Sunrise in Disappointment Valley highlighting mule deer (I’m so glad to see the bucks back!) in the greasewood and chamisa (rabbitbrush) and willows and cottonwoods along Disappointment Creek, looking toward Spring Creek Basin. It was a drive-by shot, and I couldn’t actually see what I was shooting on my phone’s screen, but the light was so beautiful highlighting the pretty and handsome does and bucks, I literally pointed and pressed the button.
A little “family” of pronghorns …
… amid a bigger group! And these weren’t all of them. After the rains, they have plenty of roadside puddles (some of them decently large!) to drink from without ranging too far!
Desert bighorn sheep in Southwest Colorado.
I see them very rarely and treasure every (any) sighting. Please forgive the non-mustang, non-Spring Creek Basin posting of this encounter, but I was just that excited to make their (very brief) acquaintance.
They’re so cool!
Caution: Fluffy wild cuteness ahead. You were warned! 🙂
While following a couple of bands of mustangs through the smoke while they grazed a few evenings ago, this little critter broke its camouflage to pose for me.
I think it’s young.
And I think that’s why it stayed put rather than galloping away.
Every time I thought to leave, taking more steps up the hill around its “hiding” spot among the lichen-covered boulders, taking another few pix of ever-increasing cuteness, I’d see another angle of even *more* cuteness!
Are you overloaded??
But wait! There’s more!!
Not long later, as I followed the mustangs uphill through the four-wing saltbush and sage, another young cutie broke camo to sit with me for a brief while.
S/he even had time for a quick little touchup to the whiskers. 🙂
Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!
I believe both Jack (Jacqueline?) rabbit and Peter (Petra?) cottontail were youngsters and that’s likely why they didn’t immediately leave when my blundering flushed them from their respective covers. Also, they both *looked* young. … Either that, or it was just too damn hot and smoky to move much for a harmless-looking two-legged who made just oohing and ahhing and clicking sounds. 😉
Happy actual Fourth of July (blame WordPress for the recent posting weirdness) from wild, wide-open, freedom-embracing Spring Creek Basin. 🙂
A warning if you’re squeamish about snakes: Pix below. Very good snakes, these (Colorado Parks and Wildlife info says they’re an “invaluable species to have around homes and in gardens” for rodent control (and, some say, for rattlesnake deterrence, though I have no experience to back this up, and some experience to negate it)), but still, if you’re looking for a pic of a mustang this morning, a scaly slitherer might be a bit of a shock. …
Ready?
Here we go:
This is (I think) a bullsnake (one word, says Colorado Parks and Wildlife), found very close to sunset, very close to the basin’s western fenced boundary above the rimrock. I was following a band of mustangs toward lower ground when I caught sight of the movement of this little guy or gal, far enough away from my path through the shadscale, sage and bunchgrasses that my world-renowned (or maybe that’s just me) ability to levitate did NOT engage.
Actually, though, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife: “While all snakes of this species are called bullsnakes in Colorado, they are actually subspecies of gophersnake. There are two species of gophersnake in Colorado: the Pituophis catenifer sayi, or bullsnake, and the Pituophis catenifer deserticola, or Great Basin gophersnake. The bullsnake is mostly found on the eastern plains of Colorado and the Great Basin gophersnake is on the western slope, but they do intermix in southern central Colorado, especially in the San Luis Valley.”
So technically, according to the above, what we have here is a Great Basin gophersnake. (Again, I think; my pix of my little friend don’t look exactly like the pic on the CPW website.)
Is it just me, or is there a smiley face on top of this critter’s head?
S/he was completely uninterested in either me or the mustangs, and we went our separate ways with respect and appreciation (at least on my side).
Cute, cute, cute!
Remember our last little collared lizard friend? Very bright turquoise, and I’m pretty sure that one was a male. THIS one, pictured above and throughout this post, is a female, I’m pretty sure.
And I also think she’s pregnant. 🙂 Look at that belly!
From Google:
A pregnant female collared lizard can be identified by the presence of naturally occurring orangish spots, similar in color to chigger mites, on her body. These spots develop when the female is gravid, meaning she is carrying eggs. The spots are a visual indication of her reproductive state.
Here’s a more detailed look:
Female collared lizards develop these distinctive orange spots when they are carrying eggs.Â
Mating Behavior: . During mating season, males will approach females and may engage in head bobbing and wrestling.Â
Egg Laying: . After mating, the female will lay her eggs, often burying them in sand or soil.Â
Egg Care: . Some females may guard their eggs for a few days, while others will leave them immediately.Â
Hatching: . Hatching typically occurs within 40-55 days.Â
Post-Hatching: . Newborn lizards will have their yolk sacs attached for a couple of days and then begin to feed on small crickets dusted with supplements.
She was super calm while I took photos of her from all kinds of angles.
Super cool little dragon-dinosaur-lizard soon-to-be-mama (!?) girl. 🙂
The scenery to be seen around Disappointment Valley is NEVER a disappointment!!!!!!!!!
Rainbow over Spring Creek Basin from the Disappointment Valley road. … See the double? Unfortunately, we didn’t get any rain out of this one.
Sunset was just about (or more?) dramatic! This is looking eastish; the cloud-glow is from sunset behind me.
And this pudgy little jackrabbit posed for me right near the road with some reflected sunset light giving him/her a lovely glow. 🙂
A couple of nights ago, as I was walking away from mustangs to leave the basin post-sunset, I saw, for the THIRD time, a hummingbird on a cluster of wild flowers!
The first time was a hummer on claret cup cacti flowers a couple of weeks or so ago.
The second time was a hummer on a gorgeous bouquet of prickly pear flowers (this is the year of the prickly pear flowers; I am NOT kidding) a few days ago.
The third time was a hummer on a beautiful bunch of 4 o’clock flowers (which are just coming out with the rain/moisture of the last week) just a couple of days ago. All of these were in Disappointment Valley; the last/most recent one was in Spring Creek Basin.
Note: The above moth (?!?!) is NOT a hummingbird. 🙂 That hummer, like the two previous ones, had no patience for a silly photographer who either didn’t have her camera, didn’t have her camera ready and/or didn’t have her camera in-hand because “the good light” had slipped over the west hill from evening toward night and she (I) was already packed away. DOH. (Note to self: “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” I don’t remember who said that, but it’s so true.)
The moths were particularly hard to photograph. (There ended up being at least two that came back to the 4 o’clock, but the above is the same moth.) They were fast. They were the very definition of flutter-bys – impossible to predict their flight patterns (and focus). The light was very low.
I am holding high hopes to be READY for the fourth hummingbird visitor – on any kind of flower – and you can be sure that I will share if I *catch* that, I will share that moment with all of you. 🙂
If you know what kinds of moths these are, please let me know? They were REALLY large, and I’m not at all sure they’re a “moth,” though they’re some kind of insect.
*** Update: ChicoRey left a comment about the bee a couple of posts ago that made me look up “sphinx moth,” and sure enough, I got a hit that makes me think what I saw were “white-lined sphinx moths.” Thanks, Maggie, for IDing these moths before I’d even posted! (This post was scheduled a few days ago. :))
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 