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Posts from the ‘Fauna’ Category

Oct 12

Roadrunner Food?

That’s what I wondered as I rounded the corner of my house this evening and saw a Roadrunner in front of a Desert Milkweed where I had spotted 6 Queen caterpillars this morning. There were only two left! Darn 🙁 I then wondered if that might have been what happened to the Chrysalis recently and to the other two caterpillars. Note to self….make some kind of screen to go over the plants as soon as I spot the caterpillars or I might never get to document the process. (shot handheld with my Canon 180 Macro)

Oct 9

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Halloween Creation

A dead tree, two owls and some texture combined to make a Halloween inspired image.

Oct 1

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Flora Survey Round Two

Today marked the second round of the Flora Survey of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Today we went to the Lost Dog Wash and boy…was it dry! So far this year, we’ve only received half the amount of normal rainfall so much of our desert is very dry. We did manage to find one plant that hadn’t been documented, though. We had lots of fun including almost stepping on a sleeping Rattlesnake! We were literally inches from it. We then came across and collected a Javelina skull and a small carnivore’s skull which we guessed might be a baby coyote. They will be used by the Conservancy’s naturalist in her educational programs. She was very excited to get them 🙂

Besides collecting (I’m a Steward), I typically also take photos for the Conservancy’s Facebook Page. Here is a collage of some of those photos.

Sep 20

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Butterfly Bonus

I may have mistakenly relocated a Queen caterpillar the other day. I thought it was looking for food (my Milkweed had been devoured) but my friend Laura M. told me it might just have been ready to morph. If that’s the case, the caterpillar is probably hunkered down on the new plant. I couldn’t find it the other day but will look harder the next time I walk by his new home.

Anyway….I decided to look for two new Milkweed plants and found some healthy 5 gallon specimens at Black Mountain Nursery (Dynamite very near Tatum). As I was getting ready to plant them, I found quite a surprise! One plant has a chrysalis and the other had a caterpillar…both Queens. Yipee! These aren’t the greatest of photos but they will do as a start to documenting their progress. From now on, I’ll use my SLR to get some good detail. My butterfly education continues! Thanks again, Laura 🙂

Sep 18

Herping in the Preserve

My first night hike in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve was so much fun (see more pix HERE). I struggled choosing which lens to take and ultimately decided to go with the least heavy and fastest lens I have which is my ultra cheap Canon 50mm f/1.8. Since I don’t have much luck with flash photography, I decided just to have fun. All images are hand held and lit by head lamps and flash lights. It was a great deal of fun not worrying whether the photos would turn out or not! It was the first time I’ve used this lens so it was a good test. It’s actually not too bad for a plastic lens I paid less than $100 for 🙂

Sep 17

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Red Spotted Toad

I went on my first night herp survey this evening in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Our goal was to reach a riparian area that had a spring. We encountered a Black Tail and a Diamondback rattlesnake, a few Tarantulas and dozens of baby Red Spotted Toads. They were only about 3/8ths of an inch….so cute! All in all, a really exciting time.

Sep 16

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Queen Caterpillar Followup

Sadly, I could not find the Queen caterpillar this morning. This is actually the second time I’ve tried to relocate one of them to another plant with more for them to eat. The first time was in 1999 and I put it on another plant in my yard but in that case too, it didn’t stay. It might have been my imagination but when I relocated this latest one, it seemed disoriented. I had visions of it trying to find its way home! 🙁

Lessons learned. First I’m relocating my Milkweed to a non grub infested area of my yard so they can grow large and full of flowers. Second….I will let nature take it’s course from now on!

Sep 14

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Relocating a Queen

One part of my yard has an infestation of turf grubs which have probably come from the nearby golf course. I’ve tried every natural pesticide to no avail. What these grubs do is eat plant roots which doesn’t kill the plant but stunts its growth. For instance, I’ve tried for 5 years to establish some Milkweed (asclepias subulata) but the plants have barely grown in all that time. Even so, I typically end up with at least one caterpillar a year. This year there was only one bloom and very few offshoots so the caterpillar (a Queen) was out of food very quickly. I remembered seeing a good sized Milkweed plant along a path I hike every day so this morining, I decided to cut off the stem my caterpillar was on and relocate him/her. It was about a mile and I’m sure everyone wondered what I was carrying. I found the plant and waited for the caterpillar to start moving and it did crawl over to the other plant. However, it seemed to know it wasn’t home because it moved back and forth, up and down as if to be smelling. I will go back tomorrow morning to see if its still there. I’m hopeful it makes the journey to becoming a Queen Butterfly!

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