Bow to Your Reptilian Overlords! Oh, Maybe Not Quite Yet...

The desert is filled with creatures that are dangerous and terrifying in their ways. Life is tough, and in short, everything that lives there is eating everything else, and everything else is trying not to be eaten. Life has evolved a huge variety of defensive adaptations, including spikes, spines, tough shells or out layers, poisons, and many others. We were in Death Valley last weekend, and early one morning I seemed to have discovered a terrifying new creature, one whose claws look almost dinosaurian.

Those terrifying claws actually are dinosaurs, although of the avian kind. Few birds were out and about during our visit, but the Common Raven (Corvus corax) was a constant presence. That they thrive in this harsh and barren world is a testament to their versatility and intelligence. If I had to predict the species that would evolve into the dominant organism in terrestrial environments after the humans obliterate themselves, my money is on the raven. Like humans, they are curious, they are opportunistic omnivores, they are toolmakers, and they are problem solvers. And they can live in a shocking range of environments from the icy shores of Arctic Canada, Alaska and Greenland, to the driest and hottest deserts of the American West. Their range extends into the rainforests of Central America.

Their black color sometimes makes them hard to photograph, but in a desert setting like Death Valley, it becomes more of a goal to place them within dramatic landscapes. From our camp at Stovepipe Wells, we had a beautiful morning view of the Cottonwood Mountains. A pair of ravens were flying in the distance.

Our last 24 hours in Death Valley National Park involved a violent windstorm. It briefly subsided while we packed to go home, but the wind started up again, and the dust storm rose over the Mesquite Dunes in the distance. A Raven seemed to be heading out to investigate...because that's just what our future overlords would be doing.

Western Wood-pewee at China Ranch Near Death Valley

Continuing our review of a long summer of bird sightings, we make a stop at China Ranch east of Death Valley National Park. I got a good look at a Western Wood-pewee (Contopus sordidulus) for the first time, and oddly enough saw it at three different locations over the next two days.

The Western Wood-pewee is a common bird across (surprise!) western America, and is very similar to the Eastern Wood-pewee, which is common across (surprise!) eastern America. There is very little range overlap, and they apparently don't interbreed, so it is interesting that they are practically indistinguishable (mainly differences in their songs). I guess they have no trouble telling each other apart. Both species migrate through Central America to South America for the winter.

The Wood-pewee is in the flycatcher family along with the Phoebes, and that describes their activity pretty well. They perch on a branch or fence, and suddenly fly out and capture flying insects.

But what were they doing out in the barren deserts east of Death Valley National Park?

Yeah, I want to know too...

China Ranch is a unique geologic environment in one of the driest places in North America. During the ice ages, a pluvial lake, Tecopa Lake, filled with water and spilled over into the adjacent drainage, which was Lake Manly in Death Valley. At some point, the outlet was eroded and the sediments that had filled Tecopa were exposed and eroded into a barren badlands landscape. But here and there, the downcutting gulleys intersected with the groundwater table. This resulted in permanent springs.

China Ranch is one of those spring complexes where water flows all year. It is a magnet for wildlife from miles around, and more than 200 species of birds have been sighted there. Water draws people as well. The region has been occupied for as many as 10,000-12,000 years. China Ranch itself was established only in the late 1800s. It is a working date ranch today, and an occasional stand-in for places like Afghanistan in Hollywood movies. The green of the riparian vegetation is in stark contrast to the barren white cliffs made of rock formed in long-gone lakes and swamps.

Bird of the Day: Phinally, a Phainopepla! And a Phemale Too!

It's a little bit phuzzy, but I phinally got a phew pictures of a Phainopepla! Your bird-brained host blogger has been traveling in some isolated country the last few days, but I'm finally back on the internet today. There are some pretty nice bird habitats in and around Death Valley National Park, but we saw few birds during our journey, mainly Ravens, House Sparrows, and a few House Finches. It was a little worrisome to me. Death Valley has a surprising amount of water in the right places, and there should have been more activity.

Just the same, we made a short gas and restroom stop for the students at Shoshone, California, a small village just east of Death Valley National Park. Despite the dry desert conditions, the area is a marshy oasis due to groundwater being forced to the surface. The spot is used as a stopover spot by migratory birds, but there are year-round residents as well, and one of them is the Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens). It is a member of the silky flycatcher family, and is the most north-ranging of the group. They have been recorded in my area of the Great Valley, but I have yet to see one there.

Shoshone has several signed bird trails, and I really need to find some time to roam there more freely. I literally had just ten minutes to get these pictures, which may explain their fuzziness. The birds were keeping their distance from the manic looking guy with the camera who was running and snapping pictures at the same time!

A female Phainopepla