Stunning, beautiful red mushrooms.
This Banana Slug was roaming around on the Sweeney Ridge.
I saw this Great Blue Heron flying low, very close and he landed very close to the parking lot. Seeing him land was quite a sight!
Saw this cute little cactus between a few big volcanic rocks, in the northern part of the park, in the petroglyphs area.
This pretty coyote was roaming around Kelso Depot (Mojave National Preserve).
He came quickly to my car and then waited, just as if he was expecting me to give him food. He's probably used to tourists feeding him :-(
Not sure if it's a little plant or a future tree...
We saw several of those in a limited area.
Nice big mushroom. I don't know how to identify them.
The second newt of the day, really close to the first one. Even though he was not moving fast, I was not fast enough to get his head. He went back to his hole.
The first one of the season. I didn't expect to see newts that early. I thought it would be more February/March.
Interesting fungus that looks like (pattern-wise) the shell of an oyster.
This was the season. At this time of the year, those little creatures are everywhere, especially close to water.
This mushroom looked nice but I don't know what it is.
It was the season... Those common wildflowers can be found all over the place.
"Regular" blue-eyed grass flowers were all around us when a small cluster of white flowers caught my attention. The first time I've seen the white version of this common wildflower.
Possibly the only one Elegant Clarkia I have seen this year.
A third tarantula, on a hike along the Hunting Hollow road.
The second of three tarantulas I saw on this hike. This one was in the dry creek bed. I got some good videos of it.
The first tarantula I saw this year. It was roaming around, by the trail, at dusk.
Unfortunately a dead tarantula hawk. They are not easy to photograph when they keep moving.
It looks like there are two different genera of tarantula hawks. I am not sure which one is this one.
This Garter Snake was sunning itself on the road. There are many varieties of Garters. I don't know what that one is.
The first one I saw. I was very surprised to see a snake in the water. He was hunting fish. It would swim and suddenly go down and try to catch a fish.
We saw a lot that weekend.
In terms of color and pattern, I thought it was close to a gopher snake and not at all a garter snake (I was expecting to see a stripe), but I learned later that it was indeed an Aquatic Garter Snake, which, in terms of size, makes sense.
This beautiful fish (I think it is a rainbow trout) was just passing by in front of me...
We saw dozens of those on a fence. They seemed pretty active, and cute. Not sure what they are.
I think this is a Johnson's Jumper. Found it on my backpack by Buck Island Lake
