(C) Online Resource Center for Environmental Studies |
Habits: Constantly moves through tree foliage in search of insects. You can track them through dense trees by following their whisper-like "spee" call.
Where do they live? North America (U.S and Mexico), in desert scrub, wooded and riparian habitats, often near water sources.
In which plant communities? Screwbean mesquite, western honey mesquite, catclaw acacia, pinyon-juniper, and oak scrub.
Food Sources: Spiders, small insects.
Predators: Brown-headed cowbird parasitism (they may lay their eggs in gnatcatcher nests).
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Habits: Ground-dwelling owl, burrows underground, often uses desert tortoise or kit fox burrows, collects mammal dung to attract dung beetles, active during the day and night.
Where do they live? Western North America in a variety of habitats, open areas with sparse vegetation.
In which plant communities? Creosote-bursage scrub, Mojave yucca, cactus scrub.
Food Sources: Dung beetles, scorpions, other insects, mice, kangaroo rats, other small mammals, birds, and reptiles.
Predators: Horned owls, foxes, hawks, badgers.
Status: Endangered & threatened species, populations are declining due to habitat loss and human development in the desert (including roads).
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(C) Online Resource Center for Environmental Studies |
Habits: Killdeer usually walk or run quickly on the ground! When predators get too close to their nests, killdeer pretend to have a broken wing (see photo). They lead predators away from the nest, then fly away! They nest on the ground.
Where do they live? North America, near water sources on open ground, such as sandbars, mudflats, or flat and gravelly open desert.
In which plant communities? Near desert riparian areas, with open ground or few plants.
Food Sources: Worms, crayfish, grasshoppers, beetles, aquatic insect larvae, and snails.
Predators: Snakes, foxes, coyotes, ravens, hawks and eagles.
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Habits: Dig out dens or use holes in rocky areas for shelter, diurnal and/or nocturnal.
Where do they live? All over North America.
In which plant communities? Coyotes live in a wide range of plant communities in the desert, including creosote-bursage, Mojave yucca, Joshua tree, and pinyon-juniper.
Food Sources: Mice, rabbits, ground squirrels, other rodents, reptiles, mesquite tree beans, coyote melons (for their high moisture content), other native fruit and berries.
Predators: Humans, mountain lions.
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| WHITE-TAILED ANTELOPE SQUIRREL |
(C) Online Resource Center for Environmental Studies |
Habits: Digs burrows below shrubs, searches for food on the ground and in shrubs/trees, may obtain moisture from their food instead of drinking from open water sources, well adapted to the desert environment.
Where do they live? Southern California and southern Nevada (Mojave Desert), in shrubland, desert washes, and riparian areas.
In which plant communities? Joshua tree, pinyon-juniper, desert scrub, alkali desert scrub.
Food Sources: Seeds, fruits, and green vegetation from Joshua trees (seeds), Mormon tea, western honey mesquite (beans), cat-claw acacia, prickly pear cactus, blackbrush, native grasses, and others!
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(C) Online Resource Center for Environmental Studies |
Habits: Hides in rock crevices, emerges to bask and to seach for food, hibernates in winter and emerges in early spring.
Where do they live? Rocky areas in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts.
In which plant communities? Creosote bush.
Food Sources: Prickly pear cactus (fruit and flowers), other fruit, leaves, flowers, seldomly insects.
Predators: Bobcats, coyotes, hawks, and owls.
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(C) Leah Hare 2008 |
Where do they live? sandy flats, alluvial fans, washes and edges of dunes between below sea level to about 6500 ft.
In which plant communities? Creosote-bursage, saltbush/greasewood/alkali scrub, and cactus scrub.
Food Sources: Ants, insects, spiders, butterfly and moth larvae.
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| DESERT SIDE-BLOTCHED LIZARD |
(C) Online Resource Center for Environmental Studies |
Habits: Mostly a ground-dweller.
Where do they live? very abundant in dry and semi-arid areas of the west, found along sandy washes with scattered rocks and low-growing scrub between elevations below sea level to about 9000 ft.
In which plant communities? Native grasses, low growing shrubs, scattered trees.
Food Sources: Insects, scorpions, mites, ticks, spiders, sowbugs.
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(C) Online Resource Center for Environmental Studies |
Habits: Climbs rocks and trees, also a ground-dweller.
Where do they live? Dry and semi-arid regions, plains and lower slopes of mountains between sea level to about 5000 ft.
In which plant communities? Joshua tree, creosote scrub, shadscale/saltbush scrub, Mojave yucca, native grasses, mesquite, willow-cottonwood.
Food Sources: Mostly insects and lizads, and sometimes flowerbuds, flowers, leaves and berries.
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(C) Mark Massar 2008, http://deserttortoise.org
(C) Berry and Duck 2006, http://deserttortoise.org |
Habits: Emerges in spring to forage for wildflowers and other annuals, hibernates in an underground burrow from October until early spring (February). Drinks water from small pools after rainstorms, in dry times they obtain moisture from their food.
Where do they live? Desert washes, fans, bajadas, and valleys in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts.
In which plant communities? Joshua tree, Mojave yucca, creosote scrub, and saltbush/alkali scrub.
Food Sources: Prickly pear cactus (pads and flowers), lotus, milkvetches ("locoweeds"), desert dandelions, blazing stars, lupines, primroses, desert plantain and other herbaceous annuals and perennials.
Predators: Kit foxes, coyotes, bobcats and badgers, Golden eagles. Gila monsters, roadrunners, and some of the smaller mammals will eat tortoise eggs.
Status: Endangered & threatened, due to human development in desert areas (including roads).
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Source: http://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/ |
Habits: Emerges in Spring and is active until September, nocturnal, sometimes seeks food at dawn or dusk (crepuscular), uses rodent burrows and shrubs for shelter.
Where do they live? High desert, lower-elevation mountain slopes with sparse vegetation, and desert washes, from 500 to about 8000 ft.
In which plant communities? Mojave Yucca, Joshua tree, pinyon-juniper, creosote scrub, cactus scrub, mesquite.
Food Sources: Kangaroo rats, woodrats, pocket mice, ground squirrels, other rodents, lizards (whiptail, desert spiny, side-blotched), other reptiles.
Predators: Roadrunners, California kingsnakes, hawks.
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(C) Online Resource Center for Environmental Studies |
Habits: The frogs emerge after rainfall in spring and summer, they lay their eggs in small pools of water.
Where do they live? In small desert pools in rock formations and in rocky streams in arid and semi-arid regions of southwestern America.
Food Sources: Beetles, ants, bees, and other insects.
Predators: Kit foxes and coyotes; salamanders and other tadpoles.
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(C) Online Resource Center for Environmental Studies |
Habits: Nocturnal (but sometimes active during the day), hibernates from late fall to early spring, burrows in the soil or hides under rocks or plants for shelter.
Where do they live? Desert streams, ciengas/desert wetlands, riverbanks, mountain canyons, below 7000 ft.
Predators: Rat snakes, other snakes, hawks, roadrunners, American bullfrogs, small mammals.
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