Desert Story

More Cool Dirt

2009-10-18T18:59:00.008-06:00

Looking like snow, the salt crust covering this soil formed when salt-laden groundwater rose by capillarity and evaporated from the soil surface, leaving the dissolved salt behind.
http://wps.prenhall.com/chet_brady_natureandp_13/229/58750.cw/index.html

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo and Still Mo!

2009-06-01T20:34:00.006-06:00

I found some very, very, very small flowers in my favorite desolate spot. Try as I might, I can't ID them. It seems that very small flowers aren't important to taxonomists, or at least to those who populate the databases. If any of you have some hints for me, I'm listening....

Amsinckia something (Boraginaceae)

Another Amsinckia something (Boraginaceae)

Myosotis something?

As I tried to foil the wind and get some good pictures, it occurred to me that any pollinator would have to be the size of a grain of rice. When I got home with the pictures, I was shocked to see that there actually is such a thing!

The Land That God Forgot

2009-05-18T21:44:00.001-06:00

If Art is About Light

2009-05-18T21:40:00.003-06:00

...sunset is a master

Dazzling, Fetching Vetch

2009-05-18T20:34:00.013-06:00

If you've never been published, here's your chance. What follows are 3 different Vetch plants that are found in the Western, Norsouthern desert of Utah. If you can identify them, you can post your name after the plant name and for the first time, be published.

Vetch #1

Vetch #2
Vetch #3

There are some 1600 varieties of Vetch world-wide. I understand that they are best identified using the seed pod, so where I could find them, I added pictures of the pods. In addition to having 150-some species and 120-some varieties in the Intermountain region, "Vetch" is a name applied variously to peas (Oxytropis) and locoweeds (Astragalus). Of the locoweeds, there are legions called "Milk Vetch." So...good luck.

By the way, the name locoweed comes from the tendency of this plant to absorb soil toxins, especially selenium. These toxins may cause grazing animals to behave as though they are, well, loco.

Rescue

2009-05-18T20:02:00.009-06:00

I was checking on a nest that had once held Golden Eagle chicks and found that Ravens now hold the lease (not unusual). Unfortunately, it was not well supported on the outside edge. When one of their little munchkins backed up to the edge to jettison some mute, the edge of the nest (along with the munchkin) fell maybe 15 feet. The little fellow was just beginning to grow real wings, but wasn't far enough along to fly, yet he landed without apparent injury.

I picked him up wanting to return him to his nest, but it was too high. I noticed a second cavity that looked as though it had also been prepared for nesting but it was too high to just put him in. I negotiated a rather messy, one-handed chimney climb up the crack under the nest, moving him up one ledge at a time, and finally deposited him in the substitute nest.

He was so cold. I really hope he survives.

Horny Toad

2009-05-03T22:13:00.014-06:00

He ran across my path to a hiding place under a bush. I unsnagged him and put him on dirt for a better picture, but as you can see, his camouflage is impeccable. With a perfect match between the highlights on his suit and the fungus on the sage, he's the envy of Tommy Hilfiger.

He's not really a toad. His real name is Phrynosoma platyrhinos, or Desert Horned Lizard. He has a distinguished lineage that reaches back more than a million years, into the Pliocene. He shares an ancestor with the sand lizards (found in Europe and Mongolia). The Spaniards brought this lizard to European courts because Fernando Hernandez saw a live one squirt blood from its eyes and it was because of this rare talent that the natives of the American Southwest thought them sacred. (check out this really cool video http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=1800) In Mexico, they were known as "The Virgin's Little Bull."

Four of the Horned Lizard species defend themselves by squirting blood mixed with a foul chemical from their eyes at mammal predators. The blood however, does not deter bird predators. For birds, they either flatten and bury themselves or raise their horns or both to keep the birds from finding a beak hold.

