Critters in the Desert

As mentioned in my previous post, we went to visit Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden last week. It was so beautiful. Not only did we get to see the Chihuly Art in the Desert, we also went into the Butterfly Pavilion. The DBG’s website describes it as, “…a 3,200 square foot open-air structure, featuring lush garden plantings, a water feature, thousands of live butterflies, engaging programming and a state-of-the-art nursery space.”

We didn’t linger terribly long. It was cool, but the garden facility/grounds is quite large. Plus, they may have had thousands of butterflies, but there were only about seven different species, many of which I had seen before. And it was CROWDED. I did manage to capture a few pretty pics though.

Queen Butterfly

Like Monarchs, the Queen butterfly needs milkweed to survive. Have YOU planted milkweed in your garden yet? If you decide to plant some, be careful as it’s the kind of plant that spreads underground. If you only have a small space and don’t want it encroaching on other plants, put it in a container.

Zebra Longwing

There were oodles of these butterflies in the pavilion. It seemed like there were more of these than any of the other species on display. I saw quite a few of these when we were in Florida. It’s actually one of my favorite kind of butterflies.

White Peacock

 

Pipevine Swallowtail

 

This one wasn’t identified on the chart they had displayed in the pavilion.

 

Buckeye, a little worse for wear.

The next two are both Zebra Longwings, which were well represented. I think the pics are pretty, though, so wanted to share.

Zebra Longwing

 

Zebra Longwing

The coolest critter sighting is thanks to Mike who spotted this guy hunting in the gardens outside of and away from the butterfly pavilion.

Roadrunner with lunch.

 

Roadrunners really are pretty fast. I feel kind of lucky to have captured these pics.

 

Roadrunner, rockin’ it. He’s on a rock, get it? LOL

That’s it for critters photographed at the DBG. Below are pics I captured yesterday here at the RV park. I have no idea what kind of lizard it is.Ā  Its body was about 8 or 10 inches long. In all, from its nose to the tip of its tail, I think it was about 14 or 18 inches long. But that’s a guesstimate.

Mystery lizard at RV park.

 

Mystery lizard at RV park. Check out that blue back. I think it might have a collar, where the skin around its neck stands up at times, but I don’t know for sure.

There are lots and lots of different kinds of lizards here in the Sonoran Desert. I have so much to see and learn! I’m really looking forward to it, too. šŸ™‚

 

3 Replies to “Critters in the Desert”

  1. Hi! Love this post! I really need to read more blogs, less Facebook. What was the size of the lizard?

    1. The lizard with the blue in its back was 14-18ā€ long. Iā€™m not sure about the lizard that was eaten by the Roadrunner.

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