Isla Espiritu Santo
Fingers of light stream in over the canyon wall at Ensenada Grande, onto a verdant desert floor. Cactus promontories are draped in ephemeral vines and drought-deciduous flora boast echelons of green foliage in the aftermath of a September chubasco. Hurricane Juliet cycled over the southern reaches of the Baja California appendage depositing life-propagating moisture. Hikers up the arroyo this morning enjoyed a desert bloom not seen in seven years.
An osprey fetched a fidgeting silvery fish from the aqua-turquoise waters off our sandy landing. Just past thriving mangrove stands and pearl shell middens we began to examine the delicacies and extravagances of the desert habitat in all its fertility. Red ovoid coyote melons, lavender flowers, and paper lantern tronodor pods hung from meandering vines strung across cactus and other drought-tolerating plantform platforms. Aromatic leaves adorned resinous copal and peeling amber-barked torchwood trees. Young and vital cardon cactus stood upright like spiny baseball bats. Minute mammalaria cacti peered from fragmenting rock. Tiny flowers appeared in ground cover, shrubs and vines. Life abounded.
An antelope squirrel interloped. Dragonflies coptered by. A canyon wren serenaded the air with melodic resonance. An endemic banded rock lizard subspecies reposed on broken boulders. Fritillary and queen butterflies scribbled past. An orange and blue tarantula-hunting wasp winged by. Spiny lizard males performed territorial pushups to expose underside markings. The busy life of a blooming Sonoran desert was explored with delight today at Isla Espiritu Santo.
Fingers of light stream in over the canyon wall at Ensenada Grande, onto a verdant desert floor. Cactus promontories are draped in ephemeral vines and drought-deciduous flora boast echelons of green foliage in the aftermath of a September chubasco. Hurricane Juliet cycled over the southern reaches of the Baja California appendage depositing life-propagating moisture. Hikers up the arroyo this morning enjoyed a desert bloom not seen in seven years.
An osprey fetched a fidgeting silvery fish from the aqua-turquoise waters off our sandy landing. Just past thriving mangrove stands and pearl shell middens we began to examine the delicacies and extravagances of the desert habitat in all its fertility. Red ovoid coyote melons, lavender flowers, and paper lantern tronodor pods hung from meandering vines strung across cactus and other drought-tolerating plantform platforms. Aromatic leaves adorned resinous copal and peeling amber-barked torchwood trees. Young and vital cardon cactus stood upright like spiny baseball bats. Minute mammalaria cacti peered from fragmenting rock. Tiny flowers appeared in ground cover, shrubs and vines. Life abounded.
An antelope squirrel interloped. Dragonflies coptered by. A canyon wren serenaded the air with melodic resonance. An endemic banded rock lizard subspecies reposed on broken boulders. Fritillary and queen butterflies scribbled past. An orange and blue tarantula-hunting wasp winged by. Spiny lizard males performed territorial pushups to expose underside markings. The busy life of a blooming Sonoran desert was explored with delight today at Isla Espiritu Santo.
