Monday, December 31, 2018

Big Bend Nature

I always like visiting Big Bend National Park. My plan was to hang out for a while, but the government shutdown closed the campgrounds and I was evicted. I still had a good few days though. I took a ton of photographs, too many for one post, so I'll start with the nature stuff. Even so, it's a long post since I saw lots of stuff.

Driving into the park, one of the first things I noticed were the yuccas flowering. These are large flower heads - the size of a watermelon. And, as one of the few flowers around, they were attracting lots of attention from the insects. Can you spot the big black carpenter bee?

flowering yucca

My favorite hikes this trip were when I just pulled off the road at "interesting" spots and wandered randomly into the desert. I was in little danger of getting lost because I found so many things to look at and photograph that I barely managed one km/hour. (And I had my inReach mini in my pocket and my Garmin Fenix 5s+ gps watch) Although the desert was looking quite bare and lifeless, there was actually quite a lot going on if you looked close.

One of my most exciting finds was this Agile Ground Mantis (at least I think that's what it is). I'm fascinated by praying mantises. I've spotted them in Baja Mexico, Asia, and South America, but never in North America. This wasn't your typical green praying mantis, and it was on the ground rather than on vegetation like most mantids. From a distance I thought it was a grasshopper. But looking closely, it had the iconic eyes (like a damselfly) and front legs (albeit folded). I don't usually like to interfere with wildlife at all, but I don't worry so much about insects, and I admit I had to give this guy a few nudges to get it to move to where I could get a decent photograph. Apparently, Agile Ground Mantis are even found in the Okanagan, and are Canada's only native mantis.

Agile Ground Mantis ?

At one point I heard a "chirping" in a bush and approached carefully, hoping to catch sight of the bird. But I got closer and closer and there was no bird. The chirping stopped, but if I stood still it would start up again. Maybe it was an insect? Sure enough, I discovered the bush (one of the few with green leaves) had multiple grasshoppers in it. I assume that's what was making the noise, although I didn't actually catch them in the act. According to iNaturalist, they are Creosote Bush Grasshoppers. They were actually quite colorful, but blended in with the leaves very well and were hard to spot. Apparently there is an evolutionary arms race between the Creosote Bush Grasshoppers and the Creosote bushes. The bushes produce chemicals so the leaves are inedible, but the grasshoppers evolve ways to eat them anyway.

Creosote bush grasshopper

There were other kinds of grasshoppers around that would jump or fly up from the ground as you walked. I think these are Pallid winged grasshoppers. They were well camouflaged.

Pallid winged grasshopper ?

In several of the ocotillos there were spider webs with a suspended nest/house about 5 cm (2 in) long. They were constructed of quite an assortment of materials - leaves, twigs, stones, insect parts. The opening appeared to be at the bottom, but between the web and the thorns it was hard to get to where you could look into the bottom.

spider "nest" in ocotillo

I assumed they were some sort of spiders, based on the web, but despite examining a number of them, I hadn't actually seen the spiders. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I got a long thin twig that I could thread through the web and poke the "nest". At first nothing happened, but with a little more poking, sure enough, out came the spider. (The stick also let me keep my distance in case it was poisonous.)

spider

It was on the underside of the web so I couldn't get a view of the top of the spider. So far no one on iNaturalist has identified it and I haven't had any luck searching on the web. They seemed to be quite common, at least in the area I was in.

I tried poking a couple of the other nests, but nothing came out. Possibly the nests were abandoned. One difference with the nest with the spider is that there were multiple dead grasshoppers on the ground beneath it. (You can see them at the bottom of this photo.) That makes sense since they were the most abundant food source.

I noticed another spider web in  a bush and went to look closer. This time the spider was sitting out in the open. And even better, its web was full of baby spiders. iNaturalist identified it as a Green Lynx Spider. These spiders are hunters rather than web builders, but it appears they make a nursery web and guard it, like the fishing spiders. The spiky legs apparently help it grasp its prey and also deter its prey from biting back.

green lynx spider

Near the river I noticed something white in a tree. Again, it was hard to get close because the tree (acacia?) had sharp thorns. It turned out to be a snail.

snail

I'm not sure if this is a dry land snail, or if it was left over from when the river flooded. Later I saw scattered broken shells on the ground. That makes me suspect they are probably aquatic ones left over from flooding.

Further from the river, I again saw something white on the ground. But this time it turned out to be a dead millipede. I spotted quite a few of these, some intact, some broken in pieces. I wonder if the live millipedes are white, or if the dead shells just get bleached white. They were quite hard shells, like a snail. I didn't see any live ones - they're probably hiding under rocks. I wonder what killed these ones, and why they were out in the open?

dead millipede

The butterflies were much less cooperative. I kept seeing small orange ones flitting about, but they refused to sit still to be photographed. Eventually I managed to get a couple of photos. I laughed when they were identified (iNaturalist) as Sleepy Orange butterflies. They certainly didn't act "sleepy"!

