Spring only lasts a few weeks in the desert. It goes from fifty degrees to ninety degrees in almost no time, which means that nothing has the chance to gradually bloom, it has to change quickly to survive in the heat. When I was going to school in Wisconsin, I got to watch flowers grow, birds learn how to fly, and trees begin to flourish again. Here, however, the hot southwest sun is unforgiving to the palms, and flowers just can’t grow in the scorched earth. However, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t spring. While the days grow longer, we desert dwellers watch the cactus blossom, quail babies hatch, and predators roam the mountains once more.
One of the craziest things about living in the desert is how much color there is. Most people will tell you that it’s an ugly, barren wasteland covered in brown and grey dirt. That’s almost true. Unless you spend the day in Red Rock or Valley of Fire, where the midday sun catches the yellow, pink, and orange waves carved into the sandstone. Or, if you walk out of my back door and watch the sunrise reflect off of the deep blue and green water of Lake Mead, surrounded by purple and lavender mountain basins. The best colors don’t come from the hills though, they come from the cactus. Gold, red, fuchsia, bright white, dark pink, purple so dark it’s nearly blue. The start of spring means that the dormant, brown cactus come to life, sprouting fireworks of flowers for the world to see…and for the hummingbirds to eat!
Speaking of birds, my house is overrun by quails. Every day, I can hear their distinct call outside of my window, cooing away like it isn’t six in the morning. Then, in the spring, I get to hear the tiniest little chirps as dozens of baby quail hatch and follow their mamas around my neighborhood in search of seeds, insects, and spiders. Trust me when I say that my yard has the juiciest spiders in town. We always know what time of year it is when we have to put rocks near sidewalk ledges so the chicks can have a set of stairs to climb since they can’t jump as high as their parents yet. They’re literally the cutest things ever, and probably my favorite part of the season.
Those quail have to hide in my yard too because when spring rolls around, temperatures rise, and all of the predators come out to play again. The worst are the coyotes that lurk near my backyard and scream (not howl) in an attempt to recruit other hunters to their gang. When they have enough, they stalk anything not in caves or buried under the dirt: birds, bighorn sheep, and stray pets. They don’t care about humans at all though, because when I go running in the mountains during the early morning, they trot down the hiking trails and right past me like I don’t exist. Anyone who doesn’t live in the desert would freak out to see how close these guys actually get, but for me, the closer the coyotes get, the closer I am to summer.
Spring down here is a little different than the rest of the country, but we sure make it work. Usually, the southwest is the ultimate spring break destination. From perfect weather, busy nightlife, and, my favorite, Spring Training, the desert just does it best. We may not have the most delicate blooming season, but the colors, sounds, and sights of the normally dry climate make it clear that summer is fast approaching. It may only last two or three weeks, but in my (highly biased) opinion, southwest spring is better than any I’ve ever seen.