Arizona

I am finally posting about my last two collecting trips I went on while still at BYU. The first was a 4 day trip from Provo to Portal, AZ in SE Arizona and back in July. Portal is a beautiful little town that sits in a very unusual setting. It is a popular destination to biologist from all over the world and is home to the SW Biological Research Station. It is a place that is famous for its odd collection of wildlife from birds to bugs and everything in between. Five people went and I drove all 4,000 miles.

Our first stop was outside Phoenix among the saguaro cacti.

The next night was in Portal. The scenery there is wonderful,

including the odd combinations of plants.

The last night was outside Flagstaff. On the way back to Provo we stopped at Meteor Crater, a mile wide hole left over from a large impact.

Flagstaff had this interesting sign at an intersection. Look at it closely:

We also stopped at Navajo Bridge when we crossed the Colorado River.

We caught lots of great insects. We also ran into many other interesting animals.

Can you find the walking stick?

a pleasing fungus beetle

This scorpion fluoresces under black light:

a baby Mojave rattlesnake, isn’t it cute?

And at Navajo Bridge we got to see a rare California Condor:

It was a great trip.