PATHS (2023)

dec24-jan21
the path of winter rain from the ocean in the northwest to the desert. in winter, the primary wind flow to the desert is from the west and northwest. rains originate at the coast, and cool winter temperatures and winter pressure patterns allow storms to make it over the mountain ranges and east to the desert where they fall as gentle, soaking rains. during this rooting season, when the rain falls more slowly and gently to soak into the ground, agave use long, radially down-sloping leaves to channel water’s path to their central root.

jan22-feb20
sandhill cranes follow a feeding path each day on the sun’s rhythm. they depart in mass flight with the sunrise to feed in surrounding fields, and come back at sunset to sleep. they arrive to the desert for winter around november, and return north in march.

feb21-mar21
baby spiders balloon themselves through the air to find food and begin lives dispersed away from one another. they first set an anchor silk, then put up their front legs to sense wind and electrical fields. with this information, they lift their abdomen up and in an instant shoot several strings of gossamer silk which propel them into the air. because the silk strands are electrically charge to repel each other, this creates a “balloon” and they sail along wind and electrical currents. migratory birds return north to the desert. lucy’s warblers and yellow rumped warblers return to mesquite bosques. warbling vireos migrate at night.

mar22-apr19
bighorn sheep return to their own birth spot when possible to give birth; an isolated, sheltered site with unobstructed view. turkey vultures return from the south. hummingbirds migrate north to return to their birthing grounds. their path follows the richest food sources, which in spring is along the coast where the flowers bloom earlier. they migrate alone rather than in flocks, to be less noticeable by predators and create less competition for nectar on the long journey. a lucifer’s drinks anisacanthus, a rufous drinks justicia, a broad-billed drinks penstemon, a black-chinned drinks calliandra. 

apr20-may19
bats follow the path of nocturnal blooming columnar cacti. their journey begins with the cardon bloom, then they follow north toward the organ pipe bloom, and finally the saguaro bloom, drawn by the scent and glowing white form of the night flowers. the journey takes 2-3.5 months, and bats arrive pregnant to maternity roosts in bridges. white-winged doves also return north along the coast to join in the reproductive season of the saguaro, pollinating their flowers and eating their fruit. 

may20-jun17
carpenter ants follow paths of pheromones to feeding spots. the first ant to find a good food source will leave a trail, then as other ants travel the trail they will release pheromones too. these carpenter ants, camponotus festinatus, are highly nocturnal and generally arboreal. they are exclusively liquid feeders and are attracted to oozing sap, extrafloral nectaries, and juices of dead animals. a western blind snake, also a nocturnal creature, can sense these guiding ant pheromones, and will hunt until it finds an ant pheromone trail and follow it to the nest to feast. 

jun18-jul17
bats use echolocation on nightly feeding journeys to locate prey. these sounds, above the range of human hearing, come back to bats’ ears and tell them the shape, location, and distance of prey. however, some prey like beetles, moths, lacewings, mantids, and crickets have hearing that is tuned into the bats’ echolocation sounds, allowing them to duck out of the bat’s predation. the average moth can hear a bat at 130ft away, but the bat needs to be within 30ft of the moth to detect the moth. these nightly feeding journeys can cover up to 40 miles in a night. the globe skimmer arrives here often right at the summer solstice. globe skimmers are known to cross oceans in their migration. shrews are among the other non-bat animals who also use echolocation. their ultrasonic squeaks are lower amplitude than bats’, and are more used for close-range spatial orientation. 

jul18-aug16
ocean/gulf water from the south follows a path of pressure and temperature shifts northward to fall on the desert as monsoon rain. unlike winter winds which come from the north/northwest, summer winds come from the south/southeast. these winds move moisture toward the desert. the already hot summer air has been rising in upward columns called thermals, 3-5mi in diameter. as the southerly wind brings moist air, this moisture too is lifted in updrafts, and condenses into cumulus clouds, sometimes towering up to 8-10 miles high. as this condensing air rises higher and becomes colder and denser, it forms a downdraft. sometimes this downdraft does not contain enough water to fall as rain, looking like a frustrated raincloud. but if the conditions are correct, this downdraft brings down with it the rain which we know as a monsoon storm. the whole lifespan of a thunderstorm cloud, from thermal updraft to downdraft and dissipation, is ~30-40 minutes. 

aug17-sep14
lark buntings arrive to winter here. sphinx moth caterpillars can now stop eating and move toward soft soil to dig a burrow and pupate through the winter. 

sep15-oct14
monarchs follow a migratory path south, directed by the sun’s position and magnetoreception. monarch’s antennae are sensitive to light and to the earth’s magnetic field, which they use to navigate on their 4-5 generation migration to mexico. their antennae and all 6 of their legs have chemoreceptors, which they use to identify milkweed, also directing their path. the last generation of the southern migration is a super generation, whose birth is triggered by decreasing day length and cooler temperatures. the super gen are larger, stronger, and their puberty and hence reproduction are delayed for several months.hummingbirds are preparing to migrate south, and just before they do they enter hyperphagia which compels them to eat a lot, build up fat, increase their weight by 25-40%. this helps them complete their long migration by supporting continuous flying to avoid predation below.

oct15-nov13
battarrea mushroom has sent this large, reproductive organ up through the ground to spread spores and new life on the path of wind. mushrooms are the genitals of fungi, and the rest of the body of the organism lives underground in a webby structure called mycelium. rattlesnakes follow pheromone paths to brumation dens, the oldest going first and leaving pheromone trails for the young to follow. rattlesnakes do not hibernate but they brumate, becoming less active and sleeping for longer periods of time. they will still sometimes go out for food but not as regularly. younger snakes stay out longer to eat more and put on more weight to endure brumation. they may use the same trails year after year. 

nov14-dec12
mule deer have moved down into lower valleys for winter. a deer carries a devil’s claw seed pod on their leg, playing out the plant’s path across land.

dec13-jan11
the walls of the grand canyon slowly degrade into the colorado river, which carries the sand over 700 miles southwest to the river delta where it blows east to the gran desierto de altar, where it moves around as dunes in the wind. this has happened for 25,000 years.