Twilight in the desert

We went on a night walk in the Coachella Valley preserve tonight. It is an oasis of palm trees located on the San Andreas fault and has all sorts of life in it because of the presence of water seeping up through the fault. We arrived in daylight and watched two pesky hares reaching up for tender bits on the pathway then as the sun went down, followed the biologist out to a pond where she shone a spotlight on the bats flying above. She had an ecolocator so we could listen to their clicks as they hunted.

On our way back, in pitch dark, we used black lights to highlight gold sand scorpions! They are impossible to see in regular light but show up like iridescent gems in the black light. They ranged in size from half an inch to two inches long - some were sitting right in the pathway, others under bushes but all had their pincers and stinger at the ready. Bill managed to capture this one with his iphone.

We are heading to Lowe's tomorrow to buy a black light!