When we left Thousand Palms Oasis in the Coachella Valley Preserve on May 1st, this is what was happening under the palm trees…
A Cooper’s Hawk starts hanging around on the power wires outside of our RV. We named him Coop.
audubon.org
A Long-Eared Owl stares back on the boardwalk.
Ginny, our Preserve Manager, rescues a barn owl near the boardwalk…
Peter Cottontail, outside of our RV… He visits us every evening after all the cars and people leave the parking lot.
Leapin’ Lizards! These guys love the warmer temperatures and hot sand.
Where’s the rest of my tail?
A desert iguana…
Zebra-tailed lizard…
This one does push-ups.
More desert iguanas. They love munching on creosote bush leaves.
A desert spiny lizard…
Jeff finds a rare leopard lizard.
A rattlesnake slithers through our campground.
Very cool!
Caterpillars munch on Brown-Eyed Primrose…
… before they turn into a White-Lined Sphinx Moth…
butterfliesandmoths.org (courtesy of Gary Walton)
…that flutters like a humming bird.
butterfliesandmoths.org
An Arizona Blister Beetle lunches on Lupine.
The last of the super-bloom…
Brittlebush on the Pushawalla Trail…
Fiddleneck…
Cheesebush starts blooming.
desertwildflower.com (courtesy of S. Sampson)
Creosote explodes.
Mesquite fuzzes out in yellow.
Dyeweed blooms purple.
A pretty bush in shades of pink…
Mary, Frank, and I look for the last of the Desert Lilly and find it on the Smoke Tree Ranch trail.
Gilia…
White Rhatany and Skeleton Bush…
Woody Bottle-Washer…
Fremont Boxthorn…
Donna the Docent’s “portal to another world”…
Can you see it now?
Goodnight, moon…
Goodnight, Thousand Palms Oasis…
wandering gypsy Laurel 