This particular species of lizard lives in lowland deserts, usually where there's sand; the northern reaches of their range start in Oregon and stretch through Idaho, Utah, Nevada, California and Baja. In many of these areas, they are declining. The decline is believed to be loss of habitat and loss of prey. They eat harvester ants, primarily, but these staples of the southern deserts are being challenged for territory by 2 species of agressive and territorial South American ants--both of which were introduced. Additionally, the use of pesticides is making poison of the Horned Lizard's dinner. I know, we all hate ants, but they do have a niche.

Poor Darkling

2009-04-12T22:44:00.005-06:00

We found a deep hold dug by a hungry badger looking for ant larve. At the bottom there was a poor Darkling Bettle who fallen? in the hole. The ants, being opportunistic as ants are, had begun to eat the poor guy alive.

I reached in and scooped him out, but noticed that he was still dragging 4 ants, like cement shoes. No matter how fast he tried to run, there was and ant or two holding him back.

I pulled off two of them, but the two on his antenna were a bit more difficult. They had his antenna in their pincers and I was afraid that I would pull off his antenna if I tried to remove them.

Then I noticed that the beetle was using his legs to scrape them off himself.

Eventually he got free.

The Birth of Creativity

2009-04-12T21:47:00.007-06:00

Ravens are such good parents. They make creative, soft nests lined with all sorts of manger makings--cedar bark, wool, orange baler twine...

Ravens mate for life and establish a territory, often using the same nest year after year. While 10-15 years is the usual lifespan, there are records of Ravens living as long as 40 years at the Tower of London.

They are hardy and adaptable, in part because they aren't picky eaters. They eat insects, fruit, berries, small mammals, road kill, garbage, you name it--if they can swallow and digest it, they eat it.

They are vocal and their call is raucous. Between 15 and 30 different calls have been recorded (depending on who you ask) and they start talking very early.

In short, they are intelligent birds, very clever and even playful. Here's one of the most amazing demonstrations of cleverness I have ever seen.

Crusty Dirt

2009-03-18T19:45:00.012-06:00

The Great Basin is encrusted by a biological soil known variously as cryptogamic, microbiotic, microphytic, and cryptobiotic soil. Basically these are different names for crusty soil made by organisms (vs. crusts made of inorganic substances, like salt, or crusts that are the result of compacting the soil, like trails). The organisms within the soil release a gelatinous material that binds soil particles together in a dense matrix. Cryptogamic and microphytic refer to the fact that the crusts are formed primarily by plants that produce spores (blue-green algae, green algae and brown algae) and by bacteria, mosses, lichens and fungi. Micribiotic refers to the fact that the crusts are formed by living microorganisms. Cryptobiotic refers to a dormant or suspended state of animation that allows organisms to survive severe environmental conditions.
So any one of the names is correct--pick the one that rolls off your tongue. In the great basin, the biological soil is usually darker than the soil around it due to the density and characteristic colors of the organisms that hold the dirt together. The crusts and the surrounding flora have evolved some important survival strategies. The soil has nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, and manganese fixing properties. The more gnarly soils trap water and increase infiltration. There are some studies that suggest the biological soils inhibit the germination of cheat grass seeds, but encourage germination of native grasses, globe mallow, blue flax and others. My own observations would support this--cheat grass is rare in biological soils. This is fortunate since cheat grass fires are hot! Biological crusts can survive low intensity fires, but are destroyed by hot fires.

Long ago, I learned that one should never walk on these soils because they take hundreds of years to form. That's not the whole truth. The cyanobacterial and green algae component can recover in as little as 1-5 years giving the appearance of a healthy crust. However, recovering crust thickness can take up to 50 years, and moss and lichen recovery may take up to 250 years. When the structures that hold the soil are crushed, the soil starts migrating from that destroyed spot and may cover neighboring biological soils deep enough to kill the organisms. The dead spots get bigger and bigger, and the dependent plats get fewer and fewer.

To me, what is remarkable is that the crusts represent a living organic community. I've heard reference to the lifeless, barren desert. By some estimates, these soil crusts cover as much as 70% of the open ground in the Great Basin.

Lifeless? Hardly!

Fore more information and some really cool microscopic pictures follow this link
http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/impacts/biology/crypto/

We begin again...

