Name This Slimy Creature

I just want to have fun with Sunday posts, so we're going to venture into another world. Last week it was UFOs, this week it's this slimy creature. Know what it is? Here are some clues, and because I'm in a good mood, I'll include the answer at the end of the post.

I found this creature in the stream, under a rock. It likes water and it truly is slimy feeling. You can even see the reflection of that slime coat in the photo. Technically this is called the mucus, and it uses the mucus to glide along the rock. I feel smarter when I can write "technically." Do you, too? I thought so.

This critter has no arms, legs, head, heart, or brain. It must have a pretty simple life! It does have a couple spots that look like eyes, called ocelli, and they detect light. The critter doesn't like light and  moves away from it.

I can't say that it's a he or a she because it's both. It can reproduce asexually, which means no mating. But if it wants to, it can mate. Such choices.

One of the coolest things about this critter is that it can regenerate body parts. That's part of the reproduction thing. If it's split crosswise or lengthwise, it can regrow what it lost. 

So what is this thing? It's a planaria. Maybe you got to see one in high school biology class. And if not, go out to your nearest stream and look under some rocks. There's a good chance you might find one. Not that you would want to, but don't you feel that the quality of your life has improved knowing that you can? 

Have a good Sunday. I guess this post will show you that you should be out doing something other than sitting in front of the computer looking at photos of unattractive, uncharismatic, creatures. I guess I should get a life too.

Interesting Beetles

I think insects are cool--as long as they're not in my house or biting me! Recently I saw a couple interesting looking ones. Before you go "Blah, insects," keep in mind that insects make up something like 95% of the species on this earth. And yet we don't know much about them. Sure, grizzly bears, whales, and elephants might be more charismatic, but let's face it, I'm not in a good place to take photos of them. So we're stuck with insects today, in particular two beetles.

I was on a picnic when this black beetle with the long antennae landed on one of my nieces. I wanted to get a closer look, so I transferred it to my leg. After a little research, it turns out that it's in the Family Cerambycidae, Longhorn beetles. This is a huge family, with over 20,000 identified species. Goodness gracious, did I have any hope of identifying it? Fortunately, those long antennae help distinguish it, along with the black body and white markings.

According to one posting I found on the internet, that little white v-marking, the scuttelum, between the head and thorax is a distinguishing mark for the white-spotted sawyer, Monochamus scutellatus. 

The white-spotted sawyer didn't stay still for long, but jumped onto my plate. It's preferred food isn't fruit salad, but rather conifers. Adults will eat needles and small twigs, while the larvae bore into the wood and create galleries under the bark. If one larvae gets too close to another, it will get eaten--they are cannibals! (See insects can be pretty interesting!)

Okay, onto our second insect. While I was hanging up laundry I heard a strange buzzing and saw this insect on some fabric on the ground. It was nearly two inches long and appeared to be stuck. Henry took great interest in it and I had to keep him from eating it. 

It was only after I had moved it to the grass that I realized it was a beetle. I tend to forget that beetles have wings. This particular beetle with its distinct markings made it relatively easy to identify as a member of the Family Scarabaeidae, or a Scarab beetle. This is another huge family, with about 30,000 members. Some scarab beetles were considered sacred in ancient Egypt, while the Japanese beetle is considered a pest in the United States. 

This particular scarab beetle appears to be a ten-lined June beetle, Polyphylla decemlineata. The straight reddish brown antennae indicate that it's a female, while the males have curved or fanlike antennae.

This species feeds on the roots of various plants as larvae and on pine needles and leaves as adults. Many species of scarab beetles are great recyclers, feeding on dung (scat), and thus are known as dung beetles.

Okay, that ends today's lesson on beetles. I bet you feel smarter! I'll be on the lookout for more interesting material to help enrich your life. Any requests?

Greeting from a Great Horned Owl

After a couple evening walks, we've returned to the house to hear a cacophony of birds. The Western Kingbirds are flying around squawking, American Kestrels are diving in the treetops, European Starlings are flapping away. Why so much noise? Because a Great Horned Owl likes to hang out in our yard. So whenever I hear the birds, I start looking around until I spot the owl. The owl knows us fairly well, so it lets me get close to get a photo. We've actually had a family of Great Horned Owls around, but they seem to have dispersed and now I only see one owl at a time.
We sleep with the windows open and quite often at night we can hear the owl hooting away. I'm always thankful that the owl is helping to keep our yard free of gophers and mice. Our puppy Henry was quite scared of the owls when he was smaller, but now he's gotten so big that he just ignores them.  I try to hoot to the owls to encourage a conversation, but they just ignore me. I wonder why.

