We're supposed to be outdoors, working today... but there's a front coming through, and the
winds are up. Not only that, but the project/area that we're in is associated with windmill farms (read: that place will be even windier than anywhere else). Now, since we're supposed to be experienced field workers, we've learned a thing or two about working in the wind => it sucks (and the hubby often ends up with a sinus infection). If we have to work with others and can't change the schedule, we're now experienced enough to dress for the weather. Here we are last year, when we were working in the same area, just a different project. A friend took the photo and called it "Desert Bandits" because everyone thought we were so silly to wear those face coverings... well, by the end of a month of working in the wind, a couple folks sheepishly whispered that they wished they had those face coverings!!
For this day, we were just scheduled to work with ourselves, so we opted out of the outdoors for the day. I consider it operating costs. You see, the desert, esp the Mojave is known for its wind. We're on the cusp between the California coast and the Great Basin inland. The temperature difference between these regions creates a huge pressure differential which, in turn, creates some pretty big winds. Hence the wind farms. Its a fact of the region, and if you're going to live amongst it, you learn not to deny its reality and its power (hence the wind farms!).
Today I'll share with you a couple fun critters that we found nearly a month ago. The high levels of rain that some regions of the desert recieved were great for much of the wildlife and plants. We've been experiencing chronic shortages of rainfall, and its creating stress on everything. Usually when we think of desert reptiles, we think of hard-scaled creatures like the desert tortoise and lizards. But, when conditions aren't as difficult - at night - there are other reptiles that make their appearances - such as this fellow, the western banded gecko
(Coleonyx 
variegatus). Yes! A gecko in the desert! On the ground behind our friend you can see a shiny metal object. That's the discarded muffler which the gecko was found underneath (actually, it has a nice, humid burrow under the muffler, which provides its delicate skin even greater moisture in the harsh desert habitat). My coworker found the gecko. Personnally, I didn't expect anything. We were on the edges of a desert town and this was one of the offroad dumping spots where people love to discard old car parts, sofa's, etc. I was just annoyed. My coworker kept working - and found life! See, the desert isn't all that deserted.
Here's a "Where's Waldo" exercise for you. Look into this photo. Do you see anything other than rocks? Look into the center. See the round "rock"? That's a baby tortoise!! Talk about good camo! This leads me to another discussion. My brother was just visiting a couple months ago and asked me, "Why does every single road have fences alongside it?"... Yup. Its a myth of the West that there are wide open places. I mean, there are, but you first have to get through that barbed wire fence to get at it.
Why is this?? Well... first off, consider that its private land and the person is trying to exclude others from getting on there - either to dump garbage, hunt on it, mine it, drive an off-road-vehicle (ORV), or graze their livestock.
Otherwise, a heck of a lot of land out here is public land - U.S. Bureau of Land Management land (yours and mine, but leased out for "Multiple Use"). Its those multiple uses that require the fencing. Don't forget that a mere 50+ years ago, everything was
heavily grazed for livestock (cattle and sheep). Those animals aren't like our impression of horses - grazing on grass. They also subsist on eating shrubs... and in the west, they have to, because that's what they're grazed on. Recent laws put into effect by Pres. Bill Clinton right before he left office addressed the issue of grazing on public lands in the southwest, decreasing the number of livestock that can be grazed per acre on BLM land. Still, however, the land is grazed. You might not ever see a live animal out there, but believe me, the land is being grazed. They now just usually ship the sheep herds from location to location throughout the deserts. And if the sheep aren't there - wild horses and burros still are. I seldom see them, just their tracks.
In addition, we've still got major amounts of ORV riders, and the numbers increase daily. These folks are usually supposed to stay on trails and generally are not supposed to cross highways... but nothing is perfect. I know the fences are also supposed to restrict ORV's from crossing the road just anywhere. I'm sure its also road safety, so yahoo's don't run off the highway to do donuts out in some playa by the side of the road either.
But, most importantly (to me), a new trend for these fences is to keep desert tortoises from wandering onto the highways. I mean, a tortoise looks like a tank, but put that little fellow next to even a Geo Metro, and, well, there's no contest. The one time a Geo is a big car!! As a mitigation measure on many highway and utility corridor projects, the company is also now required to install tortoise-fences on these road-side barbed wire fences. A tortoise fence is just an 18-inch tall length of hardware cloth that is attached to the fencing and slightly buried (no tunneling beneath!). Tortoises are notorious wanderers and have often been observed near roads (in addition, road surface run-off generates larger plants just alongside roads, which is called an
"attractive nuisance" that entices tortoises to be near roadsides). It is suspected that these fences are saving the lives of hundreds of these critically endangered species. Little "Waldo" shown above was found just a mere 1/4 mile from Interstate-15, a 6-lane highway that I have NEVER seen empty. Although Waldo is most-likely too young to wander, here is Waldo's buddy, Wally... found nearby and just 1/2 mile from I-15. There is no doubt in my mind that Wally's life is much much safer thanks to the efforts of people to have these fences installed and maintained.
Well, I'm a week late for the official "Mother's Day" holiday... but anyone who knows me is aware that I'm not very good with these dates... I wanted to write about our tortoises; but the quail have been so active, and I've gotten such great photos of them... we'll focus on Super Mom first. Yes, there she is to your left... Super Mom. As I had written in a previous entry, the California quail (Callipepla californica) that naturally occur in our yard are known for communal raising of their chicks - at times, a couple parents will join forces and raise their babies together. This greatly 
reduces predation, a big problem for both the babies and adults - quail are highly desired by the predators out there, and are constantly wary.
these babies through our yard for the past couple weeks. I don't know how she ended up with all of them... somehow they imprinted on her and her chicks, not their own mom. If you look carefully at the photo here, you can see that some chicks are almost twice the size as others. Its a little tough to see; but its there... We hope momma can handle the responsibility... We hope some mommas start helping (there's a family that lost their babies to her, and are walking around with a single baby chick... why they don't pair up with Super Mom, I'm not sure...
Here's another fun photo of a different mom with her chicks (we've got about 3 or 4 families in the yard right now, never mind the counting mess that Super Mom has created). I opened up the back window-door shade at 6 this morn, and saw this very plumpy female resting in the yard. Look closely, and you'll see all her chicks scrunched in, trying to stay warm under her feathers. Cute!!! The quail used to be very difficult for me to photograph. They were scared of the camera lens (the Big Eye)... but each successive generation has adjusted and habituated, so that this mom allowed me to snap several shots.