2009-03-16T21:56:00.017-06:00

Great Blue Heron
Ardea herodius

The weekend trips to the west desert have begun for 2009. This weekend the find of the day was not in the desert proper, but on the way home.
The road home passes a waterfowl refuge and I crane to see what might be close as I zip past. This time, a pair of Great Blue Herons were perched on adjacent power poles. It was such an unusual sight to see them out in the open and perched so high.

I wondered if they were considering the poles as a nesting site. Unlike other waterfowl, herons usually nest high in trees, often in colonies. This bears watching...

After giving maybe 3 minutes of face time, like herons do, they flew away.

I'm Baaack

2009-01-25T16:37:00.007-07:00

Last weekend, I took my new Jeep and made the plunge--she performed very well. So the desert trips begin again.

Alongside the road, there were a number of road kill carcasses and on one very tiny rabbit carcass there were Ravens and Golden Eagles. Watching the feast at the side were one each--Bald Eagle and Northern Harrier--sitting on fence posts. As we approached, the raptors at the carcass all flew and the Golden Eagle took the opportunity to blitz the Bald Eagle on the post. I managed to capture the action, but a nanosecond after the attack.

There aren't many Bald Eagles that over-summer here--the last I heard there are around 10 pair currently nesting in the state--so most sightings occur in the winter. When Jim and I first started observing Bald Eagles, we found one grove of desert cottonwoods with more than 200 birds coming in to roost in the cold, late winter afternoon. Although I have never seen an encounter between the two species, before this one, I'm sure they happen with some frequency.

Golden Eagles, on the other hand are year-long residents here. Studies by HawkWatch International support increasing reproductive success for Golden Eagles in study areas. My experience, albeit not in the same area, supports this.

Update

2008-07-27T15:11:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, a lady turned left in front of Ruby (my trusty Jeep) and she (Ruby) has been in the hospital ever since, Needless to say, without Ruby, there have been no trips to the desert. This blog will resume postings in October.

2008-06-15T21:35:00.004-06:00

Red-tailed Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis

The may be the most forgiving big hawk. They build nests in trees, tall and not so tall, crevices and caves, and even tall buildings. This one, and her chick, were in a little park.

The Kirkpatricks

2008-06-13T19:18:00.003-06:00

Western Burrowing Owl
Athene cunicularia hypugaea

Utah State Flower

2008-06-10T18:45:00.011-06:00

I still remember the picture of this lily on canned milk tins from the time I was a child. The name, Sego Milk, and presumably the Lily on the label, survived the merge of its original Utah-based canned milk factory with a California-based one in 1917.

The lily root is edible, although, I understand, slightly hallucinogenic. During a period of food rationing in Utah, as a result of a Mormon Cricket infestation, between 1840 and 1851, many families supplemented their fare with Sego Lily roots. The natives of Utah also used the juice of the root to treat zits. Curious.

Sego Lily
Calochortus nuttallii

The Johnsons Again

2008-06-04T20:43:00.007-06:00

When tracking nests, I assign surnames that correspond to letters so I can quickly place the location and its occupants when I am processing the media. Thus, my forbidden practice--the humanization of animals.

I heard an interview this morning in which a wildlife researcher commented on the similarities between human and animal behavior--mating, parenting, protecting and raising young... She stated that her observations support the animalization of humans. Interesting turn.

The Johnsons
Nestum psi

Shorebirds, Far from Any Shore

2008-06-01T21:41:00.017-06:00

Long-billed Curlew
Numenius americanus

Both male and female incubate the eggs, but after the young are two weeks old, the female abandons them, leaving their care to her mate. Interestingly, the two will likely be mates again the following season.

Have a listen...

