We’re seeing the beginnings of spring in Southern Nevada. Green bursts on cottonwood trees. Creosote sprouting its fluffy, white fruit.
On a recent morning, I rose from sleep to a long litany of whoo-HOO-whoooo-whoooo-whoooo’s from a mourning dove. Such a soothing sound, and it reminds me of what an ancient woodwind instrument might have sounded like.
A Gambel’s quail at Clark County Wetlands Park on Jan. 21, 2023.
This morning it is raining in Southern Nevada, making it cold and dreary, though I know it’s necessary. I mean, I love the rain, don’t get me wrong. But are Mondays necessary?
Regardless — precipitation this time of year is particularly important. The soil has more of a chance of absorbing and even retaining the moisture. There’s less evaporation. Also, the rain is more persistent and slower, resulting in far less flash flooding and runoff. Continue reading On the bright side of a rainy Monday
Fourwing saltbush — a shrub found in sandy or gravely soils, or deposit soils (w/ high pH or salt levels, due to rapid evaporation), such as at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge or Clark County Wetlands Park.
I’ve become somewhat obsessed with learning about what I’m looking at when it comes to the desert outdoors. I think it’s the diversity and uniqueness that pique my interest. I mean, that’s the reason (I think) why I started observing and studying birds and their behaviors about six years ago and have since developed a level of expertise. And now there’s this relatively recent offshoot of wanting to delve into other aspects of the natural landscape.
Maybe I’m in a place in life where I have a need to discover more meaning and make more sense of things. Perhaps this is a spillover from trying to figure myself out, which I still haven’t done! Sure, I’m part of the human species. But among species, you have your hybrids, and those can be quite puzzling. But they also make life more interesting and magical.
Anyway, when I hike or go to nature preserves, I invariably carry a camera and zoom. Whereas previously, a pair of binoculars would do just fine. And like I said, my curiosity about what I’m seeing now extends beyond birds. Questions that pop up in my mind in whack-a-mole fashion as I walk through, say, somewhere in the Spring Mountains, include things like: What is that plant? That wildflower? What type of shrub is this? What about that sedimentary rock, or this dry soil? Continue reading My need to name things that I come across in the desert
Photogenic little thing, with its festive, thread-like fibers. Apropos for this time of year. Looks a bit like yucca, but it’s a fledgling California fan palm (which I determined after perusing a few field guides). It caught my eye at my neighborhood park.
Less than a mile from my house, the park is a particularly nice place to stroll in November because it puts you in an autumn kinda mood. Many of the trees are deciduous, and parks personnel (intentionally or not) allow the fallen leaves to linger on the grass and paved paths and parking areas so that you can step on them and hear ’em crunch. Continue reading I’m not the only one who stops to admire these plants
Photogenic little thing, with its festive, thread-like fibers. Apropos for this time of year. Looks a bit like yucca, but it’s a fledgling California fan palm (which I determined after perusing a few field guides). It caught my eye at my neighborhood park.