Desert Boy and Henry Learn about Harvester Ants

While we were taking a walk the other day, I noticed the large number of harvester ant mounds among the bushes. Desert Boy and Henry went over to investigate.
Harvester ant mounds are easily distinguished, with a small hill of sand and gravel rising from the ground, sometimes as much as two feet high. Harvester ants belong to the genus Pogonomyrmex, and their predilection to make these mounds make them easy to identify. In our area we have more than 30 species of ants, but just two are Pogonomyrmex ants.
Desert Boy thought it was great to take a look, but because harvester ants have an extremely toxic poison, it's not good for him to get too close. Harvester ants are some of the most venomous animals in the world, with a venom 3 to 12 times as strong as a bee. Or in other words, one ant bite is equivalent to up to 12 bee stings. Ouch! Fortunately harvester ants have tiny mouths and don't bite often, as long as you stay out of their colony.
Henry takes a look at the harvester ant mound. The ants have dug deep into the earth so that they can take the seeds they find. In addition to seeds, they also eat small insects and other invertebrates. In turn they are eaten by horned lizards and some birds.
Here we can see ants coming and going out of the mound entrance. They turn over and aerate as much soil as earthworms.
The ants will stay inside the mound during the hottest part of the day. Then they go out to find seeds and insects and bring them back.
Here's a closeup of a harvester ant. It's a little blurry because the ants move fast! By the way, the head is the square end with the antennae sticking out.
One of the things that caught my eye as I walked past several harvester ant mounds was the entrance. It was always on the south or east side of the mound. One hypothesis about this entrance location is that it warms up faster in the morning than if it was located on the north or west side.
Harvester ants clear the vegetation directly around the mound. Although it might be tempting to try and kill the harvester ants, they are a natural part of the ecosystem, found throughout the western United States. In Texas and Arizona, the red imported fire ant is slowly taking over harvester ant territory, and these fire ants are much worse for humans than the fairly benign harvester ants.
One ant in this photo is carrying part of a plant that is bigger than himself. Ant watching turns out to be a fun sport: which ant is carrying the biggest thing? Which ants go in straight directions and which ones meander?
Desert Boy is enjoying his experience as an ant watcher. Ready to join him?

Common Lizards

A trip to the desert just doesn't seem complete unless you see some lizards. Lizards are reptiles, and are generally fairly easy to spot because they make a rustling sound as they move around on feet with five-clawed toes. Getting a good look at one can be difficult, though, because they move so quickly. So I've done the hard part for you. I've found some lizards, managed to photograph them, and spent hours flipping through my A Guide to Field Identification of Reptiles of North America and then went to the internet because the entries are much more interesting. Here's what I found out.
The desert horned lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos) is a pudgy-looking lizard, and because it's so cute I get more excited about seeing this one than most others. It has small horns on its head (imagine that), and cryptic coloring that allows it to blend in with its habitat. It's one of about seven horned lizards found throughout the deserts of North America.

With its orangish head, this lizard doesn't blend in as well with its surroundings. As best as I can tell (and if you're a herpetologist and know better, let me know), it's the orange-headed desert spiny lizard (Sceloporus magister cephaloflavus), which has a wide distribution throughout the North American deserts. One cool thing about this lizard is that if the temperature decreases, it can turn its dark spots even darker to soak up even more heat. 

This sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus) can be distinguished from its close relative the western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) by its longitudinal stripes that run parallel along its body. As you can probably guess, the sagebrush lizard likes to hang out in sagebrush habitats. What you might not guess is that this little guy is a voracious ant eater. It will also eat other insects and arachnids. 

Here's another view of the sagebrush lizard checking out its surroundings. (I can just tell it's thinking "How close should I let her come to take her freakin' photograph?") They are quick to frighten, and they take refuge under bushes, in burrows, or wherever they can get away from you. They mate in the spring, typically lay a clutch of four eggs in June and the eggs hatch in August. I will soon be on the lookout for them so I can show you. (Please pretend you care.)

I should mention that if you come out to the desert in really cold weather, you won't see any lizards. They aren't that dumb. They like to wiggle into loose soil or hide in other animals' burrows to keep a relatively constant temperature. If you are trying to find lizards in warm weather, one of the best techniques is to go to some lizard habitat (a golf course is not good habitat), and sit still. Eventually a lizard will run by. You don't have to do anything except sit there. See, I knew I could convince you to like lizards!

Celebrate Pollinator Week

Bee in tufted evening primrose (Oenothera caespitosa)

I recently learned from Bug Girl's Blog that the week of June 22-28 is Pollinator Week. Okay, so today is the last day of the week, but you weren't really planning on running out and celebrating it, were you?

Here are a few facts from www.pollinator.org that might make you decide to have a party after all. Pollinators are responsible for pollinating over 75 percent of flowering plants and 80 percent of the world's crops. They help produce $20 billion of crops each year, despite the fact that 3,000 acres of farmland are lost each day.

In honor of these awesome and often overlooked pollinators, I have some photos showing these pollinators in action. After taking a look here, go out and give the pollinators in your neighborhood a high-five. Well, you really shouldn't touch the wildlife, but give them a mental high-five. They'll appreciate it.

Small butterfly on unknown yellow flower

Swallowtail butterfly on Western columbine (Aquilegia formosa)

Small fly or bee in prickly pear cactus (Opuntia polyacantha) flower

And for those who think that there aren't many pollinators in the desert, in our valley alone we have over 200 species of bees, 150 species of butterflies and moths, 4 species of hummingbirds, and many species of bats, small mammals, beetles, ants, and wasps.

