one day and found this lion track with a coyote track superimposed over the left toe.

While out for a hike at Granite Gap I came across this plant, something new to me. It is Stinging Serpent, *Cevallia sinuata*. The leaves are armed with spines that emit formic acid. The plants were past flowering, this is a seed head.

Another image that shows the leaves of Stinging Serpent.

Birding Flowers and Plants Herps Insects

Heading West

I’ve gone as far south as I’m going to. Now I’m heading west. I stopped at Valley of Fires for a couple of nights. There was only one campsite open and it was directly across from the restrooms/showers. Not a good spot, people coming going all day and night. Now, I’m at Granite Gap and as usual, it is quiet and peaceful. I’ve been here since Sunday. It is a little hotter than I’d like but it is tolerable. Cool weather is on the horizon.

I keep the cooler in the shade of large juniper behind the camper. Last night, I went out to get some food and was startled by the buzzing rattle of a startled Black-tailed Rattlesnake. I didn’t have my flashlight as the full moon put out plenty of light. I didn’t have any trouble spotting the snake about 5 ft. away, backed up against the rocks behind the cooler. Naturally, I got the camera and put on the flash and took some photos.

I’ve got three species of hummingbirds coming in, this one is a juvenile Broad-tailed Hummingbird.

Most of them are Black-chinned Hummingbirds. Males are difficult to get a photo of that shows the black and violet gorget. This one turned out pretty good.

This Warbling Vireo has just caught a leaf-footed bug.

A Cassin’s Sparrow that was surprisingly cooperative, usually they are very sneaky outside of the nesting season.

Indian Rushpea, *Hoffmannseggia glauca*. Several Native American tribes ate the tuberous bulbs raw, boiled or roasted, including Pima, Apache, and Pueblo.

Birding Herps Insects

Pierre, Again

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date August 3, 2023

I’m back in Pierre for a few days. It is hot. Finally, a cooling trend is arriving tomorrow. I’ve been out looking for shorebirds at a wetland northeast of Pierre. Shorebird migration is in full swing and there are lots of birds to see. I was excited to see a Black-necked Stilt. The wetland is in Hughes County and that was a new county bird for me. My Hughes County life list is now at 317.

Black-necked Stilt at Baumgartner Slough, Hughes County, SD. It was a long way out so the photo isn’t very good.

There are lots of Black Terns feeding on aquatic insects. I kept trying to get a good shot of this activity and finally I got this juvenile.

Another Black Tern, this one is an adult.

The day before I left the Slim Buttes, I found this juvenile Racer on the road. It let me get very close.

Also at the Slim Buttes, I found two Eastern Tiger Swallowtails at Red Cross Spring. These represent a new county record.

This is a good example of why a photo is needed of both the upper and underside of the wing. The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is easily confused with the Two-tailed Swallowtail and the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail. The marginal band of the forewing is broken up into spots if an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, the other two species have a continuous band of yellow.

Astrophotography Birding Flowers and Plants Herps

Slim Buttes in July

I left Pierre yesterday and drove to the Slim Buttes. There has been some good rain out here and the flowers are abundant as are the butterflies. After being in Pierre for almost 2 months, the quiet out here is welcome. There are no trains, barking dogs, loud vehicles, airplanes, or other noisy things. Just birds and the wind. This morning, I went for a walk and got 26 species of birds. My eBird checklist is here. I hope for a few clear nights so I can do some astrophotography in the dark skies of Harding County.

I found this Plains Garter Snake in a puddle on the road, I’m not sure what it was doing but it refused to leave the water.

Butterflies are really abundant. Here’s a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell.

A Two-tailed Swallowtail nectaring on a thistle.

While in Pierre, I took one trip out to the Fort Pierre National Grasslands. Here’s a Burrowing Owl that was harassing me about being too close to its nest hole.

This is Wedgeleaf Frogfruit, *Phyla cuneifolia*. It was growing in a prairie dog colony near Richland Dam. This location is the farthest north this species has been reported, according the iNaturalist. Typically a species of the southwest, the Navajo reportedly used it to treat spider bites.

I’m experimenting with some new software for astrophotography. StarXterminator lets me remove the stars for processing then add them back. NoiseXterminator is a much better method of reducing noise. I think the results are impressive on the North America Nebula, which I took several years ago. Now if I can just get some astrophotography done! The weather has not been cooperative.

Birding Flowers and Plants Herps Insects

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.