The Fly Boys

2008-06-01T13:32:00.004-06:00

Here are the Johnsons

Western Burrowing Owl
Athene cunicularia hypugaea

Harry

2008-05-29T21:05:00.007-06:00

Giant Desert Hairy Scorpion
Hadrurus arizonensis

K-So (Lindsey's dog) found this morsel for me under a rock. It is unusual to see a scorpion during the day, so it was a treat to be able to get some well-lighted pictures. Years ago when we were banding Burrowing Owl chicks, we commonly found scorpions on the butcher block at the nests--apparently they are a delicacy for the growing chicks. Burrowing Owls, like other diurnal birds, see UV, and scorpions fluoresce at night. It seems like a poor evolutionary strategy for a nocturnal desert dweller.
Nest debris often contains mountains of pedipalps (pincers) and stingers--sort of like the aftermath of a lobsterfest. Like the Burrowing owls, they live in burrows, up to 20 feet deep.
The venom is nasty stuff and and sting can be painful, but not fatal. For this reason, I always put my boots inside something for the night when I sleep under the stars. This is the largest scorpion found in North America. Its body is covered with sensory hairs--hence the name Harry.

Cliffrose

2008-05-29T19:36:00.010-06:00

Mexican Cliffrose
Purshia mexicana or Cowania Mexicana

This beauty is a member of the Rose family, as implied by its name. I can't figure out why one of the common names for this bush is Quinine Brush. Natives used a tea to treat skin rashes, insect bites, measles and chickenpox, but there's no record of effectiveness. It seems suspect since they also used the tea to induce vomiting and to treat arthritis, venereal disease, kidney disease, constipation and worms, among a hodgepodge of others. They made a bitter concoction (bitter being the only commonality with quinine that I could discover) with sage and juniper to loosen mucus and treat pneumonia. Yet, the medicinal properties must not have been without merit. In 2006, there were some studies linking a complex tannin and triterpenoids from this plant to an inhibitory effect on Epstein-Barr virus early antigen and HIV. 1
Early natives also used shredded bark and for diapers, pillows, mats, shoe insulators and clothing and combined the bark with yucca fibers for rope. A brown and tan dye was made from the leaves and stems combined with juniper branches.
It is browse for native and domestic ungulates. Ants and small rodents are an import part of its life cycle. The little guys stow the seeds for the winter and, when the cellar is not bare come spring, the new seedlings emerge from these stores. The seed pods produce feathery plumes which carry the seeds on the wind and, once grounded, the plumes twist in the wind and drive the seed under.
Regeneration is aided by fire (although the plant is not fire resistant)--the smoke of burning Artemesia tridendata (Big Sage) helps seeds germinate. Bitterbrush is an "actinorhizal," meaning it is symbiotic with a certain type of bacteria (Frankia actinomycetes) and together they add nitrogen to the soil. Unlike many of the plants of old Lake Bonneville, this one is not tolerant of saline soils.
1 Hideyuki Ito, Masateru Miyake, Eisei Nishitani, Kyoko Miyashita, Morio Yoshimura, Takashi Yoshida, Midori Takasaki, Takao Konoshima, Mutsuo Kozuka and Tsutomu Hatano, “Cowaniin, a C-Glucosidic Ellagitannin Dimer Linked through Catechin from Cowania mexicana”, Chem. Pharm. Bull., Vol. 55, 492-494 (2007)

Fishing in the Desert?

2008-05-27T22:18:00.007-06:00

Fishhook Cactus
Sclerocactus sp?

Stinky

2008-05-25T23:05:00.007-06:00

Green Stink Bug
Acrosternum hilare

Stink bugs are aptly named because they have stink glands on their underside that discharge a foul-smelling liquid when they are frightened.

This beetle prefers dry, arid areas. There is a bright green cousin of this bug that lives mainly back east. He and his kind are orchard nightmares because they love to eat developing seeds. When there are no seeds they feed on stems and foliage. In short, even though this fellow is beauty, he is a pest.

Listen to the Mockingbird

2008-05-21T18:19:00.005-06:00

This cheery fellow sang from the top of the juniper canopy over my bed--he sang and sang and sang and...well you get the picture. His little opera had music scores that I recognized from the Meadow Lark Ballad, the Black Throated Sparrow Sonata, the Western Kingbird Cantata, The Horned Lark Madrigal, and The Raven/Magpie Roundelay and some that I'm sure he just made up on the spot.

