Desert Animal Extravaganza

Instructors: Joe and Donna Hopkins

Fee: Member $10 per session; Non-Member $15 per session (children under 12 free with an adult)

Bring your love of the desert and sense of adventure and join Park Volunteer Naturalists Joe and Donna Hopkins for a Memorial Day weekend of searching for and observing desert animals. Activities will include car-caravanning looking for sheep; an early-morning hike looking for birds, lizards, and more sheep; evening searches for snakes, blacklighting for scorpions, trapping rodents, and more!  While there are no guarantees when looking for wildlife, there is an excellent chance of seeing many of these creatures as they search for food and water in the heat of the desert summer. Come and enjoy this special time of year in the desert in the safety of a group, and learn how you can look for animals on your own.

Please note that Saturday evening and Sunday morning sessions have been cancelled.

Sunday, May 24, 6:00 pm -- 11:00 pm: Focus on scorpions, snakes, bats, toads and frogs.  Meet at the Ocotillo Wells SVRA Ranger Station.

Monday, May 25, 6:30 am - Noon: Hike up Borrego Palm Canyon in search of sheep, lizards, birds, rodents and other creatures. Meet at Borrego Palm Canyon Trailhead.

Joe and Donna Hopkins moved to Borrego Springs twelve years ago.  Since then, they have earned certificates in desert ecology from UC Riverside and have studied at the Zzyzx Desert Studies Center.  Both became ABDSP Volunteers eight years ago.  Joe's programs have featured many desert animals and, since retiring from the school district, he now works as an Environmental Scientist for California State Parks.  Donna still teaches in Borrego, but has found time to participate in Earthwatch projects studying lizards and tortoises, and volunteers for the Bighorn Sheep Count and the Christmas Bird Count.  She works in the summer as an Environmental Services Intern for state parks.