Habitat 

 
    Our study site consists of adobe hills and washes (for pictures see here ).  The vegetation appears fairly sparse and the initial impression is of a severe desert.  The nearest National Weather Service station is in Grand Junction, about 35 kilometers to the east.  They receive an average of about 8 inches (20 cm) of precipitation per year. The Grand Junction weather station is much nearer Grand Mesa and probably receives considerably more rainfall than our site.  During the summer, when we have a rain gauge, this is certainly true.  The study site probably receives about 6 inches (15cm) of rainfall annually.  There is a summer monsoonal rainfall pattern with little rainfall in late May and June.  The monsoonal flow from the Gulf of California arrives sometimes in July or August and the bulk of summer rain occurs as thunderstorms.  We have occasional flash floods that plaster colonies with mud.  Even without flash floods, the mortality of young colonies in washes can be higher due to flooding.

    The vegetation is very attractive although it is not very showy.  The perennial vegetation in this desert is largely chenopods, grasses and composites (for distribution maps see here ).  Chenopods (saltbush of four common species and greasewood ) and composites (Xylorhiza venusta, two species of rabbitbrush, Tetradymia, snakeweed and Big sagebrush ) are the common woody plants.  The perennial native grasses, galleta grass (Hilaria jamesii), and Indian rice grass (Oryzopsis ) and the annual introduced cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) are the most common grasses.  The introduced grass, annual wheatgrass (Eremopyrum triticeum) is becoming increasingly common.  

    The site is situated over a series of hills and washes (for elevation map see here ).  The vegetation is influenced by drainage of the soil and is often associated with hills or washes (see here or here or here ).  

Site list of vertebrates:

Herps.
Great Basin Spadefoot Toad	Scaphiopus intermontanus
Painted Desert Whiptail (Western Whiptail)	Cnemidophorus tigris septentrionalis
Plateau Striped Whiptail	Cnemidophorus velox
Long-nosed Leopard Lizard	Gambelia wislizenii
Short Horned Lizard or 1 or 2	Phrynosoma hernandesi
Great Basin Gopher Snake	Pituophis melanoleucus
Western Garter Snake	Thamnophis elegans
Mammals.The mammal list is not very complete.  Most rodents and bats have not been identified.
Ord's Kangaroo Rat	Dipodomys ordi
White-tailed prairie dog 1, 2 or 3	Cynomys leudovicianus
Desert Cottontail or here	Sylvilagus audubonii
Long-tailed Weasel	Mustela frenata
Raccoon	Procyon lotor
Coyote	Canis latrans
Badger	Taxidea taxus
Pronghorn Antelope	Antilocapra americana
Mule Deer	Odocoileus hemionus
Birds.  The bird list includes all species that we have seen at the site, either on the ground or vegetation or overhead.  We note if we have only seen the bird flying overhead (o); or breeding (*).  We have not spent time at the site during migrations and presume that a number of waterbirds (particularly) fly overhead, but are not of consequence.
Sandhill Crane (o)
Ring-necked Pheasant (adjacent ag lands)
Gambel's Quail  (Adjacent ag lands)
Northern Harrier *
Red-Tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Golden Eagle
Turkey Vulture
American Kestrel
Prairie Falcon
Great Horned Owl (Adjacent ag lands)
Burrowing Owl *
Barn Owl (Adjacent Ag lands)
Belted Kingfisher (o)
Mourning Dove
Rock Dove (o)
Broad-Tailed Hummingbird
Northern Flicker
Western Kingbird
Horned Lark *
White-Throated Swift
Barn Swallow
Common Raven
Black-Billed Magpie
Rock Wren *
Northern Mockingbird *
Mountain Bluebird
Loggerhead Shrike *
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark *
Northern Oriole (Bullock's)
Lark Sparrow *
Lapland Longspur
Lark Bunting