Natural History Wanderings

We got up at six and went to Henderson Canyon to photograph in the early morning light. The dominant flowers in the area we chose were Desert Sunflower (most abundant), Sand Verbena, and Dune Evening Primrose (numbers seem to be increasing). This area seems to have not been hit hard by the Sphinx Moths.

After breakfast we headed out to Borrego Palm Canyon and hiked 3.5 miles round trip to the Palm Oasis and came back on the alternate route back. It is a very scenic trail with a rocky desert landscape. The trail is flowery with many species in bloom. The Palm Trees along the trail are California Fan Palm, California’s only native Palm. Most abundant were Brittlebush, Desert Lavender, Rock Daisy, Desert Dandelion, Ocotillo, and Canterbury Bells. The long list of blooming plants we were able to identify included Creosote, Fremont’s Pincushion, Wild Heliotrope, California Suncup, Whispering Bells, Beavertail Cactus, Desert Five-spot (one plant), Rocky Daisy, Brown-eyed Evening Primrose, Ephedra, a second smaller poppy, Blazing Star (looks much like Mohavea), a mustard, Fiddleneck, Bigelow’s Monkeyflower, Indigo Bush, White Fiesta Flower, Rock Hibiscus, Silver-leaved Sunflower, Mesquite and a Datura in fruit near the women’s bathroom at the start of the trail. 

The alternate route is slightly steeper and longer. It includes good view and had three cactus in bloom (Barrel, Cholla and Beavertail) as well as some nice Ocotillo. It also had lots of Brittlebush and a very good patch of Chuparosa in a wash to the right of the trail shortly before the end. Also saw one small Gilia that we hadn’t seen earlier.

Birds included Raven, House Finch, California Quail, Costa’s Hummingbird, White-crowned Sparrow, Canyon Wren, Rock Wren. We also saw Painted Lady, Edith’s Checkerspot, and lots of Tiny Checkerspot butterflies. A couple of different lizards were spotted along the way.  The smaller one was probably a Sagebrush Lizard.  The larger one was a Chuckwalla.

At the end of the trail we met a ranger who had a spotting scope set on the hillside observing Bighorn Sheep, so we finally got to see Borregos.

Finally, we did a short walk 1/4 mile each way up Little Surprise Canyon. The surprise was finding a number of good specimens of Sand Blazing Star (which looks a lot like Mohavea). The most abundant plants here were Poppies, Wild Heliotrope, and Fremont’s Pincushion. We also found Arizona Lupine, Chuparosa, Brittlebush, Whispering Bells, Popcorn, Ocotillo, Creosote, Desert Chicory, Rocky Daisy, Bigelow’s Monkeyflower, Barrel Cactus, and Desert Dandelion. The only birds were Mourning Dove and an unidentified Hummingbird.