A Quick Diversion to the Anza Borrego Desert to Scout Before Our Camping Trip Next Weekend

The rain storms that brought several inches to the mountains brought a little bit to the desert, too. A little goes a long way down there, and the flowers looked richer along Henderson Canyon Road than they have in several years.

We also drove about 5 miles up Coyote Canyon, which is a favorite spot of ours now!

Henderson Canyon Road, Borrego Springs. The usual suspects, flower-wise. Nice to see them again after a long absence!

Wide shot at Henderson Canyon Road.

Hyles lineata (White-lined Sphinx Moth) caterpillar. There was a huge emergence along DiGiorgio Road.

Not much left of this plant (which is a mustard, I believe).

If the leaves are gone, why not eat the stem?

Small cryptic grasshopper at the northern terminus of DiGiorgio Road.

Matching (almost) pupae of...? Northern terminus of DiGiorgio Road.

Acmaeodera vernalis, a new species for me in San Diego County (or anywhere else, for that matter). Around Third Crossing, Coyote Canyon.

Eupompha elegans, Henderson Canyon Road.

Trichodes ornatus, checkered beetles. These are common in our desert, and in the mountains, also. This behavior keeps them that way! These were near Third Crossing, Coyote Canyon.

Fishhook Cactus flower. Near Third Crossing, Coyote Canyon.

A nice healthy-looking Desert Lily, Old Springs Road, Borrego Springs.

What Did the Monsoons Yield in the Anza Borrego Desert?

A quick trip to see.

Gary and I headed down to Coyote Canyon in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, and then set up a couple black lights in Borrego Springs after dark. Four days previously the area had a great deal of rain (and flooding) from some monsoonal moisture that moved into the area.

Coyote Canyon:

We only made it as far as First Crossing, and the road in to that point was pretty rough and showed places where there had been massive mud piles a couple days earlier.

There had been much more water than this at its peak, judging from the mud and flood-signs. The leading edge of the stream receded and then moved forward again while we watched - strange.

Just past where we parked the truck. The flowering shrub appears to be Petalonyx thurberi.

Nemognatha sp. on Petalonyx. These little blister beetles were abundant on one bush that I saw, and absent on all the others I looked at. They were actively feeding on nectar with their long mouthparts, then would clean their mouthparts carefully after sipping (as shown below)!

Tidying up.

I also saw these stink bugs on the Petalonyx. After a bit of searching on Bugguide.net after returning home I found that they appear to be Agonoscelis puberula (the African Cluster Bug), a non-native True Bug, first collected in the U.S. in 1990.

Honey Bees were out and about (no surprise there).

A carpenter bee at Desert Willow, which was also flowering.

Asbolus verrucosus, a darkling beetle. We had seen these in Coyote Canyon in the spring of this year also.

Raccoon tracks in the mud.

"Cat" or "dog" track? Since there's some debate, I'll attach a couple photos below that are very typical "cat" tracks. The "M" shaped leading edge of the large pad is at least hard to see here, but there is a lack of good claw marks and the spread and overall gestalt seems cat-like, which would mean Bobcat (and not Coyote as I originally thought).

Bobcat track, just west of Shelter Valley, Anza Borrego Desert, August 2012. Better "M" shape...

Mountain Lion track, NAS Miramar, mid-1990s. Nice "M" plus massive size.

Roadrunner track. Very recognizable with two toes forward and two toes back.

After leaving the peaceful retreat of Coyote Canyon, we headed into Borrego Springs proper and set up black lights at a motel (closed for the hot season) with advance permission from the owners. There had been rumor of large beetles there last September, following monsoonal rainfall, and so I was hoping for Derobrachus sp. to come to the lights.

Here are some of the beetles that DID show (no Derobrachus this time!). They are shown roughly in the order in which they arrived at the sheets.

Hybosorus illigeri, a small shiny black beetle, in the Scavenger Scarab Beetle family. This is another non-native, originally from Europe and elsewhere in the Old World. Many came to the light, when in the past, in other locations, I have only seen a couple at a time at lights.

Cyclocephala sp. (possibly C. longula). 

Osmidus guttatus. This is the first I have seen of this species in San Diego County, although I have seen them regularly in Imperial County in the past. This one is a female (the male's antennae would be much longer).

Omorgus suberosus, a type of Hide Beetle. 

