A delightful little discovery in a tiny tide pool pocket. A rainbow made up of thousands of shiny, colorful, iridescent bubbles. If you look carefully you’ll see my reflection.

A lovely way to end a beachy morning!

A Mule Deer and her two young stopped by the ol’ watering hole in my front yard yesterday afternoon. My water dish is a popular place these days – our monsoon season has yet to bless us here on the west side of town. Or “nonsoon” as we’re calling our lack of summer rain. Hopefully we’ll see some moisture this week.

Babes share a sip:

Mom waters my saguaro:

Mom’s closeup:

Two for Tuesday! It was a Gopher Snake kind of day for me today. I was privileged to watch one drinking out of a pond at Agua Caliente Park on the east side of town this morning. My second one I spotted waiting hopefully outside a squirrel hole in my back yard on the west side of town this evening.

I will presume that Gopher Snakes are good luck (they do eat rattlesnakes after all).

Don’t gray, drizzly days just make you want to curl up and rest?  That’s exactly what this coyote did in my front yard this morning. I feel privileged to have witnessed such a relaxed moment…

A few shots from outside today:

Wylie loves spending time in the garden…

Zebra-tailed Lizard, watching me watch him/her…

Monarch Butterfly on the aptly named Butterfly Bush.

There are a lot of young snakes and lizards out this time of year. Good timing actually, since the monsoon season had a couple months to encourage bountiful vegetation which in turn inspired prolific output of insects and rodents. Enough food to fill the belly and promote growth before hibernating during our long, cold winter. Yeah, so the last part I may have exaggerated a bit.

This young Gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer) was in my carport this evening. Hopefully it will catch and consume any small rodents before they start chewing on the wiring in my Prius. In case you haven’t heard, Toyota and several other auto makers use soy-based coating for some of their wiring systems (no matter what you may think of tofu, rodents apparently find it delicious).

I recently had some minor rodent damage to my car repaired. Thankfully, it was under $100. However, it did prevent my windshield wipers from functioning which I discovered when driving home, at night, in an intense monsoon storm. What could possibly go wrong in a situation like that?!

So, eat up, me hearty, yo ho!

Gophersnake, 10-12 inches long

I grew up with this saying, “Red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, friend of Jack.”  It is supposed to help you tell the difference between a venomous Coralsnake and a harmless Kingsnake. A handy little rhyme but not all that reliable since there are other snakes that look deceptively similar.

And truly, though the Sonoran Coralsnake (Micruroides euryxanthus) does carry a powerful neurotoxin there has not been one recorded case of human death from a Coralsnake bite. Likely because you’d practically have to stick your pinky in its mouth in order to get bit by this small snake – they only measure 2′ feet long.

I was quite excited to see this colorful creature slithering on my back porch tonight. First one I’ve noted on my property and it makes me happy to know that there is suitable habitat for it here. Of course, I would prefer if it lived just a little bit further away from my house…

I believe I have finally solved the enigma of why magicians are always pulling rabbits out of hats – because rabbits are always getting into things! As proof I offer Exhibit A, a Desert Cottontail in my front yard. Here the rabbit is nibbling on the rusty metal – iron deficiency perhaps? Note the position of the spout.

And then the rabbit crawled inside. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it! The rabbit had a good time rolling the container from side to side (look where the spout is now).

I was beginning to worry that this was turning into a rescue situation…

But then, abracadabra, the rabbit popped back out.

Never a dull moment in my little corner of the beautiful Sonoran Desert!