Miraculous life in a desert canyon

This was the morning view, of glowing red rock, in our canyon campsite. I love gazing at it while eating breakfast.

Our vacation days followed a pattern, where I'd do a short ride with K first while the boys went for a run. One day during our ride, K and I visited the campsite that we stayed in when we first discovered this canyon. We camped under the cottonwood trees in the photo.

Each day, after riding with K, I'd leave her with the boys at the Labmobile, and head out for a solo ride. I'd go much further than she's capable of going now. One day, I visited an incredible rock formation, shaped like a ship by the winds that nearly constantly buffet it. You can see my bike at its base for scale.

Fortunately, K wasn't with me on that ride because it was "snake day". The first snake that I saw was a Gopher Snake, a big but non-venomous snake. Edward Abbey wrote that he befriended a gopher snake, enticing it to hang around his camp to keep rodents and rattlesnakes away.  This gopher snake was lying in the middle of a 4WD route so I tried to move him off of it so he wouldn't get squashed. He took up a pose like he planned to "strike" me. I decided to leave him alone.

The next snake was more dangerous. It was a Midget Faded Rattlesnake. Because he wasn't very big, less than 2' long, I initially didn't believe that he was a rattlesnake. But, he held up his rattle and shook it, and then I was sure. As he rattled, he slithered away at an astounding speed, disappearing under a boulder. When I read about his species back at camp, I learned that this snake was incredibly venomous, and I was lucky to have seen him from a distance rather than right below my feet.

When I arrived back at camp, the Runner told me that he'd spotted a falcon nest, in a pothole very high on a canyon wall, probably 300' off the ground. In the photo below, it's the hole in the center. The Runner first saw it when an adult falcon swooped all around the canyon and then entered the hole.

You can barely see the three nestlings inside the hole. You can see the bird poop below the hole. As we watched through the spotting scope, we saw that each baby bird would back up to the edge of the hole and hang his tail over the edge to relieve himself. We wondered how many nestlings lose their lives by falling while doing this dare-devil maneuver. It was so scary that I'd start talking to the nestlings, telling them to be careful, while they did it.

Seeing how high the hole was, we pondered the first flight of these baby falcons. They'd better be darn sure that they can fly before they take the leap!

Both parents were tending to the babies, bringing prey items to the nest for them. The parents were gone from the nest, presumably hunting, for the majority of the daylight hours. Sometimes they'd take a rest in the nest after delivering a meal but they mostly worked very hard.

One time, a parent hunted just above our campsite.

After sitting above our camp, he took flight.

Based on these photos, we think that they were Prairie Falcons rather than Peregrine Falcons but we're not absolutely certain. I'd be interested to hear the opinions of anyone with experience identifying falcons.

After the Runner's eagle eye discovered the nest, a sand storm arrived the very next day. There was absolutely no way to spend extended periods outside the van or to see the nest very well. Before the storm was fully underway, I took this photo. The visibility was horrendous. Moreover, each gust of wind sandblasted any exposed skin. We had sand in our eyes, in our ears, in our lungs.... you get the picture.

The sand storm day was a disappointment. However, it made me even more astounded that plants and animals can flourish in this environment. It's a tough place to eke out an existence but specially adapted species can shine.

The hot dry wind finally let up just before sunset... so we did take a short hike and enjoy the reprieve. Seeing the sun is even better after a day like that one!