2022 Death Valley Trip Part 1 - Landscapes and Non-Avian Wildlife

For Spring Break, we decided to go down to Death Valley and the various parks surrounding Las Vegas to see some of the interesting landscapes and wildlife. In terms of the latter, we saw few, but there were a good number of interesting rock outcroppings and formations. We didn’t spend that much time vacationing, but I still managed to take a lot of photos, and thus, this is the first of two posts that will cover what happened on this trip. Without further ado, here are the pictures:

Landscapes

This first picture of a captivating mountain ridge-line comes to us from the tall, snow-capped peaks of the Eastern Sierra. These mountains are the main geological dividing line between Nevada’s vast sagebrush sea and the rich agricultural farmlands and cattle pastures of California’s central valley. Even in Spring and right next to ground temperatures that went up as high as 90 degrees, the snow remained mostly unmelted, which provided an interesting contrast to the bleak and gray mountains that they rested upon.

A closer look at the central peak of the mountain depicted in the previous image.

What may look like a mud-covered barren to most is what actually turns out to not just be a mud-covered one, but also a salt-encrusted wasteland. In the heart of Death Valley is the Badwater Basin. Badwater Basin is home to the lowest point on land in the United States (282 ft. below sea level), which is only 84.6 miles away from Mount Whitney, the highest point on land in the lower 48 (14,505 ft. above sea level). Due to the heavy 150in. a year evaporation rate that the basin has in comparison to its measly 1.9in. a year precipitation rate, the basin stays almost completely dry. However, Death Valley sits on top of one of the largest aquifers in the world, and an occasional spring pokes its way through the surface. One such spring gives some of its lodging to the heavily localized and endemic Badwater Snail (Angustassiminea infima).

A rocky hill next to the salt-flats.

Taken shortly after sunset, this photo well showcases the vibrant and fading night colors that painted both the overcast sky and the sandy-colored hills of Death Valley.

One of our first major stops outside of Death Valley was at Red Rock Canyon, which is semi-aptly-named, as there are a couple of sections where the only rock in sight is red, but for the most part, it’s just a shrubby, rocky desert. However, for a desert, there were a good amount and variety of birds, which was greatly appreciated, as it was a relief from the birdless no-man’s-land of Death Valley.

Whether these were made by early settlers, Native Americans, or people who lived here thousands of thousands of years ago is unknown. However, there are handprints and drawings that have been made at other sites in Red Rock Canyon that were created many millennia ago. We did get a chance to view one of these drawing sites, but unfortunately, it was already mostly damaged and worn away by tourists.

We did spend an hour in the Vegas Strip, photographing the various lights and buildings structures. It was not that great in terms of photo opportunities, as most of the stuff seemed pretty fake, like this Statue of Liberty.

Fake New York.

Fake Paris.

Animals

Here we have a male Death Valley Pupfish of the Salt Creek subspecies (Cyprinodon salinus salinus). This species of pupfish is endangered and can only be found in two locations in the world: Lake Manly’s Cottonball Marsh subspecies, milleri, and the aforementioned Salt Creek subspecies. If the two subspecies were to be considered separate species, they would both be classified as Critically Endangered. There are other pupfish that live in the Death Valley area and most of them are known only to one or two locations, like the Death Valley Pupfish, and some of them are already extinct, like the Tecopa Pupfish (Cyprinodon nevadensis calidae).

This is a swarm of Death Valley Pupfish. There were probably a couple hundred of these tiny fish just swimming around in a pond. However, all of them will be dead within a year, as their lifespans are very short, but before then, they must continue the cycle, and when they die, there will hopefully be a new generation of tiny pupfish.

Perched and feeding on a Phacelia flower, this is a Desert Blister Beetle (Lytta magister). The larvae of these beetles often attack the nests of bees to feed on immature hosts. In accordance with their name, some, though not all (including this one), have the ability to secret Cantharidin, a poisonous chemical that can cause blistering. Fortunately for the unwitting finger tributer, they did not know that Blisters Beetles can cause blisters and neither did they know that Desert Blister Beetles automatically don’t have poison

Throughout our trip, we encountered a ridiculously high number of lizards from a variety of species. This is a Zebra-tailed Lizard (Callisaurus draconoides). We saw lots of these lizards in Death Valley, and they range throughout most of the arid expanses of the Southwestern US and Northwestern Mexico.

Another Zebra-tailed Lizard.

Here’s a Common Chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater) sunbathing on a rock. Chuckwallas come in both white and black colorations, which most likely has to due with the color of the rocks they grow up in (black chuckwallas probably blend in better with black rocks and the same thing for white chuckwallas and white rocks).

On the other hand, here is another Common Chuckwalla, but this time of the white coloration. This particular one was a bit annoyed at having its picture taken and stared at us with a gaze of pungent animosity.

One of the smaller and more interesting reptiles we found in Death Valley were the Side-blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana). Incredibly variable, we found many of these lizards but believed each to be of different species.

While Red Rock Canyon didn’t have much in the way of lizards or landscapes, it did have a rock-climbing crew that was in the process of scaling the side of a canyon wall when we happened past them.

Rabbits weren’t as common as we expected, but they were still present, as always. This one seems to have had a close encounter with death, as evident by its mangled and missing fur.

In an persistent search for whatever food it could scour from the picnic tables, this Whitetail Antelope Squirrel (Ammospermophilus leucurus) was fixated in stealing some of our cup noodles and bread for itself, and though it did employ several tactics, in the end it got no food from us.

Present in large numbers at Valley of Fire National Park were Desert Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni). This subspecies of Bighorn Sheep has three separate population segments that were each formerly considered subspecies. The one found in the Valley of Fire is of the nelsoni lineage while the one found in the American Southwest and the Mexican Northwest is of the mexicana lineage and the one found in the Peninsular Range of California and Baja California is of the cremnobates lineage.

Here’s another view of a Desert Bighorn.

Though occurring in lesser numbers, there were also a couple babies among the flock of sheep.

This concludes Part One of a Two Part miniseries about my trip to Death Valley. Click here to go to the second part.