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| Coyote Sloan Canyon, Henderson, NV |
Many people believe that the desert is a wasteland, empty of life, but this is far from the truth. I take my dogs out to the desert twice a day, and we almost always see some type of wildlife. We live close to the edge of the desert between Henderson and Lake Mead. Much of the wildlife here takes advantage of the water supply from nearby homes and seclusion of the desert so is not typical of the desert a little farther out, but even in the most remote places it is amazing what you will find.
June 9, 2015 |
| Roadrunner Hunting Grasshoppers |
I spotted three roadrunners hunting grasshoppers this morning near the street.
June 8, 2015
I was surprised to see a roadrunner this morning. This is the first time I've seen one in the area where I have been walking. However, I don't know if I will see it again because mockingbirds were trying chase it away. On the way back I saw couple of mockingbirds harassing a red-tailed hawk that was sitting on the top of a power line pole. The hawk didn't seemed to be bothered much but it flew away when I got close to the pole. I see red-tailed hawks in this area quite a bit. According to National Geographic website mockingbirds "aggressively defend their nesting and feeding territories". I definitely witnessed that this morning!
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| Mockingbird Harassing a Red-tailed Hawk |
June 4, 2015
I saw a red-tailed hawk resting on the top of a telephone pole. It obviously had recently killed a bird because every time it put its head down and brought it back up feathers would float down from the pole. The larger feathers looked like little helicopters as they floated down, like the wing-shaped seeds of the maple tree. I was amazed to see a little bird hanging out near the hawk as it tore apart the bird. I guess it figured it was safe since the hawk was busy with its kill, or maybe it was just a really stupid bird.
May 31, 2015
I didn't get out very early this morning. It was 77 degrees at 7:30, but it felt like 90 degrees after about five minutes of the sun beating down on me. The sun is so intense here.
I saw the same mockingbird (or at least it was in the same place) hunting grasshoppers in the middle of the street. This is a fairly busy street that services about 400 houses. The mocking bird was flying zigzags trying to catch the acrobatic grasshopper. I'm assuming the bird thinks he has a good thing going on the street. It is probably much easier to see the grasshoppers on the pavement. They are almost impossible to see on the desert floor among the gravel unless they move. So far, as far as I have seen, the bird was 0 - 2.
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| Dead Gartersnake |
Star (my Westie) found a dead gartersnake this morning. When she finds something she isn't sure about she takes a quick sniff and then jerks her head back. (That always makes me nervous.) If it had been a live rattlesnake, she wouldn't have been quick enough. A rattlesnake scratched Sammy on the nose with its fang when he was using this technique. Both my dogs have had contact with rattlesnakes. Sammy got the scratch on his nose, and Star got it on the lip. The snake was too cold to inject any venom so she was lucky. I got them rattle snake vaccines this year. The vaccine is supposed to keep the dogs from reacting to the venom as fast so you have time to get them to the vet for anti-venom. I'm hoping I don't have to find out.
This snake has a beautiful grey and lighter grey checker board pattern. I looked it up on the web and I think it is a Thamnophis marcianus marcianus or gartersnake. It's about 8 1/2" long. Steven Bol Garter Snakes website says the snake grows to about 80 cm. That is 31 inches long, almost a yard! It would freak me out if I saw one that big while walking in the desert especially since this area has lots of rattlesnakes. Steven states that this snake is found in the Southwest US and Mexico in or near a water source. This one was probably a 1/4 mile from any water source, and only water from irrigation. It had a fatal wound about half-way down it's body on its belly. It was really cool because it died with it's mouth open looking like it was ready to strike whatever killed it. I wonder if a rattlesnake tried to kill it? This is the first snake other than rattlesnakes I have seen in this area.
May 29, 2015
It was 82 degrees this morning at 7:30 so we didn't stay out long. As I drove along side the desert I spotted a mother and father quail couple with a dozen tiny chicks. They didn't seemed to be too concerned about me following them in my car. The chick were amazing so tiny yet so fast. They kept very close to their parents, ducking into nearby bushes whenever they were close.
On the short drive home I saw a mocking bird trying to catch a grasshopper in the middle of the street. It swooped down to snatch it up, but the grasshopper flew off in the opposite direction.
May 28, 2015
Sammy, my 8 1/2 year-old Scottie, chased a baby bunny into a hole that happened to house a nest of bees. Thank God I was at least 20 feet away. He backed away quickly but the bees were swarming his head. I was concerned that they were killer bees, but I didn't think so, because they didn't seem to be that aggressive. I called for Sammy to come hoping he would outrun the bees, but he was too concerned about the bees to listen to me. So I turned around and starting running and screaming for him to run. That did the trick. Once we were far enough away and I couldn't see any bees, I checked him out. He had an angry buzzing bee trying to get through his long fur. I grabbed something from the ground, can't remember what, and smashed the bee between it. We got to the car as quickly as possible and I took off. Halfway home I heard another angry bee buzzing in the back. Sammy, very concerned, tried to get to the front seat. I quickly pulled over onto the bike path hoping a cop wouldn't see me, or an angry biker yell at me, and got the dogs out of the car, leaving the doors open. I soon heard the bee leaving in a huff. I checked Sammy out later as well as I could and found two stings on his belly, the only place he doesn't have fur. They didn't seem to bother him much, but that is typical of him. In the past he has seemed complete oblivious to a huge prickly pair cacti that have been stuck to his fur all day long.
I wonder what happened to the baby bunny that went in the hole. Hopefully his fur was thick enough to protect him.
Burrowing Owls - 2014
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| Burrowing Owl watching over its burrow |
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