Northern Mockingbird
Mimus polyglottos

Horse of Another Color

2008-05-20T19:46:00.006-06:00

Littleleaf Horsebrush
Tetradymia glabrata

Horsebrush is toxic to sheep while it is flowering. It contains furanoeremophilanes and resins which cause liver damage, abortions and death. Interestingly, when eaten together with Horsebrush, Black Sage increases sensitivity to the Horsebrush toxins, primarily through photo sensitization. It seems counterintuitive that the most common domestic browsers in the desert are herds of sheep. The brush is found in saline and alkaline soils.

The Real Thing

2008-05-19T21:53:00.004-06:00

Western Rattlesnake
Crotalus viridis

This one was no impostor. He was maybe 4.5 feet long and was crossing the road while a Horned Lark harassed him. I wondered if the snake was after the Lark's eggs.

The tongue flick is a method of "smelling." The tongue picks up particles in the air and reads them with special organs in the roof of the snake's mouth. They also smell with their noses and are very good at tracking the prey they have envenomated. They find their prey with heat sensing organs known as "pits" (hence the name, pit viper). Using a combination of the pits, very sensitive nerves in their mouth and an infrared detector, they detect differences in heat of 1.5 to 4.5 C between the prey and the background temperature.

These snakes hibernate enmasse and emerge between March and May. The males can mate anytime, except in torpor, but females only ovulate once a year in the spring. The females can hold the sperm until they ovualte, then they hold the eggs until they hatch. They actually lay eggs AND give birth. (Maybe there's a good excuse for their notoriously bad temper.) The females give live birth in a den to 2-14 snakelettes (equal ratio of males and females) sometime between August and October then stay close for awhile to to guard the little ones till they head out on their own.

Contrary to common opinion, adult snakes do not always deliver venom. The little ones are more likely to inject venom than the big ones--manufacturing venom is an expensive effort--but the big ones deliver more venom when they are serious. A "wet bite" can cause serious tissue necrosis (through hemolytic, neurologic and proteolytic action) if not treated within 18 hours, but does not usually cause death; however, northern snake venom is more hemorrhagic . Bites are almost always preceded by a warning rattle. I was disappointed that this guy wouldn't give me a good rattle, but Western Rattlesnakes don't rattle much even when threatened. When they do rattle, the rattle shakes 20-100 times per second. The snakes shed their skin once every year and put on another rattle each time. With 7 rattles, this guy was probably just leaving puberty (the oldest recorded is 27 years).

A few feet down the road, I came across a 6 foot Gopher Snake. He was incensed that I shooed him off the road. To make me think again about interrupting his trip, he blew up his cheeks to look like a viper and drew up into a mock rattlesnake coil. When he saw I wasn't taking him seriously, he decided to scoot. As he hurried away through the grass, he let the air out of his cheeks and looked once again like a harmless Gopher Snake. Imposter!

...and a Few More

2008-05-18T22:03:00.000-06:00

A Few Great Basin Grasses

2008-05-18T19:21:00.019-06:00

Sedges have edges,
And rushes are round,
But grasses, like asses
Have holes.

Indian Ricegrass
Achnatherum hymenoides

This delicate grass is much more robust than it appears. It is used to reclaim disturbed sandy soil in very dry areas, but it does require good drainage. The seed has a very hard coat that can resist fire and can lay dormant for several years, which makes the see marketable to small rodents who collect and store the seed for the winter months.
The seed has a high protein and fat content, so it is a favorite of Mourning Doves and Pheasants, as well as other songbirds. It was also a staple for American Indians. It is also named Sand Grass, Indian Mountain Grass, Indian Millet, Sandrice and Silky Grass for obvious reasons.