At first I thought this was the "common" Diplotaxis that seem to always appear at lights in our deserts in the summer. Then I noticed the hairiness and wondered what it was, as I did not remember hairiness on Diplotaxis in my limited experience. Thanks to Bob Androw at the Carnegie Museum for helping with its determination - it appears to be Diplotaxis fossipalpa, which is fairly hairy for this genus.

Creosote Bush Katydid (Insara covilleae), a very sharp-looking katydid indeed! These have always been uncooperative for photos in the past, but this one stayed put briefly.

Our 2014 Diversion to Coyote Canyon, in the Anza Borrego Desert

Last year around this time, Gary and I made a little trip to Coyote Canyon in the Anza Borrego State Park. We were so intrigued by the riparian area in the middle of the arid desert that we decided to return this last weekend, this time with several friends.

This year was drier even than last (which is saying something, as last year was pretty parched). But Coyote Creek was running steadily, if not very high, and some flowering trees, shrubs and forbs were to be found. Beetles were here and there, but not numerous. The majority were tenebrionids found on the ground after dark. The stars of the show were the tree frogs, of two species (the California Tree Frog, Pseudacris cadaverina and the Pacific Tree Frog, Pseudacris regilla). The California Tree Frogs seemed by far to be the most numerous. They were calling day and night, in hopes of making more frogs, and any stroll near the creek would reveal little hoppers here...there...everywhere.

This will surely be a spectacular spot to visit in a wet spring!

The weekend before, we made a short day trip to the area to check out access to Sheep Canyon, further up from where we camped in Lower Coyote Canyon. The steep part of the access road had been "cleaned up" by the State Park, and we were actually able to creep up it slowly in 4WD low. This would have been impossible the spring before, as it truly was "Boulder Alley" then, and only the most capable four-wheel-drive vehicles could make it.

This weekend we only hiked to the lower lush "forest" and not all the way to Sheep Canyon. Many endangered Least Bell's Vireo were nesting in the thick willow-dominated woodland.

Sheep Canyon, from our visit on March 9. Native California Fan Palms are visible scattered throughout the rich forest.

Coyote Creek. Many tracks of coyotes (of course), bobcats, raccoons, squirrels and others were near the life-giving water. On Sunday morning VERY early (before dawn) three of us thought we heard a distinct "meow" sound near our camp. After later investigation, it did sound quite a bit like a certain vocalization that bobcats make.

California Tree Frog, Pseudacris cadaverina, the most commonly seen frog species for this trip. All the remaining frog images below are of this species, except the last photo. This one was seen (along with many of his friends) on a night hike Gary and I took on Friday evening.

I couldn't manage to capture an image of a fully inflated throat sac - those frogs were a bit too shy for the camera.

On Saturday, during the day, several of us walked over to the nearby creek from our camp, with chairs, and settled in by the trickling waterway for relaxing time. I never did encounter my fellow humans, but where I settled in there were plenty of frogs, and they slowly emerged from hiding and proceeded to do frog things as I sat quietly nearby. These two croaked and crawled on each other (but never mated) and then hunkered down under this tiny overhang, to escape the heat.

A pretty little frog amongst the fallen blossoms.

A nice classic pose.

I guess there can be no such things as too many frog photos!

I saw very few Pacific Tree Frogs, which is the more common species in Cuyamaca Woods. But this one is unmistakeable, with the dark eye-stripe and less blotchy markings.

Asbolus verrucosus. We saw about a dozen total on the trip, which I thought was quite a lot for the Anza Borrego Desert.

Acmaeodera sp. on Apricot Mallow. Still waiting to identify to species.

Edrotes ventricosus, a small fuzzy darkling beetle. We saw several on our evening hike.

What appears to be Sphenophorus sp., a billbug (a type of weevil). It was on the sandy road just adjacent to the rich riparian area.

Cerenopus concolor, a darkling beetle.

Pupa of...? This was right next to the creek, and when I knelt down nearby to photograph a track in the mud, it started wiggling and whipping back and forth!

I tried to take a short video of the wiggling pupa, but operator error prevented my getting a movie (just this still image)! In other words, I forgot how to do THAT on this camera! This image still sort of conveys the action, though.

Raccoon tracks in the mud. Last August and September there were massive monsoonal floods that ripped through the canyon, and I think some of these tracks may date back to that time (we've had virtually no rain in the local desert since).

The Guys, posing with a huge metal THING we found sitting in the middle of the desert! This THING isn't going anywhere soon, I suspect. It was impressive, though.