Anza-Borrego Adventure- Part 5: Drive By Night
Continued from Part 4...
When darkness set in, we began road cruising. Boaz, walking along the road during a stop, discovered the first finds of the night: a couple of Desert Ironclad Beetles (Asbolus verrucosus). These impressively chunky, waxen-blue beetles are known to feign death when approached, but the ones we saw merely spread their legs and arched their backs in a combative pose.
Then the beam of the headlights caught a massive white spider skittering across the road. Boaz and I jumped from the car and ran towards it; catching up, we found it to be a Prowling Spider (genus Syspira). After taking pictures, we resumed our hunt.
Heading south, we found ourselves on Yaqui Pass Road once more, where we found a juvenile Leaf-nosed Snake. I crouched down to get an eye-level photo, but was soon scuttling in circles on my knees as the snake darted in every direction. I finally got a reasonably good shot, and then was immediately off again to photograph a Straight-faced Windscorpion that Boaz found while I was preoccupied. It was a little more cooperative than the snake.
That was the last observation of the trip for me before we began the drive home, despite us finding another Leaf-nosed Snake. I decided I had enough photos of that species for the time being; for another thing, I was rapidly getting tired. I vaguely remember us pulling over one last time. What I didn’t remember, until Rachel reminded me later, was Boaz holding up a dead Glossy Snake (Arizona elegans) and asking if I wanted to photograph it. I evidently declined.
Then we drove on; then (very late) I was home in my own bed. It had been a successful and gratifying trip. I was fortunate to take it with two amazing people I am glad to know. Thanks Rachel and Boaz!
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