The day was off to an auspicious start. Not only was it partly overcast and therefore a little cooler than normal for the early morning, but I had watched a male tarantula crossing the road before I got to the parking lot. Tarantulas don't see very well so I probably appeared as a big dark blob, an unknown, possibly a threat. I wondered where he was off to as he walked into the grass along the roadside. I had found a tarantula on the same road at the beginning of June but it had been run over by a car. Maybe we should have a tarantula crossing sign posted for the entrance road.
I checked out the nightshade blooming in the parking lot and found some gray blister-type beetles and some tortoise beetles. They had obviously been working on the leaves and flowers of these plants.
McKittrick Canyon was relatively quiet except for a few birds. While it was perhaps a bit early for the loud drones of the cicadas, most of these insects had finished their adult lives and the noise levels had dropped throughout the park. I only heard cicadas calling sporadically that morning.
Perhaps surprisingly, the large dark reddish-brown colored bugs (entomological sense) that I had previously found always on the flowers and seed pods of the Yucca elata (Soaptree Yucca) were here in smaller numbers but on the Sotol and the century plant. (There are not many Soaptree Yuccas here, and the ones that are here tend to be young, without flowers or seed pods.) Young bugs, called nymphs - these look much like the adults but are smaller and lack wings, were also present. Juvenile insects molt (shed their skins) periodically as they grow - larger juveniles have gone through more molts and may differ in appearance or coloration from their younger brothers and sisters. If, as an adult, a particular bug will have wings, then as a juvenile it will develop noticeable wing pads on its back. (These bugs do have wings as adults.) Bugs have long flexible tubular mouthparts, comparable to you with a straw, through which they feed. Some of the nymphs had tapped into the thick leaves of a century plant and were sucking up plant fluids.
I saw big black tarantula hawks (wasps) zipping by with their long thin legs trailing behind as they looked for suitable sites to search for tarantulas. The large tarantula hawks are the only large wasps you will see with orange-red wings. A large Two-tailed Swallowtail glided by relatively effortlessly and a number of sulphur (yellow-colored) butterflies flitted around (I'm no good at identifying these yet). The yellow and black Two-tailed Swallowtail is the only largely yellow butterfly here that is not considered one of the sulphurs and that is because it has a swallowtail, and hence belongs to a different family of butterflies. Black Swallowtails and Pipevine Swallowtails flew around and nectared on the thistles - it seemed that the Black Swallowtails outnumbered the Pipevines here, unlike around the Visitors' Center and Frijole Ranch.
At the first water crossing, I encountered my first Filigree Skimmer, a beautiful dragonfly I had only ever seen once before. It would land on the rocks close to the path but fly off every time I got within six feet or so. Sometimes, a dragonfly will let you get very close, other times it won't - when the weather is warm dragonflies are much more flighty. Another dragonfly, possibly a Red Rock Skimmer had a favorite perching site on a rock in the middle of the stream. He often took off to patrol a short distance up and down the stream before returning to this rock.
Also present were a number of damselflies. These insects are related to the dragonflies, being in the same order, but are much more delicate in appearance. They are smaller and thinner. They don't hold their wings out flat like a dragonfly. Many species hold their wings up over their backs when at rest, while others hold their wings out at an angle. They are not the strong fliers that dragonflies are and tend to spend a large amount of time resting on rock or vegetation. Nevertheless, just like the dragonflies, damselflies are predators as juveniles and as adults, they just tend to eat smaller prey. (Damselflies and dragonflies are not flies in the entomological sense so the terms are written as single words. If we were to write damsel fly then we would be talking about an insect from an entirely different order, one with characteristics common to insects like our house flies or the annoying flies buzzing around you when you are out walking.)
A number of water striders, sometimes called pond skaters, patrolled the surface of the quieter portions of the stream. Everywhere their foot rests on the water a dimple is formed. The dimples act like little lenses creating an interesting pattern of 6 circular shadows on the bottom of the stream. In fact, it is often the shadow pattern that one notices first. Water striders are also bugs (in the entomological sense) but not all adults develop wings.
At the thistles, bees, butterflies and a clear-winged sphinx moth were feeding. The clear-winged sphinx was about the size and robustness of a bumble bee. Like its relative the White-lined Sphinx, prominent earlier in June (I saw one on this walk), these moths are also called hawk moths, presumably because of their rapid zooming flight, and hummingbird moths, because of their habit of hovering near the flower head while feeding. Each moth has a long proboscis (feeding tube) which it uncurls and extends to probe the flower head for nectar. Sphinx moths are important pollinators in the desert. The juvenile sphinx moth, a caterpillar, is called a hornworm because of the horn-like structure at the back of its body. You may be familiar with the tomato hornworm, the larva of another sphinx moth.
At the second water crossing, several colorful tiger beetles were hunting on the damp sand beside the water. These active predators appear irridescent in the right light. They are very fierce looking up close since they have big eyes and large sickle-shaped mandibles.
At the Pratt Cabin, in the dark earth along the path, I found a number of conical pits. While people can make similar shaped pits with some walking sticks, these pits were created by an insect, the juvenile form of the antlion called a doodlebug (it's true, honest). (Antlions are not bugs in the entomological sense so the term doodlebug is written as one word.) The doodlebug uses the pit to trap passing ants which it then feeds on. Adult antlions are often mistaken for damselflies. The most obvious difference is in the antennae. Adult antlions have noticeable short clubbed antennae; the antennae of damselflies are very small and, unless you look very closely, not noticeable. Antlion wings have more veins than damselflies and they are generally poorer fliers. Antlions will sometimes come to lights at night so you may see them if you are camping.
As always on walks at this time of year I was accompanied on numerous occasions for short distances by robber flies. These rather large flies with long tapered abdomens often perch on rocks on or beside the path. When I came along and got close enough, they would move farther along maybe ten feet or so. At this point, they would pick another rock and land, often turning so they could watch me to see if I was coming. This situation would repeat itself a couple of times before the fly would give up and leave the path. Sometimes the sound of their flight reminded me of a sputtering motor boat engine. Robber flies are predators, catching their insect prey in the air and landing to feed. They are your friends since they often feed on the small flies that bother you.
There were other insects and other sounds but I'll leave those for another time. As always, I also met a number of interesting people. It was a good walk.
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