Foxtail Barley
Hordeum jubatum
This grass is the bane of long-haired dogs and dogs with upright ears. Like the Ricegrass it is an invader of disturbed areas and tolerates salty soil. Because the salt accumulates in leaves and roots, it can reduce soil salinity. It can thrive in wet or dry ground and is drought tolerant, but has to have a period of cold in order to germinate. Each plant produces up to 200 seeds with long tails which have barbs, so can travel to far away places with strange sounding names.

Family Portrait

2008-05-18T19:16:00.001-06:00

2008-05-14T22:13:00.003-06:00

Ferruginous Hawk
Buteo regalis

Who Pinched My Bum?

2008-05-14T22:03:00.004-06:00

I found him in an old horse print--deep enough to have been made when it was muddy and old enough to be very dry. All I could see was 3 inches of snake skin, obviously occupied since it was about an inch in diameter and breathing. I looked closer and saw that a small rodent hole held the tail part and a second hole held the head part. I couldn't tell for sure from the small section of him what kind of snake or how big, so I poked him with my finger. I have never seen a snake move so fast. Within 4 and a half nanoseconds the tail appeared out of the tail hole and disappeared down the head hole and the head emerged from the same hole. I was looking eye to eye with a very offended viper. That look said it all!

Seeps

2008-05-13T22:21:00.011-06:00

If I understand this correctly, the water seeps upward through the soil by capillary action forming a hard pan and bringing salt to the surface. The water evaporates, leaving the salt behind.

In Arabia, these are called Sabkhas.

In any case, the crystals are beautiful, even though the green water is a bit revolting.

Crone Clone

2008-05-11T22:17:00.004-06:00

My deaf, half blind buddy got herself lost this weekend. We slept under the stars and it was cold. That's not a problem, because I anticipate cold until June AND I have Jessie. She's better than an electric blanket. She and I started out in separate beds, but as the cold descended we moved into one bed--mine. Somewhere in the hours between the dead of night and the crack of dawn, she decided the ground squirrels might be misbehaving and that it was her duty to check on them. She complained, and complained, and complained. I finally pushed her out and fell asleep listening to her tags jingle. Some time later I woke up and realized I could no longer hear the tags. I sighed, got out of my warm bed and into my cold shoes and jacket, and headed out with a flashlight to look for her. I found her close to a quarter of a mile away, wandering in circles and looking very bewildered. She stared into the flashlight at first, ready to bolt, as if she thought it was a UFO. When she realized that I was behind the light, she almost screamed. "Hoauh, Hough, Ark Ark ARK" (meaning, "Where have you been?!?"). We went back to bed and she lay very still until long after dawn--and for the rest of the day, she stayed very close.

Sudafed Tea

2008-05-11T21:40:00.007-06:00

Mormon Tea
Ephedra viridis

Eaten, mostly in the winter, by game animals, domestic animals, rodents and even quail, Mormon Tea is highly toxic to pregnant cows and sheep. New shoots of Mormon Tea are rich in potassium and iron. The one-plant desert pharmacy contains ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, and tannin. Native Americans brewed a medicinal tea for backaches from Mormon Tea (also known as Brigham Team, Nevada Joint-fir, American Ma Huang, Mexican Tea, Desert Ephedra and Desert Tea) and ground it into flour and "coffee" grounds. The buds in the pictures above are edible and the Seeds can be ground for Desert Starbucks. The young raw stems have the greatest concentration of the ephedrine alkaloid.

Here are all the uses claimed forthis miracle plant: anti-viral (esp. for influenza), antidote, antispasmodic, diaphoretic (causes sweat), blood purifier (whatever that is), diuretic, pectoral (relieves cough and asthma), vasodilator, stimulant, and, to cover anything that might be left, a tonic.