Sleepy Orange butterfly

These little pale ones were also relatively common, and also tricky to photograph.

butterfly

I only saw one each of these - a Buckeye (Dark Tropical?) and a Painted Lady:

Buckeye butterfly

Painted Lady butterfly

And a moth of some sort:

moth

I was surprised to see a dragonfly in the desert - I normally associate them with water. I guess it was only a few kilometers from the river. One thing that makes dragonflies slightly easier to photograph (despite being speedier than butterflies) is that they often return to the same perch (where they hunt from). So I you're patient and stand still, they may return to be photographed, like this Variegated Meadowhawk did.

Variegated Meadowhawk dragonfly

There weren't a lot of flowers blooming in mid-winter in the desert, but there were a few, and the honey bees were visiting them.

honey bee

From a distance they looked the same, but if you look closely they are slightly different. They are both darkling beetles. The first is a Desert Stink Beetle that is named because of it's habit of raising it's rear and squirting a noxious fluid.

Desert Stink Beetle

Darkling beetle

One of these was dead (although in perfect shape), whereas the other was alive and well. Can you tell which is which?

I'm a little surprised I saw so many different insects since the temperature was dropping below freezing at night. But it was getting warm enough during the day (e.g. +20c) that perhaps the ground was staying above freezing.

I stayed in the small, quiet Cottonwood Campground at the south west edge of the park. When we stayed here previously we found that great horned owls would visit at night. Perhaps the bare area of the campground makes a good hunting ground. So the first evening, I wandered around looking up into the cottonwoods to see if I could find an owl. Happily, I succeeded. It was getting dark and it was high up in the tree, but I managed one identifiable shot.

Great Horned owl

The next evening I went out earlier but couldn't spot anything. I figured it probably didn't show up till dusk so I sat and waited. I was getting ready to give up when I heard hooting and in flew a big owl. Unfortunately it landed in one of the cottonwoods that still had its leaves and I couldn't see it. But it was still neat to see it fly in.

Another feature of the campground was that it was visited by Vermilion Flycatchers. They were another one that was tricky to photograph as they seldom perched for more than a few seconds. I took a ton of photos of them, none of which are great (if you look close), but they are such colorful birds I couldn't resist.

Vermillion Flycatcher

Vermillion Flycatcher

Red birds seem to be a theme here. I also spotted Northern Cardinals:

Northern Cardinal

and Desert Cardinals: (love that hairdo!)

Desert Cardinal

Although I tend to favor animals over plants, I still find the details of the desert flora fascinating. For example, the Ocotillos shed their leaves when it's dry and regrow them (in a matter of days) when there is moisture. When I was there, they were shedding them.

Ocotillo

Ocotillo

You quickly learn that it's not safe to brush up against plants like it is at home. Almost every plant has thorns.

cactus closeup

cactus

When I was a kid I used to think of the desert as giant sand dunes. This is quite a different desert, almost lush in its own way. There is a surprising amount of life.

See all 61 photos

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Hike & Fly Dry Canyon

A finely tempered nature longs to escape from his noisy cramped surroundings into the silence of the high mountains where the eye ranges freely through the still pure air and fondly traces out the restful contours apparently built for eternity. - Albert Einstein
Dry Canyon launch
Dry Canyon paraglider launch is in the center on the ridge
According to Windy.com it looked like it might be possible to fly from Dry Canyon Thursday around noon. Normally people drive up the back but it requires a high clearance 4wd vehicle which I don’t have, and a driver, which I also don’t have. Looking at the map, there appeared to be a trail that went most of the way up the front. After that there was a steeper section with a cliff band that was a question mark. But I figured it was worth a shot.

I hit the trail about 9:30am. According to the map it looked like about 600m (2000 ft) elevation gain so I figured an hour and a half to two hours. The first 300m took about an hour. At 400 m I left the trail to head up to the launch on the ridge.

I should have brought my hiking poles. Balancing on loose rubble with cactus waiting to attack would have been easier with more points of support. Eventually I broke off one of the agave stalks to use as a hiking stick.

My navigation actually worked out quite well and I hit the ridge only 100 yards from launch. It was almost an anticlimax to arrive. Suddenly I was at the ridge and there was the bare launch area.

the view of Alamogordo from Dry Canyon launch
looking down to Alamogordo from launch
I had been monitoring the wind as I climbed. It was mostly very light with the occasional thermal cycle coming up.

Conditions were currently flyable, and I was more concerned with avoiding the hike down than I was about getting a “good” flight, so I didn't dawdle.

