My Little Patch of Desert

[GQ.]

Wow Sky! Great shots. Thanks for sharing. Now I have a great urge to go out and find some critters. I think I'll head out this evening.

 

[Billy Norton]

Super Hawk Pictures.

Great pictures, They brought back very pleasent memories of my youth in New Mexico. I raised several redtail hawks in my early teens. I have always had a fasination for the mighty birds of prey!!!

 

[Tony]

The turtle thing is the best (Hi Sky!)
Sorry I missed the shin-dig
And Billy was there too?
Drat
T

 

[Texas Blonde]

The turtle thing is the best (Hi Sky!)
Sorry I missed the shin-dig
And Billy was there too?
Drat
T

We missed you!!! Bill was there, someone got a pic of the two of us, but I dont remember who. Next year you will have to go. I even *recieved* an immanis from B & B.

/Sky

 

[Texas Blonde]

I went out again today and got some great pics. There were alot of beautiful flowers growing right next to the road, so I stopped to get some pics of the bees that were crawling all over them. There were also some pretty red ant looking bugs, but they flew around so fast, and never stayed in one place very long, so I wasnt able to get any good shots of them.

There was one of those red bugs in this pic, until just before I pushed the shutter button, lol. The flower came out good though.

The best picture I could get of the red bugs.

 

[Texas Blonde]

Just after I left the flower patch I came across this birds nest. I dont know whether or not it was abandoned, but there were no birds near it when I stopped.

 

[Gigas]

That bee has some hefty long attenae

 

[Texas Blonde]

More pictures from today. I found this hole completely on accident. I had actually dropped my lense cap, and when I reached down to get it, it was sitting ON TOP of the tarantulas burrow.

 

[Texas Blonde]

The second tarantula I found. This little <edit>er was a pain in the <edit>. I got it out of the burrow, then spent 30 mins trying to get it back in. I hadnt gone out with intention of collecting, just photographing, but I ended up taking it with me. Everytime I would place it back on top of the burrow, it would walk back to my leg where I was sitting and crawl underneath it. I ended up getting fairly forceful, and at one point had most of it in the burrow, but then it just backed out and walked over to my leg. After deciding to just take it with me, I still had to walk half a mile with the thing cupped in my hand. It was good though, never tried to even hair me. Right now its sitting in its deli cup beside my computer, "happy" as a pig in mud.

Walking to my leg:

 

[Texas Blonde]

The last tarantula I found while out there. This one I found while about to jump in one of the cement water tanks. The thing had burrowed in some very loose sand right next to the edge of the tank. Unfortunatly its not a good location, because the cattle will be in that pasture again soon, and will surely trample the burrow.

 

[Texas Blonde]

We have no natural standing water in my area of West Texas, so when its hot, we go swimming in the cement water tanks normally used for watering the cattle. I was smart today and wore my swimsuit under my clothes, Ive had the extreme embarassment of being caught skinny dipping by a roughneck who was sent out to check an oilwell right next to where the tank was located.

One of the cool things about the tanks is that they attract alot of different animals. If you hang out in one long enough you are bound to see something wonderful.

This is the first tank I stopped by today, and where I found that last tarantula. We call it the Hunters Moon Mill.

Next to the cement tank is the actual pond. Its not natural, my great grandfather had it dug out and lined with clay. It barely holds water anymore, but we are going to have it redone again next year. It will be much larger, and we will put in a picknick area with a big stone picknick table. (We have to use stone, the plastic tables always get stolen. )

 

[Texas Blonde]

After I left Hunters Moon I came to this mill. We call this one Center Mill, though I dont know why, its not really in the center of anything. This is where the cattle pens are located, so this is where all the cattle come for branding, dehorning, deworming, and castrating. What a fun sounding process huh?

I found some really cool bugs here. These beautiful yellow and orange wasps. They would land lightly on the water to drink, then fly off. It was amazing to see them do it, just about everything else drowns.

There were also a massive amount of bees gathered around the water spout. They cant land in the water like the wasps do.

I also had the amazing luck of getting to photograph this dragon fly. He held still just long enough for me to take two pictures, then took off.

 

[Canth]

I'm sorry if I sound redundant but...Amazing pics, Sky! Lol, I laughed when you talked about that tarantula in chat..Funny.

 

[Mr Ed]

Great pics Sky, that was a ton of fun. I posted a pic of that first big female I caught dropping a sac, I believe she was the possible Carlsbad green. I'll keep you posted on it's status.

 

[bananaman]

This is excellent! Wonderful place you got there... and great pictures...
Cheers!

 

[xgrafcorex]

great pics sky! looks like you are enjoying the new camera. which lens or lenses do you have?

 

[Arietans]

Awesome awesome awesome pictures

Thank you for sharing

 

[jwasted]

Very nice pics. Tons of t's in your area whould be fun to see them around like that .

 

[dtknow]

Great photos! You oughtta do more removal of the T's before the cows come into to certain parts. Might be a way to produce a sustainable source of T's for those breeding these ones?

 

[cricket54]

Skye, I've been loving this thread! Thanks so much for posting all the pictures. I recently came back from Morongo Valley, CA, not far from Yucca Valley, CA. It was the place where there were all the fires in the news in CA recently (Sawtooth fire). I was visiting my daughter and her property is covered in what looks like tarantula burrows. They look just like the ones in your pictures. My daughter has seen tarantulas there. I didn't see any and I didn't try pouring any water down the burrows. Couldn't tease anything out of the burrows with sticks either. It was extremely hot while I was there and the ants went back in their homes by 10:30AM. My daughter's neighbor found a scorpion in his garage the day I left, and she is mailing him to me. In the spring, they had vinegaroons all over the place, but I'm sure they were in hiding because of the heat. The place is there is called "the high desert" so there was no grass, just yucca, cati, white sage, and brush there.

Sharon