Here's What's Blooming Now

2008-05-11T20:53:00.023-06:00

Filaree Storksbill

Erodium cicutarium

Nuttall's Larkspur
Delphinium nuttallianum

Desert Globemallow
Sphaeralea coulteri

Lupine
Lupinus Oneofmanius

(double click)

Popcorn Flower
Cryptantha angustifolia

Desert Paintbrush
Castilleja angustifolia

Long-leaved Phlox
Phlox longifolia

Sweet Sand Verbena
Abronia elliptica

Cushion Buckwheat
Eriogonum ovalifolium

Lily
Eremocrinum mysteriofolia

Madam Invites You to Her Parlor

2008-05-09T19:19:00.004-06:00

Great Horned Owl
Bubo virginianus

2008-05-04T22:11:00.002-06:00

Great Horned Owl
Bubo virginianus

2008-05-04T21:44:00.009-06:00

Sagebrush Lizard
Sceloporus graciosus

Such Good Clouds

2008-05-04T21:29:00.005-06:00

No Dr. Spock or Dr. Seuss,
No LaLeche Leauge or Lamaze,
Without Head Start or head counts,
Or a village or chaperones...

the Desert raises good clouds.

Meet the Townsends

2008-05-02T22:17:00.004-06:00

Townsend's Ground Squirrel
Spermophilus townsendii

Viper Imposter

2008-04-29T19:04:00.010-06:00

Gopher Snake
Pituophis melanoleucus

I was reptiling at 50 this morning when I saw this little guy crossing the road. I was able to straddle him between my wheels, then get out and take some pictures before lifting him safely off the road (with a stick, of course). He was young--about 24 inches long and had the triangular viper head, but no rattles.

I saw him again several hours later as I headed for home. He had made it to the other side of the road, but this time he had a flat spot the width of a tire in his middle. Sigh.

Pegasus

2008-04-28T22:14:00.003-06:00

The genetic make-up of Great Basin wild (feral) horses was investigated by blood typing studies. Blood samples of 975 feral horses from seven trap sites in Nevada and Oregon were tested by serological and electrophoretic techniques for genetic markers at 19 polymorphic loci. The average number of variants for the seven feral populations [72.1 +/- 3.2 (SEM), range 62-85] was not significantly different from that of 16 domestic breeds (75.0 +/- 11.5, range 58-105). The expected average frequency of heterozygotes per locus (average heterozygosity) for the feral populations (0.402 +/- 0.009, range 0.368-0.442) was not significantly different from the domestic breeds (0.389 +/- 0.045, range 0.295-0.443). Dendrograms constructed using pairwise comparisons of Nei's distance measurements substantiated anecdotal accounts of the origins of Great Basin horses from Iberian, American saddle horse and draft horse breeds.

Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis 95616-8744

Still, they're fun to watch!

Proud Prince

2008-04-27T22:03:00.016-06:00

Pronghorn
Antilocapra americana

New Beginings

2008-04-27T21:27:00.015-06:00

Common Raven eggs. The nest is lined with sheep wool.
Corvus Corax

The first Birdcage Evening Primrose of the year
Oenothera deltoides

(double click on the image to see it in detail)

More Wild Feral Horses

2008-04-22T20:28:00.000-06:00

I don't know if these horses were sparring or spooning

Wild Feral Horses

2008-04-22T17:55:00.001-06:00

There was a herd of maybe 50 horses feeding at the bottom of a cliff. These two let me come close.

The First Entry

2008-04-20T22:34:00.001-06:00

It was cold--bitterly cold, so cold the stones were shivering. So I stayed in the car. Spooking a bird off it's eggs would have been irresponsible...right? Mostly, I wanted to see what was in the air. Today it was dust and wind. The wind was not just cold, it was pushy and aggressive and full of fine talcum grit. My pee turned to mud before it hit the ground--of course it traveled nearly a mile behind me first. And by the time it met dirt, it was a icicle.

Other than grit, in the air there was a pair of Golden Eagles, a pair of Red Tails and a lone Red Tail, a Prairie Falcon, a Ferruginous Hawk, and, of course, Ravens.

Jessie found some Pronghorns early on and started yelling about it---HunHuntWarrrugh HmmrreHuhnHuhn (translation: Let me out and I'll run 'em down for ya).

So I let her out. They stared at her lurching toward them for quite awhile before they turned and trotted off with a bewildered look backward now and then.

I guess she felt the urge to punctuate the chase with an apropos comment.