Desert Potholes

One of my absolute favorite things found here in the desert are potholes and the creatures living in them! Forgive me if I've already posted about these (I don't remember)--I don't know why I wouldn't have because I think they are fascinating! Potholes are depressions in the slickrock, and can be tiny to the size of bathtubs, hot tubs or tanks!

Here I am acting like I'm in a hot tub....

Deep potholes can hold rainwater for more than a month! These are an important water source for mule deer, desert bighorn sheep and many other animals.

Aquatic animals and insects even take advantage of this water source, including a couple species of amphibian (spadefoot toad and red-spotted toad), fairy shrimp, clam shrimp, tadpole shrimp and a variety of aquatic insects. When potholes are dry they don't look like much, but once it rains, eggs start hatching! The one I'm "sitting" in, but not touching, will be full of life when it is full of water. This one is up on the mesa top, close to Spring Canyon Point above the Green River.

Animals that have dried up, laying in wait, rehydrate and continue their lives. Some insect larvae can lose up to 80% of the water in their bodies!

Tadpole shrimp photo taken by a co-worker. I think they look like tiny horseshoe crabs.

Picture of a real horseshoe crab. We don't have those here but I'd like to see one someday!

Spadefoot toad, taken by Crystal, a co-worker. I've seen their tadpoles, but not the actual toad in real life, only pictures. I'm jealous!

It's fun to see and hear amphibians on the mesa top, because it seems like that's the last place they should be found! There are no permanent water sources, but these amphibians mature quickly (in less than two weeks) and are then able to leave the water source. Spadefoot toads mature from tadpole to toad, then bury themselves in the mud, waiting for the next rainstorm. Then they come up to the surface, mate, lay their eggs in potholes and the whole process starts over.

I took groups of 3rd graders to the potholes here in the park. It was fun, but hard for them to remember to not step in or touch the potholes. This year they were all dry, but other years they actually got to see the tadpole and fairy shrimp swimming around.

A Few Haikus and a 2 Hour Walk

Instead of just writing about the walk I took last night, I decided to write a couple (or three) haikus, inspired by a fellow naturalist and blogger  (Patricia Lichen)! I was at work in the entrance station with my notebook so this is what I came up with:

Heat waves shimmering,
Animals still and quiet:
Desert's afternoon.

The sun is setting,
Light falling on swarms of bugs;
A light breeze begins.

I walk the creek;
A startled skunk lifts her tail
and I hold my breath!

I also came up wtih:  Even a swarm of bugs can be pretty in the right light! I wish I had my camera...I'm walking again tonight so I'll try to remember it!

Thunderstorms!

Thunderstorm over the La Sal Mountains (my view from the entrance station!)

I love thunderstorms! I don't like being out in them...sometimes at work I'm afraid to get out of the vehicle to walk across the parking lot, so I end up running. People scare me--they like to go up to the Point overlook to watch the storms. Not the best place to be if you don't want to be stuck by lightning! I think there is a actually a USU scholarship in the name of someone who died from a lightning strike at Dead Horse Point.

Out in the park's entrance station it gets a little scary sometimes too. A past seasonal swore he saw the ball on top of the flagpole get struck by lightning--I believe him! I did notice some black smudges up there...haha.

We don't get a lot of precipitation--most of it comes during summer thunderstorms where we get flash floods and waterfalls all over the place. I've only been able to be out during a few of the waterfall-storms but they are pretty cool. If I get lucky enough this summer I'll take some pictures :)

Near Snake Experience

Dave and I decided to go for a hike, exploring some old dirt roads around the area south of Moab.  We were walking up a road that was too old to drive on--had not been maintained for years.  I'll add more pictures to another post about the old mine and houses we found, but today I wanted to share my rattle snake find!

We were on our way back down from the mine when I stepped over a rock and heard the buzzing.  Dave later said it sounded like a cicada, but my brain registered what it was before I knew what was happening.  I froze, trying to figure out where it was and if it was safe to step away from it.  Dave registered it after me, saying "Don't move!  There's a rattlesnake!"  I heard him talking but tuned him out in favor of the snake.  A few seconds later it crawled out from under a rock, moving away from me.  I relaxed when I saw it was too far away to be dangerous.

Dave wanted me to move immediately so it didn't block his path behind me, but then he changed his mind.  He said, "we need pictures!"  I'm thinking, "what??? I want to get away from it!"  So we both took a fast couple of pictures before we left the snake alone and continued our journey.

We have Midget-faded Rattlesnakes in this area.  They are only about three feet long at their largest and their faded color helps them blend in to their surroundings.  They are small, but don't let size fool you!  They are still rattlesnakes with rattlesnake venom!  I read that only one out of three strikes actually contain venom--they usually want to reserve their venom for their prey and they strike humans for defense, not because they're thinking of us as food.  Venom is actually a modified saliva, that starts digesting the snake's prey before they even swallow it.

I've seen rattlesnakes before, in and out of the park, but I've never had one rattle at me from right under my feet!  Quite an adrenalin rush, and took my mind off the fact that we had packed a backpack full of snacks and water...but had left it in the truck!  We were ready for it by the time we got back!