The Gray Whale Advocate Newsletter

Contents, both editorial and photographic are:

copyright 2000

Keith E. Jones

Hola amigos y amigas:

Before getting into this month’s topic I wanted to tell all of you that I have started a separate operation described at our new website www.whales4kids.com. You can view our mission statement there, but not much else at this time. This project is in the start up phase and needs volunteer help. Currently I’m compiling a list of teachers who are willing to help me by developing lesson plans that will be used to help other teachers give their students a really good education about the marine environment. No particular commitment is needed, just a willingness to add to our lesson plans. The second part of the plan revolves around bringing select youth who have no reasonable chance of ever experiencing the ocean environment in a meaningful way into intimate contact with the ocean and seashore. To accomplish this, I will begin bring some students of high school age along on some of our trips.

I just got back from a weekend in Guerrero Negro. As promised this edition of the newsletter will tell something about the land we see as we drive through Baja. I will not talk about the northern portion of Baja where there are huge fields of tomatoes and other crops. This sprawling agricultural development is a topic for some future newsletter. I want to talk about the more remote areas we pass through as we drive toward the lagoons of Central Baja. I usually talk about the gray whales and about the lagoons. This time I will say something about the desert and the mountains of Baja. I’ve actually spent more time in the desert than I have in the whale lagoons. I spent 20 years traveling in Baja before I saw my first whale in a lagoon.

This narrow region of deserts and mountains, rocks and dry streams stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of California. It has mountains, beaches, both high and low desert, bustling towns and quiet villages, mines and factories and areas so remote they have remained unchanged for thousands of years. Much of the moisture that the plants and animals survive on is deposited in the form of dew, left by the frequent foggy evenings that are an almost constant characteristic of much of the northern and central peninsula.

This Cardon Cactus is one of thousands that dot the landscape surrounding the town of Catavina.

At first sight this land seems barren and lifeless. A typical first impression is that there is nothing here except cactus and rocks and the ever present turkey vultures soaring high overhead. Nothing could be further from the reality. This land is teeming with life.

The oceans that surround this desert are well known for the abundance of fish. All fishermen dream of traveling to Baja for at least one great fishing adventure! The land has its share of life, too.

On the way home from Guerrero Negro yesterday, I stopped in the mountains just outside Catavina to stretch my legs. I stood quietly for two or three minutes admiring the scenery around me. When my senses finally began to come in phase with the desert, I sensed movement everywhere around me.

Across the road I noticed a cottontail nibbling on some tender green shoots that were beginning to sprout after last weeks heavy rains. There was a flock of 25 small birds pecking at the ground near the rabbit. I was too far away to identify what type they were. Nearer to me, thousands of large red ants swarmed from an ant hill to harvest food scraps stuck tight to a paper plate that had been carelessly left by a previous passerby.

Overhead a pair of midnight black ravens cruised north, following the highways’ centerline. Did you ever wonder why ravens follow the lifeless asphalt highway when they fly early in the morning? I’ve discovered after many hours of observing these harsh tongued birds that the clever ravens have learned to search for the many crushed insects to be found early in the morning along the highway.

Drawn from my momentary study of the many critters searching out their morning meal by the rumble of a diesel engine, I turned and watched a heavy tractor trailer truck rig creep by in slow motion. The driver shifted gears, gashing the metal teeth together, slinging Spanish curses out into the morning air while he fought his ancient rig to get up the momentum needed to carry him over the steep incline that is the road north from Catavina.

A ruby throated hummingbird darted from my left side to hover momentarily in place while she sipped nectar from a yellow wild daisy. She moved on and was replaced by a series of honey bees. I watched a stream of these yellow and black insects move to and from a narrow black crack up high on the rocky hillside. Near the entrance to the honey drop a fat horned lizard lay sunning himself in the brisk morning air. The time was 6:35 A.M. and the temperature was 41 degree Fahrenheit.

A fuzzy black fly landed on my cheek and brought me back to the moment at hand. That was one animal too many for me. I waved the irritating critter away and climbed into the Suburban. The knobby tires rumbled as I bounced onto the newly re-paved highway, quickly getting up the speed necessary to pass the still struggling big rig.

I finally got a clear stretch of road and passed the smoky truck I had followed for about 5 miles. It is true that life is hard here. Whether mountain or beach every creature must work at survival. Alongside the road ahead of me a trio of vultures squatted down protectively as I roared past them and the remains of an unfortunate steer. There are few fences along this highway. The range cattle roam freely, following the string of green growth that grows along the graded turnoff areas that parallel the highway.

There is more diversity of life forms than most people realize. After traveling this dry region just once none of us are surprised to learn that there are over 80 species of cactus to be found up and down the length of the peninsula. But to be told that there have been 192 species of bird identified in the Baja Peninsula region is a big surprise.

I always advise my fellow travelers to tread carefully lest they disturb a sleeping rattlesnake. All told there are 43 reptilian species present in Baja.

Included amongst the 69 species of mammals is one of my favorites, the kangaroo rat. Those of you who have camped on the shore at Laguna Ojo de Liebre have certainly seen one or two of these interesting rodents early in the morning or late in the evening. When I used to camp on the shore regularly I loved to wipe the sand smooth around my camp. Then in the morning I would marvel at the hundreds of tiny rodent prints left by these industrious mice.

Here’s one raptor that doesn’t eat mice. Guerrero Negro has hundreds of osprey nesting on manmade perches placed atop light buoys and power poles all around the town.

Central Baja is home to a small endangered population of less than 200 pronghorn antelope. Near the town of Vizcaino, which is located inside the Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve there is a small but important antelope preservation project underway. The biosphere reserve has set up a breeding area that is intended to add to the sparse pronghorn antelope population.

It’s interesting to note that the wild pronghorn antelope are so reclusive and elusive that from one year to the next, when the biosphere reserve biologists attempt to take population counts, the number can vary by several hundred percent. One year they may only count 30 or 40 and the next year nearly 200.

Now a short word from our one and only sponsor

We have added the air charter flydown trips to our schedule this season. Several of the dates are already sold out. I have two dates where I need to find an additional two people to fill the plane. Those dates are January 19,20,21 priced at $1,285 and the Presidents’ Day Weekend trip February 17,18,19,20 priced at $1,550. If interested let me know.

As always you can email me at keith@greywhale.com and I will reply usually within 24 hours, except when I’m traveling. Remember as the whale watching season gets closer, I spend more and more time in Baja and less time answering my mail. So from mid-December through the end of March my replies sometimes lag by a week or so.

That’s all for now.

Keith (baja) Jones

Baja Jones Adventure Travel

and coming soon:

www.whalesforkids.org

www.whales4kids.org