I gobbled down an energy bar and some water while I pulled out my gear. I dressed warmly, almost absurdly for the conditions. But if, by some miracle, I got a longer (higher) flight I’d appreciate it.

all dressed up and no wind to go
all dressed up and no wind to go
Of course, once I had my wing laid out and was ready to go, the wind died completely. I could have done a forward launch, but I preferred to launch into some kind of thermal activity.  Eventually the grass below me stirred, and soon after, the grass above me. It wasn’t very strong but it was enough to bring the wing up. It floated into place above my head.

finally, some wind

Everything looked good so I turned and ran off the hill. I probably should have waited for a stronger cycle, but I was anxious to get in the air while conditions were good.

in the air

I got a few bits of weak lift on the way down. A couple of times I tried turning in it, but didn’t gain any height.

looking back at launch
looking back towards launch


admiring my new wing
admiring my new wing
The official landing zone is hard to reach without lift. It became obvious I wasn’t going to make it. But there was a nice flat, clear gravel area near the space museum. The museum parking lots look attractive from a distance but they have light posts and power lines (not to mention cars!).

the Space Museum

looks like a good spot to land

I had a nice soft landing right where I was aiming for.

feet together!

This flight I decided to set my helmet camera to take one image every second thinking it might be easier to deal with still images than video. But you just end up with a zillion photos so I'm not sure it's any better. On the other hand, the image quality is better than what I could pull from a video.

It took me 140 minutes (2 hrs 20 min) to hike up, and 14 minutes to fly down. It would have been nice to get a little longer flight, but it was a lot better than hiking down!

launch is just left of center on the ridge

The locals were impressed with me hiking up - it sounded like no one has been crazy enough to do that before.

Here is the route:



See all 20 photos

Sunday, December 23, 2018

El Paso Zoo

Although I have mixed feelings about zoos, I still love to see the animals and photograph them. I can only hope the education and conservation they do somewhat balances the unnatural lives of the inhabitants.

The El Paso zoo wasn't at its best in winter. It might be warm to someone from Saskatchewan, but to animals from Africa and Asia it's cold and many of the exhibits were closed because of that. On the positive side, it wasn't crowded!

The cool temperatures didn't seem to bother the lions. It's always nice when you can photograph without bars or dirty glass.

lion

The king was looking pensive. So were the lionesses, until they got bored and started pestering each other.

lionesses

lionesses playing

Here's a more unlikely pair of friends. They were sharing an enclosure, but I didn't expect to see them interacting.

pals

The Mexican gray wolves were beautiful. They are the southernmost gray wolves and most genetically distinct. They are critically endangered (because humans wiped out almost all of them). The last known Mexican wolf in Texas was killed by a trapper in 1970. In 1976 the remaining wild Mexican wolves were captured for breeding programs. They are being reintroduced to parts of New Mexico and Arizona.

Mexican gray wolf

I spent a long time in the aviary trying to catch some of the little birds flitting around. They were not being cooperative!

This is a red-crested cardinal (which is actually not a cardinal, it's a tanager)

red-crested cardinal

I'm not sure what these next two are, but they were pretty!

bird

bird

This next one is presumably some kind of quail. Nice pattern on the feathers.

quail

The Inca terns were more cooperative, but they had a tendency to turn their head and tuck their beak into their back feathers to have a nap. Distinctive red beak and white "moustache".

Inca tern

This little bird was wild. Haven't had a chance to look it up.

wild bird

I spotted this insect on a bush. I posted it on iNaturalist.org and it was identified as an Umbrella Paper Wasp.

umbrella paper wasp

I happened to notice it was time for the bird show so I went to watch. My favorites were the Great Horned Owl and the Andean Condor.

great horned owl

Andean condor

I also spent quite a while trying to photograph the Cotton-top tamarins - cute little guys, but they don't sit still long.

Cotton top tamarin

Cotton top tamarin

Luckily it warmed up enough over the day that the meerkats could come out to play.

meerkat

meerkat

And some of the other usual suspects, all looking a little bored.

Siamang

spot the orangutan

zebra

Not alive, but a nice sculpture. The overall shape was a giraffe's head, but the details are different animals.

sculpture

There weren't many flowers out this time of year, but this one caught my eye:

flower

I always like to see the bizarre red river hogs but these guys were quite entertaining. They were rooting around in the dirt (must have tough noses!) when they decided to traipse down to the water. The water was a "moat" separating them from freedom, and they appeared to know it. They kept wading out into the water until it got too deep, making a soft kind of squeak, and then retreating in apparent frustration. If that water ever drained, I have a feeling they'd be out of there in a flash!

three amigos

See all 49 photos from the zoo