Friday, March 17, 2023

Fan Palms, lizards and pupfish

 Today a trip to one of our favourite spots: One Thousand Palms Oasis. We walked through the first oasis where recent winds and rain have taken down a number of fan palms (one docent told us it should now be called 998 Palms Oasis!). We didn't recognize the pathways from our last trip a month ago. But we were lucky and found Simone Pond open this time - staff issues limit its opening. Otherwise it is protected by a high fence to prevent people from contaminating the ecosystem. More than five years have been spent ridding the pond of invasive crayfish introduced by a scout master to give the troop something to look for and later tropical fish introduced by more than one aquarium being dumped there. Now a plan is in place to protect the blue endangered pup fish that are resident in one corner of the pond.

We hiked up to a view point then walked back alongside the moon country trail watching for lizards. 


Wicked edges of fan palm fronds

Endangered Pup fish

Simone pond - weather station 

Moon Country 

One little lizard out sunning 


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