Coyote Crossing

Lizard behavior, observed

My computer is next to a window on the north side of our building. About five feet away is the flat roof of the building next-door. Beyond that are a few palm trees and some restaurants and banks, and beyond those is a flank of Mount San Jacinto.

Louie

I have a few thank-you notes to write in the next day or so, for those of you who kicked in to the “feed the rabbit” fund after this recent post. I am breathing a little easier. I still have tough decisions to make, but I now have more than just a

Local man declares hiking hiatus over

It’s been in the triple digits every day since I dunno, the 1970s, and by triple digits I mean above 110 more often than not. And so, given my reluctance most days to die of heatstroke, it has been a very long time since I have wandered out the

Peninsular Bighorn Sheep

A zoo photo, but I like it nonetheless. That’s partly because the zoo enclosure essentially consists of a fence across a corner of actual bighorn habitat. This is kinda the patron saint endangered species of the hills around here. (The

The Further Adventures of Gang Green

Last week ten green groups signed off on delisting the gray wolf in Montana and Idaho.

The ten – let us name the names – were Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance,

Sceloporus orcutti

Bad news kept us up far too late Friday night — nothing personal, just the same bad news everyone knows about — and so I got a much later start today than I would have liked. By the time I finally got myself caffeinated and out the door it was

The Playa Isn’t Lifeless

[A preview of a piece I wrote for the upcoming El Paisano.]

What landscape could be more sterile than a playa? Dry lake beds in desert valleys seem as devoid of life as any place on Earth. Playas are the desert boiled down to its essentials: the

Desert Tortoise Relocation is Desert Tortoise Eradication

A tortoise in Central Nevada. 2005. CC Photo.

During the Evidentiary Hearing on September 20 in which the California Energy Commission sought final comment on their plan to approve the gigantic solar sprawl at Calico, the following exchange took

Court Removes Protections From Desert Bald Eagle

Bald eagle chicks. USFWS photo.

[From CBD:]

For Immediate Release, October 1, 2010

Contact: Dr. Robin Silver, Center for Biological Diversity, (602) 799-3275

Court Removes Much-needed Protections From Desert Bald Eagle, Species’ Fate Now

Joshua Tree NP in 2020

Cartoon by Laura Cunningham.

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Worth one kiloword

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Algodones Dunes Habitat Under Attack – Again

Algodones Dunes. Photo by Andrew Harvey

[From our colleagues at the Center for Biological Diversity, and crossposted from DesertBlog:]

For more than a decade, the Center for Biological Diversity has been fighting to keep southeastern

Amargosa toad denied ESA protection

From the Center for Biological Diversity:

Amargosa Toad Denied Protections Under the Endangered Species Act

LAS VEGAS— In response to a February 2008 scientific petition submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for

A few things on Friday

1) I have been reminded (via a Facebook post by the Center for Biological Diversity’s Great Basin guy Rob Mrowka) that I’ve been meaning to point you all in the direction of Chance of Rain, a wonderful blog on western water and related politics by

Obama administration grants ESA protection to front half of polar bear

Washington, DC April 1, 2010 — In what many Democratic strategists are hailing as a pragmatic political masterstroke, the Obama administration today announced that it would be granting full Endangered Species Act protections to the front half of

Mono Basin Sage Grouse Is Endangered, But Protection Once Again Delayed

From the Center for Biological Diversity:

LAS VEGAS— In response to a petition and lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental and faith-based groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that a

A truly inspirational and uplifting thought

“It is my personal belief that when the last human has fallen, and the last skull lies on the irradiated earth, a coyote will come trotting out of some safe place. Don’t ask me where he’ll come from; but I believe that he will survive as he has

Wild Horse Canyon Road

A little treat, shot in the Mojave Preserve:

About 15 years ago in this exact spot, a couple horses wandered over to Zeke to check him out. I’ve always assumed they belonged to some rancher, because they were not at all skittish — I placed my

Identify this missing bird

Tracks found in dirt road in Joshua tree forest, southern Nevada, January 4. Can you identify them without clicking through to the Flickr site?

Update: obviously *I* couldn’t. The caption has been corrected.

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Of the common VVeefel, or ferret

Page scanned from A description of the nature of four-footed beasts: with their figures engraven in brass (1678); Chapter X. Of the weesels.

The author: Joannes Jonstonus. The scan: from Wisconsin.

(An important note to my regular readers: