Exploring the Living Desert

                                 When you are tired of the cold and snow, a road trip is the answer!One idea is a trip to Palm Desert.  To reach Palm Desert, you take the Palms to Pines Highway.  It travels from the mountains full of pines at 7,000 feet and higher at the mountain peaks...

                                         ...to the desert filled with palm trees close to sea level.

                               It is a beautiful drive as it goes through all the changes of habitat
                                                                     and elevation.

                                   This photo is the last stretch before you reach Palm Desert.
                       You will have sweaty palms the first few times you go down this windy road!
                                                                  At least, I did!
     Once you reach Palm Desert, an excellent place to enjoy Nature is the Living Desert.
Not only can you enjoy the desert wildlife and native plants that are part of the exhibits,                             you can go on a desert hike and look for "visitors" to the park.

                                         First, some of the cool stuff you can see on exhibit.

                                                 Where else can you see Meerkats?

                                        How about these cool reptiles - Chuckwallas
When in danger, they will hide between rocks and  inflate their bodies so predators cannot                                                                    get to them easily.

                                  Tarantulas..What else is there to say about these amazing spiders.
                   Besides all the exhibits, you can start looking for creatures that are                                                                                    visiting the desert on their own.

 This was the first time I ever saw a Roadrunner. It came to the aviary to "visit" another                  roadrunner behind the netting and communicated to it through the netting by                                         fanning its tail and making sounds to it.

                              The park has hiking trails in the desert for those who want to explore.

 This Antelope Ground Squirrel was interested in us when we stopped to have a picnic on the                                                         Eisenhower Mt trail.

                          This Rock Wren was equally interested in what we were eating.

                         Today the Ocotillo was in bloom which attracted this female Costa's                                                                                           Hummingbird.

                The male Costa's Hummingbird kept giving me his back but finally, I got a front                                                                               view of him.

           Being from the east coast, so many of the birds I see are first time discoveries.                                                   This is one of them. This beautiful bird is a Verdin. Wow!

                                                             Majestic Bighorn Sheep

                           The Living Desert has so much to offer! I highly recommend it!!

Kindness on a Snowy Day

What a change in 24 hours! We went from bike riding on a sunny day in the valley to being blanketed with
12 inches of snow overnight. No bike riding for us anytime soon!

                               This is what 12 inches looks like on our outdoor table - One big cake!

I mentioned in my first posting that this town is full of caring people. This photo is evidence of it.
When we woke up in the early morning, our driveway was partially shoveled and a path was made to our stairs. Quite unexpected! Our kindhearted neighbor did this for us after plowing the street as well. Among
other things, he is also a volunteer firefighter when needed.

When I went for a walk to see the beauty of the snow, I discovered another act of kindness. A young wife was digging out this snow covered car for her husband who was asleep since he worked the night shift. She
told me it would probably take her all day to do it for him.I was witness to only a few kind gestures. I'm sure
there were other generous people helping each other out on this snowy day.

On the way to town, we caught a glimpse of this deer before it disappeared into the woods with the others.

                                         In the center of town stands the Harmony monument.

                                                   This eagle is also part of the monument.

                                               Wooley's is a great little gift shop in town.

 

The day full of shoveling was rewarded by snow angels......

  and trails covered in snow.

It all began with an act of kindness.

Discoveries While Biking on a New Trail

Idyllwild is a destination for mountain bikers who want trails that are strenuous and challenging.This weekend, we wanted a relatively flat trail that would enable us to stop when we wanted to investigate our surroundings - birds, animal tracks, furry tailed mammals.  We headed down the hill to Garner Valley to find this trail.

Fobes Ranch in Garner Valley has dirt paths that meander through wide open land where sagebrush thrives, through meadows where cattle graze and also, through forest of pine trees.

Bluebirds thrive in this habitat. From fence posts they perch until an insect appears on the ground.

           The Western Scrub Jay had the same idea in mind, I'm sure.

We caught glimpses of furry tailed mammals before they ducked into their tunnels or hid in the sagebrush.Too quick for a photo but they were probably California Ground squirrels..Maybe next time I'll get the photo.

                                             This track belongs to one mighty big hound!!

As we rode our bikes through a forest of pine trees, we discovered a flock of blue Pinyon Jays. It wasn't surprising how difficult it was to get a decent photo since their sentinel warned the flock each time we got near.

Their extra long pointed beak enables them to get to their preferred food - pine seeds from the Pinyon Pine.They have extremely good memories being able to find most of the thousands of pine seeds they bury for future consumption.  What they don't east has a chance to become a future tree seedling. Amazing!

                          Discovering a place to ride bikes while investigating Nature is well worth it!

Snowshoeing Up the Hill

With 8 inches of fresh, powdery snow, it was time to tryout the snowshoes this past weekend.

                        Since this is new to us, it took awhile just figuring out how to put these on.

We were hoping to be the first to make tracks in the snow but the deer,rabbit and bobcats beat us.

                    Going up the hill was a lot more work in the snow but the scenery was worth it!!

                                            We even saw a rock walrus...at least I say we did.

           Lucky me, I was able to photograph this White-headed Woodpecker after trying for weeks!

Sometimes you get the unexpected. This is a White-breasted Nuthatch looking at you upside down.

             In the end, I highly recommend snowshoeing when you get the chance. It is easier to get
around in the snow than in boots. We need to figure out how to keep the backs of our pants dry. We
were soaked in the end.  Bundle up, enjoy the outdoors wherever you are and don't forget the hot chocolate!
                                                             Happy Valentine's Day!!

A Bobcat Morning

Today was a Bobcat morning! We woke up to 8 inches of freshly fallen snow and new tracks on the driveway. It wasn't long before we saw a family of bobcats.

The youngest was extremely attentive to movement in the snow.

                                               The mother was keeping her eye on the youngest.

This one kept a close eye on me while the other two raced up a tree trying to catch a squirrel. I had no idea they could climb trees so quickly!

This was a special sight. As bobcats get close to one year of age, they are on their own.

After chasing the squirrels in the trees,  they took off together up the hill leaving only their tracks in the snow.Since these animals are elusive and diurnal, it was quite special to see them this morning.