Desert Creatures
(click on photos to enlarge)
A few weeks ago, I wrote about finding a glowworm while watching fireworks. I happened to see another while looking out the kitchen window the other night — the greenish glow coming from within what passes for soil here in the Tucson Mountains. I decided to try to “capture” the glow because if you bring the worm into the light, the glow disappears.
In the darkness, I set my camera on a tripod and focused on the glow. It took a series of trial and error exposures before I got a fairly decent photo of the little creature. As you can see, the glow seems to come from the underside of the back half of its body. This can go on for hours and not only that but sometimes it can be seen from the same spot the next night. They mustn’t travel much. Look at how bright that bioluminescent light is — it lights up the rocks around it!
Glowworm Glowing
Meanwhile the monsoons continue. On one beautiful, cool morning between the rains we elected to hike Bowen’s and Yetman Trails in Tucson Mountain Park. Everything was fresh and wet from the rain the night before.
Yetman Trail, Tucson Mt. Park
The Prickly Pear cacti are laden with fruits which are ripening up nicely. The birds love them and so must the Javelinas as sometimes a whole plant is robbed of its fruit overnight. A few days earlier I ran into a herd of 16 Javelina with one tiny baby while walking on the edge of the park. Here a House Finch enjoys a sweet meal.
House Finch & Prickly Pear
Prickly Pear fruits can be harvested to make jams, flavor lemonade, etc. I prefer to let them stay on the plant so wild creatures can enjoy them.
I’m still hoping to stumble across a Gila Monster in the Park, which looks like perfect habitat, but no luck. On the other hand, there were a few “incidents.” A loud rattle warned us “rattler ahead” and we barely had time to pull out our cameras to capture the exit of this Western Diamondback that lay right on the trail. We’re grateful for the warning — what if there were none? They’re so well camouflaged it would be near impossible to know one was nearby without hearing it.
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
The second “incident” involved my hat, of all things. About halfway through the hike, I felt something crawling in my hair. I didn’t think much about it except to take off the hat and run my fingers through my hair so what ever it was could get out. Turns out it didn’t get out. When I put the hat back on, I could just barely make out something long and thin on the visor. I nonchalantly raised my hand to brush it off thinking it was a piece of plant matter. When I touched it, it revealed itself to be a rather large scorpion! Needless to say, the hat went flying onto the desert floor with the scorpion curled up inside. How I didn’t get stung is a mystery but I’m thankful that I didn’t get to test the effects of scorpion venom on a lonely trail in the desert.
Picture this crawling around in your hair!
We didn’t see this toad on our walk but did see it a few days earlier driving through Saguaro National Park. In fact, there were several crossing the road after dark. It’s the infamous Sonoran Desert Toad, Bufo alvarius, (sometimes referred to as Colorado River Toad). These are the largest toads in the U. S. You don’t want to pick this toad up in your mouth. Well, okay, that’s unlikely but dogs and other four-legged vertebrates might do that and can suffer hallucinations, paralysis and even death from the toxins secreted by the large glands on the side of the head. The white tubercules under these glands help distinguish this toad from any other.
Sonoran Desert Toad (Bufo alvarius)
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