Assorted grasshoppers and katydids.
At various Cochise County locations, though really, they are everywhere. The amount of Orthoptera biomass in the grasslands here is astonishing. The midddle shot in this set shows a short horned grasshopper depositing an egg pod in gravelly sand, so the hopper hordes will be ensured another season.
For my fellow walkers.
Riverbank panorama.
San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.
On the wing.
Harvesters.
Newbie greater earless lizard (Cophosaurus texanus), on a red sandtone perch, at V-Bar-V Heritage Site in Yavapai County, Arizona.
This fellow was tiny, only about two inches (5 cm) long, excluding its beautiful banded tail. The bottom photo provides a good view of this lizard’s parietal or “third” eye, in the large central scale at the base of its head. Reptiles’ parietal eyes are photoreceptive, but don’t process light in the same manner as the rods and cones in the imaging eyes. Instead, the structure sends direct signals to the lizard’s pineal gland, which controls circadian rhythms and the chemistry of thermoregulation.
Untitled.
V-Bar-V Heritage Site petroglyphs, Coconino National Forest, Yavapai County, Arizona.
All that remains of the ranch house at V-Bar-V is a chimney stack decorated with the ranch’s brand.
Beaver Creek style petroglyphs at the V-Bar-V Heritage Site in the Coconino National Forest, Yavapai County, Arizona.
Dithyramb 