National Poetry Month

Desert Ghosts I

I
I feel
I feel the
I feel the presence
I feel the presence of
I feel the presence of those

who came before me.

Canyon de Chelly

National Poetry Month

This is National Poetry month, so in its honor...

the pitter pat
of my little cat
as she quickly bats
at my fallen hat

and she skitters and slides
under beds where she hides
and from there she presides
on the whole of her pride

Miss Kitty

Horned Lizards

Commonly known as "horny toads": at least, that is what we called them when I was growing up.  It is a confusing name, because they are not toads at all, but lizards.  Flatter and rounder than your common lizard, they do have a more toad-like body.  Almost.

There are 13 species of horned lizard in North America, with five of those being found exclusively in Mexico.  The following are found in Canada, U.S. and Mexico:

Texas horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma cornutum)
Coast horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma coronatum)
Pygmy horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma douglasii)
Short horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma hernadesii)
Flat tailed horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma mccallii)
Round tailed horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma modestum)
Desert horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma platyrhinos)
Regal horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma solare)

These five are found only in Mexico:
Giant horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma asio)
Short tailed horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma braconnieri)
Rock horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma ditmarsi)
Mexican horned lizard
  (Phyrnosoma obiculare)
Bull horned lizard
  (Phrynosoma taurus)

Flat tailed horned lizard

Of these, the two that are found in the Coachella Valley are the Desert horned lizard and the Flat tailed horned lizard.  Of the two, the desert is the most common, and is found across the desert floor.  It is found in the Sonoran, Mojave and Great Basin deserts of North America.  The flat-tailed horned lizard is rare in the Valley, this being the northern-most reach of its range.  More commonly found in the Imperial Valley, this lizard has been a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act. That status was withdrawn in 2011. It remains a Species of Concern.

Desert Horned Lizard

The Coast horned lizard range sometimes overlaps that of the desert horned lizard, but found mostly on coastal North America.  This species is also a Species of Concern. Many of the horned toads have restricted ranges and are highly specialized for eating ants.  Harvester ants are there main diet, and the invasion of non-natives ant species, particularly the Argentine ant, have severely impacted many of these lizards.

Priest of the Prairie Dogs

This enigmatic little owl is found scattered across the Coachella Valley.  Called by the Zuni, the Priest of the Prairie Dogs, it presides here over a host of ground squirrels and other burrowing mammals.  It is also called the ground owl, for its unusual habit of living in a hole in the ground.  This habit sets it apart from other owls that live in trees.

Burrowing owl at dusk.

It eats a variety of things, insects to rodents primarily. It will eat other things, like lizards, birds, snakes and toads if they are available.  They stay in their territory most of the year, and will use the burrow at different seasons for different purposes. They lay up to 12 eggs in the spring, and raise the chicks until they leave the family home in the fall.  In the fall and winter, they use the burrow primarily for escape from predators.  They may use the same burrow year after year, but they may change to another burrow during the year.

The babies start trying to fly by 3 weeks, and by 5 weeks are hunting with the parents. By 3 months they are pretty independent. These comical families will sit on the doorstep of their burrow and watch you with great curiosity.  This makes this species a particularly interesting one to most people.

Baby owl scurrying to cover of the burrow.

These animals are listed on the Depart of Fish and Wildlife  and the US Fish and Wildlife as a species of concern.  There numbers are decreasing across their range.  Although they are found from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast, and from interior Canada to Central Mexico, there are areas where once these comical birds no longer grace the landscape. This is a sad occurrence for those of us who remember seeing them in our neighborhoods and around the outskirts of town.

Owl in field of grasses.

Shining Robe

Did you know that "phainopepla" is greek for "shining robe?" This name was given to the characteristic desert bird, the male phainopepla, who flashes his white wing patches as he flies, a stark contrast to his glossy black feathers. His "shining robe" is a winter classic here in the Coachella Valley, as it is across the Colorado and Sonoran deserts.

As do all creatures, this bird has some fascinating behaviors.  It lives and breeds in the desert from winter to spring, then as the desert heats up and its food source dwindles, it flies to the coast where it has a second breeding cycle.  It is unknown if the same birds breed here and then again on the coast, or if different birds breed here than on the coast.  But regardless, they will all migrate west from here come May.

