Poor Yorick

Sky on fire

Becca and I set off this morning to explore some arroyos in the outback area west of Tortugas Mountain.  After doing so we bushwhacked westward across the desert floor hoping, as always, to discover interesting subjects to photograph.  (She only had her cell phone camera with her.)  We were not disappointed.  Most intriguing, I guess, was the Javelina (Collared Peccary) skull we happened upon.  After photographing it from several different angles I put the skull in the center base of a yucca and covered it with a few dead yucca stalks.  I'd prefer the skull remain in its desert home rather than be appropriated by a human scavenger.

Becca leading the way

One of many desert arroyos

Soaptree Yucca quads

Arroyo west of Tortugas

Becca loves exploring arroyos

She also likes taking breaks in arroyos

Wide arroyo whose source is Tortugas Mountain

Who will eat this Barrel Cactus fruit?

A Loggerhead Shrike stopped by

For anyone who believes the desert floor is flat

Javelina skull

Interlocking canine teeth of the Javelina (aka Collared Peccary)

Some fur remains on Yorick's snout

A closer look at the interlocking canine teeth

This and the following six images:  Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Just before taking flight

More desert hills (and a canine)

Barrel Cactus with fruit

Another Barrel Cactus mandela

I have sampled the fruit of the Barrel Cactus (not great)

Big old Torrey Yucca

Cactus Wren on an Ocotillo wand

The same Cactus Wren

Long telephoto shot of Becca

Could be the same individual