Apparently the largest stand in the park. I don't know who lost them.
You know, when I saw this totally convinced this was a Lesser Goldfinch, but now that I'm looking it up, I am only 80% sure. It's got the dark bill and green back, but ... and incomplete black cap. Frustrating. Any bird nerds want to weigh in? My bird nerditude is insufficient.
Only non-Uta lizard of the whole trip! Found under a fallen Joshua tree branch.
For some reason the flash treated this little spider kindly.
One of the many, many eponymous trees in the park.
Beautiful little roadside flower that I very nearly overlooked.
Commonly known as Spanish needles, though apparently most taxonomic databases don't have that common name.
On the drive north Saturday evening, I kept pulling over for flowers. There were patches of them everywhere in the southern regions of the park.
I am fairly certain this is Loxosceles. Not too many 6-eyed spiders with eyes arranged like this, I think, plus the silk looks cribellate (though apparently it only looks that way). Loxosceles deserta seems like a possibility based on location. Can anyone confirm that? Found under a fallen yucca along the trail to Lost Palms Oasis.
The ranger at the Cottonwood Springs visitor center mentioned that these were blooming near Lost Palms Oasis. I didn't really remember what she had called them, but when I cam across them, it was pretty obvious they were what she was talking about. Truly arresting flowers.
Black-throated Sparrow does his thing.
Not sure, don't speak hummingbird. Also, this is Anna's, right? I spent the whole time convinced they were Costa's, until on the way back I told a woman I'd been seeing costas and she seemed surprised It's got dark throat feathers extending much further down the chest than most Anna's in the Bay Area, but when the light caught them they seemed more red than purple. Also they were almost all big and boisterous.
