Natural History Journal

As you may already know, I adore California's deserts: high deserts redolent with sagebrush, low deserts of sunny cactus gardens and shaded palm oases, and mid-elevation deserts with Joshua Tree forests and pure stands of fragrant creosote bush. Vibrant colors after a spring rain at Mojave National Preserve California is home to three distinct desert ecosystems: the Great Basin, Mojave and Colorado deserts.  Beyond California's borders, the Colorado desert flows seamlessly into the Sonoran desert of Arizona; the fourth North American desert, the Chihuahuan desert, reaches the southeastern corner of Arizona and covers a portion of southern New Mexico and western Texas. Late winter and spring are the ideal times to visit California's deserts, and for the past several years, we've been fortunate enough to make annual pilgrimages to some of these special places.  This year, of course, travel is out of the question.  We will be staying home, admiring photos and vide...

Perhaps, just perhaps, there is a place where dinosaurs walk among us.    Common Chuckwalla, peering out from beneath a shrub in Borrego Palm Canyon   Perhaps the Colorado Desert of California is another "Isla Nublar" and Jurassic Park could also take place here, amongst ocotillos and chollas... rather than Isla Sorna's Coast Redwoods that would never be found growing on tropical Costa Rican islands in the present day, never grew there in the past, and were not even around during the reign of the dinosaurs at all.    (This is what happens when botanists watch Hollywood films...  Though I realize Coast Redwoods are ancient trees that grew during the warm, wet climate of the past, they flourished across the northern hemisphere during the Tertiary Period (65-1.6 million years ago), which is known as the beginning of the age of mammals and took place after the extinction of the dinosa...

A bird of the arid southwest, the Black-throated Sparrow ( Amphispiza bilineata ) is a fairly common inhabitant of desert scrub.  As Eric and I prepare for our annual springtime pilgrimage south to scope out desert wildflowers and birds, it seems only fitting to review a species we are likely to encounter!  (The following photos were all taken in 2016 at Joshua Tree National Park.)     Unlike some birds, the Black-throated Sparrow doesn't seem to have adapted well to suburban environments.  As a result, numbers may be decreasing in areas where development and suburban sprawl are eating up large chunks of desert wilderness.  The diet of the Black-throated Sparrow consists largely of seeds, though they consume more insects during the summer months (which also contributes to their water intake).  These striking little birds forage on the ground, but like many birds...

In 1844, early California explorer John C. Fremont gave a somewhat scathing review of Joshua trees when he wrote, "...their stiff and ungraceful form makes them to the traveler the most repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom."  Rather unkind, don't you think?  But when Joshua trees were formally described by scientist William Trelease in the 1890's, he noted that Joshua Trees are "the most attractive of all the Yuccas."  I am inclined to agree with this sentiment, and must disagree most heartily with Lieutenant Fremont! I, for one, adore Joshua Trees, with their whimsical shapes and great ecological significance!  If you struggle with plant identification, the iconic Joshua tree, hallmark of the Mojave Desert, is a good place to start.  With densely spiked tufts protruding from the ends of gangly arms stretched towards the heavens, this looks like a plant straight from a Dr. Seuss book....