Tarantula Hawk

One of the most excruciating and debilitating stings we have here in the Arizona Desert.

It's a wasp, a solitary wasp at that, but why is it called the tarantula hawk? Because it literally prays on tarantulas! Who does that?! What in the world prays on tarantulas and it's smaller than they are, much smaller?! These terribly cool wasps do!

Needless to say I kept my distance from this seemingly little insect. This wasp is nothing like any other wasps though. It packs a sting that according to what I have read, it's excruciating and debilitating. Yikes and ouch! Super ouch!

I was also lucky to spot these fluff balls, cute desert cottontails. Much more cute and safer to be around than the previous critter.

I don't believe this much cuteness needs any of my blabbering. Therefore without further ado, enjoy the fluffiness :)

Greater Earless Lizard!

Say what?! Nope, it doesn't have any ear openings, but I'm sure they manage :) This is one of the most colorful lizards here in the Arizona desert and a favorite of mine. This particular one seems to be a survivor nevertheless. Notice it's short and grayish tail. It must have had to ditch part of it's tail in order to escape danger. Pretty cool feat!

This is the most common lizard in the area and altough its not fancy at all, it does have a cool name. Urosaurus ornatus, also called tree lizard but this name is much less exciting so lets not call it that here ;)

This is the first time I’ve seen this handsome bird. I was impressed with it's long tail feathers and black mask.

This bird's name is Abert's Towhee and he's also a resident of the South West.

These pictures were taken while it rained, a much needed break for all desert creatures.

A mourning dove enjoying the rain.

Pair of desert quail or Gambel's quail (godorniz in Spanish)

The male can be distinguished from the female by it's black markings on it's throat, chest and belly. Quail's are mostly terrestrial birds, however, they do "glide/fly" a little bit to avoid danger. A type of "flying/gliding" such as that of chickens or pheasants.

This is all for now. I will make another post as I am able to capture more of these beautiful desert creatures with my camera. As always, thank you for reading my posts!

I hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them :)