Observações de jqrichmond

I initially thought this was a courtship flight gone wrong, but based on plumage & insight from a more knowledgeable birder (see below), it's more likely that these were two subadults that were sparring. They apparently hit the power lines directly above where we were standing. The second photo shows their clasped talons, so we assumed that they hit the power lines as they were spiraling towards the ground. Not a love story. Observed with grasshopper biologist @dawood.

Rosy boa people can correct me on what to call this is exactly. Casey Moss flipped it out from under the base of a dead Agave shawii. The snake was inside the base of the agave, not on the ground beneath it. The third photos shows what the general habitat looks like.

High density of these poppies in an area that forms a large ephemeral pool near the center of the valley (the darker area in the panorama photo). Last September after the Hurricane Kae, these pools had Triops and at least two species of fairy shrimp in them.