May 13, 2022
07:30 to 23:30
On our first full day in the desert, after breakfast I had some time while everyone else was getting ready to head out to the bajada site, so I took a 45-minute walk through an area I’d enjoyed on my first visit here: south past the pool, out through the mesquite trees and along the edge of the alkali flat/dry lake bed. I’d explored this area on my previous visit with good results (Lucy’s warbler!), and was excited to visit it again. No Lucy’s today, but I did see a wide diversity of birds, including at least one I’d not seen before.
One of the first birds of the morning was a cooperative Swainson’s Thrush foraging on the sparse grass who allowed me to come relatively close. I was also happy to find several Phainopepla – 3 males and a female. I’d forgotten that they can be found here, so it was an extra special surprise to see these pretty, pretty birds. Then, there were the flycatchers (and a vireo), which took me a while to sort out, but with the help of iNaturalist, I’ve determined that the following species were seen: Olive-sided Flycatcher, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Western Wood Pewee, and an American Dusky Flycatcher – a new species for me!! I also made a recording of a high-pitched whistle which turned out to be a Cedar Waxwing.
When I came back to the compound, I had a few more sightings on or near Lake Tuendae: a couple of American Coot chasing one another around the lake, a Cedar waxwing, and another Western wood-pewee. I don’t have them on my list, but I’m pretty sure some Northern Ravens were out and about, as well.
Our first stop of the day was to the Bajada. This flat landscape was created by deposition of sediment from multiple alluvial fans coming off the mountains, and features somewhat sparse vegetation. While we were driving to the site, we spotted a kangaroo rat, but weren’t able to get a good enough look to identify it (this would happen to us time and time again with small mammals on this trip, although eventually I did manage to get an antelope squirrel on film). We parked on a dirt road, and fanned out to try and locate some animals. Soon after we arrived, I spotted a Western Side-blotched Lizard. A Red-tailed Hawk soared past overhead, and I saw several large and very pretty Pallid-winged grasshoppers.
.
The star of the show, however, was a lizard that I was the first to spot. While taking my time through the shrubby vegetation, paying attention to where I was walking because of the possibility of rattlesnakes, I caught a glimpse of movement: a lizard, and a rather large one at that. Of course, it ran in the opposite direction from me, but I was able to keep eyes on it and follow. I called out to the others nearby that I’d seen a lizard, and soon everyone had come for a closer look. The lizard fled from one bush to another, eventually ending up under an Anderson Thornbush and we were able to ID it as a magnificent Long-nosed leopard lizard, at least a foot long – a wonderful find so early in the day.
After about 90 minutes in the Bajada, we headed up into the nearby hills, to a site where students could climb down into a wash and look for wildlife there. An injury kept me from doing any climbing, so I waited at the top where I was able to study the plants, a few birds, and some very interesting invertebrates.
The students made an interesting – if a bit tragic – find while hiking the wash: the remains of a juvenile Mojave Desert Tortoise. I’d hoped to see tortoises on this trip – we’d seen several on our last visit – but it turned out that this would be the only sign of tortoises we would see during our visit. I was able to point out to the students how the carapace bones and scutes aren’t aligned (something we’d discussed in lecture).
In addition to some wonderful plants, I think my favorite sighting of the afternoon was a huge Tarantula-hawk Wasp (maybe Thisbe’s?).
On the way back to Zzyzx, my van stopped a couple of times to investigate things we’d spotted while driving – rodents that scurried away out of site before we could ID them, mostly, but we did see a gorgeous Zebra-tailed Lizard, and a Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard up in a Joshua tree.
Back on Zzyzx Road, we still had some surprises in store: a wonderful look at a Desert cottontail – possibly the same individual we’d seen the previous day – and some new birds for the trip: a Lazuli Bunting, a Black-headed Grosbeak, and a Western Kingbird. The biggest treat happened just as we were nearing the parking lot . . . we got a phone call that one of the Desert Bighorn Sheep was on the hillside behind the bathhouse. Fortunately, we were able to get back before the animal wandered off again. SO MAGNIFICENT!
After this sighting, I wandered around near the lakes. During the solo portion of my walk, I spotted a Black-tailed Jackrabbit on the north side of the lake. Soon after, I joined up with two of my students, and we had fun trying to identify the birds that we saw, including American Coot, Western Wood-pewee, Wilson’s Warbler, a couple of Lesser Nighthawk, and a Say’s Phoebe that appeared to be nesting in one of the residential garages on the property.
We headed back just in time for dinner, and after the sun went down, we piled back into the vans for some night driving. On my previous trip, this was one of my favorite parts of the trip . . . driving up and down Kelbaker Road, scanning for reptiles that have crawled out onto the warm pavement. Unfortunately, on this trip we didn’t see as many animals as we did back in 2011, but we did see some pretty spectacular ones on our second night. We did see a couple of cool invertebrates on this night, including a Blue Death-feigning Beetle who lived up to its name. It did a very convincing job of curling up on its back and looking quite dead. We also saw some sort of a darkling beetle or desert stink bug, yet to be identified.
The highlight of the drive, however, was the only animal that any of us saw that night. The woman driving our van spotted it in the middle of the road, looking like a stick – but a just weird enough stick that she thought we should stop. Good thing we did, as it was WONDERFUL to see this adorable little Western Leaf-nosed Snake, and we were able to move it off the road for its safety. This is a beautiful, delicate snake with subtle coloration, and of course a distinctive patch on the front of the face that gives this species its name.
On the way back to Zzyzx, we did stop to see if we could relocate the night snake that we’d found the previous night (we didn’t), but we did find some interesting tracks in the dry river bed, near an ephemeral pool that was nearly dried up. The color of the water led me to christen it “Blood Lake.” (Which, in retrospect, was maybe not the best idea considering we were staying in a sort of campground situation. So many horror movies have started this way haha). I had just one more surprise before I went to bed: a large Antlion of some sort on the wall next to the door of my cabin.
Species List
Birds and wildlife: Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus), Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens), Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi), Pacific-slope Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis), Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus), Western Wood Pewee (Contopus sordidulus), American Dusky Flycatcher (Empidonax oberholseri), Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum), American Coot (Fulica americana), Northern Raven (Corvus corax), Western Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana elegans), Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), Pallid-winged grasshoppers (Trimerotropis pallidipennis), Long-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia wislizenii), Mojave Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), Cream grasshopper (Cibolacris parviceps), Tarantula-hawk Wasp (Pepsis sp.; maybe Thisbe’s?), Zebra-tailed Lizard (Callisaurus draconoides), Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard (celoporus uniformis, Desert cottontail (Sylvilagus aduboniii), Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena), Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheuticus melanocephalus), Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis), Desert Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni), Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus), Wilson’s Warbler (Cardellina pusilla), Lesser Nighthawks (Chordeiles acutipennis), Say’s Phoebe (Sayornis saya), Blue Death-feigning Beetle (Asbolus verrucosus), Western Leaf-nosed Snake (Phyllorhynchus decurtatus), Antlion (Paranthaclisis sp)
Notable plants: Honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), Yerba mansa (Anemopsis californica), Desert mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum), Beavertail Pricklypear (Opuntia basilaris), Desert Holly (Atriplex hymenelytra), Silver Cholla (Cylindropuntia echinocarpa),California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera), Creosote (Larrea tridentata), Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia), Anderson Thornbush (Lycium andersonii), Mojave Goldenhead (Acamptopappus sphaerocephalus var. sphaerocephalus), Desert Dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata), Cooper’s Dogweed (Adenophyllum cooperi), Mojave Yucca (Yucca schidigera)
Let me know what you think!