Scatology: Who Left the Poo?

Scatology is the study of scat, otherwise known as poo, doo-doo, feces, turds, dung, excrement, and other terms that are not kosher to write on this family-friendly website. Scat is the "technical" term for what comes out after something has been eaten and digested, and it can tell you a lot. Over the years I've looked at a lot of scat. The desert is a great place to look for scat. It doesn't decompose all that fast, so there's lots of scat around, and if you're a scatologist, you're in luck.

Most of the scat I see comes in two forms, pellets or turds. The photo above shows jack rabbit scat, with rounded form and brown color. Rabbits are herbivores, so their pellets all have about the same consistency. Other pellet scat found in the area include deer, elk, and pronghorn antelope. 

This scat is obviously not a pellet and it obviously does not have uniform consistency. If you look closely (you can click on the photo to see a larger version), you can see bone fragments and matted fur. This animal is a carnivore, it eats other animals. To determine what animal left this scat, I look at the size and shape. Blunt ends are left by cats, and it's about four inches long, so it appears to be bobcat scat. 
This scat has some similar characteristics to the bobcat scat, but it seems hairier and is smaller. The animal was probably eating mice and voles. The ends are tapered, which means that it is from the dog family, which includes coyotes and foxes. Based on the size and habitat, it's probably gray fox scat.

Here's some more pellet scat. If you look carefully, you can see the pellets aren't rounded like the jackrabbit scat at the top; instead they have a pinched end. This is deer scat.

Now I want to make sure that you notice I haven't included Desert Boy in any of these photos. I do have some sense of propriety, plus I know all too well that just seeing the scat wouldn't be enough for him to learn about it. 

I've done some talks about scat for school kids, and one of my favorite ways to help them learn about different types of scat is to show them a variety in ziploc bags. Then I ask them how to tell the difference between old deer scat and new deer scat. After I hear a couple suggestions, I tell them that the best way is by taste. I secretly put a Raisinet in my fingers, pretend to open the deer scat bag and pull out a pellet, and put the Raisinet in my mouth. All the kids look aghast until one figures out what I've just done. I've always wondered if any have gone home and tried to do the same thing with their parents.

Desert Boy Finds a Stinkbug

This lovely upended creature is called a stinkbug. It's a beetle in the Tenebrionidae family, which contains about 1,400 species in North America. In general they're called darkling beetles, but beetles of this genus, Eleodes, are called stinkbugs, and about 100 species are found in the western United States. They are scavengers, eating the leftovers that no one else wants. They are about one and a half inches long and easy to spot as they creep around a variety of habitats. 
When the stinkbug is upset, it sticks its rear up in the air. If it gets really mad, it can squirt a stinky brown liquid. I've never seen this happen, despite trying to provoke some stinkbugs. If you have seen a squirt, I'd like to hear about it! Okay, that gives you an idea of what life is like out in the middle of the desert, I get amused by watching stinkbugs wander around and wondering if I can make them squirt.
Here's a good view of that pointy behind. Some people call these clown beetles because they look like they're standing on their heads. They can live up to 15 years, an age that seems quite old for such a tiny creature. Because they wander around and are easy to see, they are eaten by mice, Loggerhead Shrikes and another stinky critter, skunks. 
Speaking of stinky critters, here's Desert Boy. He sees the stinkbug and can't resist trying to catch it. Is he coordinated enough to actually grab it?
Getting closer, he's determined to grab it.
Success! Now Desert Boy has the wiggling beetle in his hands. He likes feeling to learn about new things, but he likes tasting even better. So will he do it, will he eat the stinkbug? (For those of you saying that I should be intervening at this point, I have to say I was just enjoying myself too much. And after all the dirt he had eaten that day, I figured a little extra protein wouldn't cause any harm.)

Did he eat it? I'll let you decide.

Coyote Morning

I was out doing a bird survey this morning and got to see some interesting sights. One was this coyote, a little close for comfort. The reason appeared to be some kind of injury, as he was limping badly and didn't make much of a move to get away from me. I was impressed with how green his eyes looked.

Later I saw some mule deer running through the shrubs. I got out my camera and had it ready, but due to my paltry zoom didn't get close shots of them. They ran across the meadow and soon a coyote came running out of the same willow and rose thicket. He ran in a different direction, knowing that the deer were much too big of prey for him alone.

Seeing these wildlife sightings is pretty exciting, because sometimes the bird surveys can be a little slow. Ten minutes is a long time if you have the same four birds singing the entire time. 

White-faced Ibis

I had some good bird sightings, including breeding Common Yellowthroat and Lazuli Bunting in the bushes that the irrigated meadows support on their margins, and White-faced Ibis, Eared Grebe, Sandhill Crane, and Northern Shoveler in the ranch pond. Out in the meadows Western Meadowlarks, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and Brewer's Blackbirds were the most common sightings.

I also got bit by a mosquito and a deerfly. They surprised me, because usually the dry desert environments don't support these biting nuisances, but the irrigated meadows provided enough water for them. My new waterproof boots were actually waterproof, so it was a good morning. Now on to more adventures!