Plants & Animals...but more Plants than Animals Part 1

Well, I took a blog break and didn't finish posting all the promised pictures from Big Bend. Once I got back to the "real world", work and schedules seemed to overtake me. It wasn't all work and no play though - I did get to go to Charlotte, NC to hang out with "my girls" from high school - Jennie, Julie, Suzanne - I wish we could have extended the weekend - I definitely had fun catching up on some much-needed girl time! (Oops, I meant to say Chapel Hill, NC - thanks for helping me with the geography Jennie!)

Back to the Big Bend pictures. Can you tell that I loved the time that we spent there? If anyone wants to go back with me, just let me know. I'd love to go explore in spring when all the flowers are out!

(This isn't really a plant or animal, but it was a fun picture)

This is a close-up of the lechuguilla plant's fruit after it finished blooming and the fruit has dried out.

Anyone know what kind of snake this is? I haven't a clue, but it was cool to see it slither around the rock. We have video of it that you can watch if you're interested. But first I need to find a faster internet connection so I can upload it - maybe I'll get the videos posted next time.

Yep, it's a tarantula. Apparently it was tarantula mating season. I was glad we didn't see one until the last day though. We also have a video of this. Once I get it posted (next time hopefully), I would recommend watching it so you can see it touch Paul's shoe - it will give you perspective of how big it was!

(Another angle of the same tarantula)

Cactus!! We mostly saw some variety of prickly pear cactus (not shown below). So this was a little different, although when it comes to cactus, all I know is that it's pokey and hurts if you get too close! (I readily admit I have no idea what variety of cactus this is).

But look what we found inside the above pictured cactus. We think it's some part of a tarantula - maybe the mandible??
Another variety of cactus that I can't identify. :)
Nope, the yellow part isn't a flower - we think it's new growth (in our humble opinion).


Here's a closeup of the plant above...Name? you want a name...you wouldn't remember if I told you...and I don't know what it's called anyway...but the flower is pretty!

We were hoping to find some kind of bird in the nest built in the cactus, but we weren't that lucky.

Talk about feeling small!!!

This tree had weirdly shaped berries - they weren't round - they were almost like those pictures of sickle cells that you see in biology pictures.

And the fuzzy outside appears to pop open and a smoother fruit is produced. One day I'll figure out what it's called...just not today.
Okay, I might have a name for this one - it's a yucca plant, but I can't get much more specific than that.
Here's the balancing rock that is at the end of a trail designated as Grapevine Hills on the Big Bend maps.
The funny thing is that the surrounding landscape was probably more interesting than this phenomenon. I mean, we definitely wondered how the rock ended up like this. But there were several smaller (but still BIG) rocks all over this area that looked like they could fall at any moment, even though they have probably been in the same position for decades.

This is another picture of a lechuguilla plant that had just finished blooming.

Can you believe it - I actually saw examples of all of the plants described on this sign (I didn't get a picture of the hechia (2nd plant from left), but I have non-blooming pics of all the rest! Which means I have names for them!
This is a candelilla bush. Apparently it can be boiled and high qualit wax extracted from it...which they can do in Mexico where they can harvest the bush (in the park, that's a BIG no-no!)
To me, the candelilla looks a little like asparagus. What do you think?


The plant below that looks all spindly to the right of the land formation (in the foreground) is the ocotillo plant. Ranger Yost said that because the area had received rain recently, this plant had green leaves. We saw other ocotillo plants around the park that didn't have green leaves anymore - because it hadn't received rain. So it's a pretty smart plant - and not a cactus even though it has huge thorns! The first picture is one that Heather took - mine wasn't as nice. Thanks for sharing Heather!

This is a close-up picture I took of the ocotillo showing its leaves. See what I mean when I say huge thorns?

Well, for now I'm going to leave it at this. I have more plant/animal pictures I want to post (we have a few of a Mexican blue jay!). But I'm out of time for now. So check back in later!