These distinctive flycatchers do sally for insects, but the primary food source for them here in our desert is the desert mistletoe berry, its main food from October through April. Some studies suggest a single bird ca eat at least 1,100 mistletoe berries in a day!!  As they eat, they are also spreading the seed of this parasitic plant through its favorite perch, the honey mesquite, a common site of the mistletoe.  These beautiful birds have digestive tracts that are specialized to handle the sticky, low-nutrient mistletoe berries.

Fall is marked by the return of that conspicuous crest in silhouette perched high on a mesquite against the brilliant blue autumn sky. It is not unusual for there to be 10 or 15 in a mile-long hike across the desert when mesquite hummocks are present.

Male Phainopepla

Fall Equinox

One can almost feel the turning of the seasons.  The scent of the air, the alteration of sound, the way the light touches the mountains, a touch of freshness in the summer wind...all these things give hints of the change.  The fall equinox is upon us, when the days are of equal length, when the sun, traversing through the seasons, crosses the equator and heralds the beginning of fall in the northern hemisphere. This year the equinox occurs on September 22, 1.44 pm PDT.  

It is one of my favorite times of year.  The nights start to cool off a bit, and the buzzing of the cicadas starts to die down.   Everything starts to senesce and slow down, migrants start passing through, and it is a time of reflection. So the equinox is a time of equality:  day and night the same.  It is about the slow winding down of growth to the sleep of winter. It is time to reflect on the year: what it brought, what was accomplished, what is still incomplete. 

Goldenbush blooming in the desert fall.
c 2008 Ginny Short

It is funny, reflecting on the change of fall.  One of the things that comes to mind is "fall colors".  I have seen the dramatic and lovely change both in pictures and in person, and there is no doubt it is fantastic. I have been told it is even more lovely in places I have never been. Ever since I can remember I have reflected on the changing seasons, and being a desert rat, have never lived in a place where the trees change on such a grand scale.  I have had friends and strangers remark to me that there are no seasons in the southwest, and note that as one reason they could not live here forever, as reason for their homesickness when the taste of frost should be on the air.  I had a plaque on my wall in my office as a graduate student:  We have four seasons here: fire, flood, wind, earthquake.  Other plaques say "fire, flood, wind and drought!".  

But we do have seasons.  Sometimes they come on soft and subtly, like now as the barest hint of change in the wind. Sometimes they come on hard and abrupt, like a cool, breezy spring jumping to the triple digits overnight. Each season has its own finery, from the goldenbush of autumn to the ghost flowers of spring, the quiet green of winter to the desert willows of summer.  Yes, seasons change even here.  One can almost feel the turning of the season from blistering summer to sultry fall.

Desert cicada

August brings the incessant buzzing of the apache cicada (Diceroprocta apache).  This is the quintessential sound of the desert summer, like a high wire buzzing through the atmosphere. It seems to resonate in the thunderhead laden air, as if the insect is the voice of  the cumulonimbus clouds skirting the horizon. The blue sky, the air thick with moisture - I can hardly breathe in this.  The heat lays on us like a wet towel,  and even the wind is hot and thick, not with the usual freshness that our desert winds bring. The cicada is the spirit of summer and the herald of fall.

Apache Cicada on mesquite trunk.

This amazing insect is not the same as the cicadas we hear about every 13 to  17 years on the east coast. That genus is "Magicicada" and are known colloquially as periodical cicadas.  While the apache cicada may live up to 3 years as a grub, feeding underground on roots and sap, they do not have the quirky and fantastic 17 year cycle, and we see them every year when they emerge in the hottest months of summer, their sound echoing on the landscape.

Cicadas are the only insects that have a true percussion mechanism for creating sound.  Unlike our cricket - another summer singer, that use modified forewings with a scraper and a file to create their song,  the cicada has a tympal that is vibrated by a large muscle.  This vibrant call carries up to 440 yards. There are 160 species of cicada in North America.  So let me join my voice to theirs in singing for joy in our desert summer, and in the anticipation of a glorious fall!!!