Blazing oranges, blues, purples, reds, yellows fade into scarlet and crimson. You reach for the binoculars and spot a striped skunk ambling up to the water hole. The desert night has begun. Many of the desert creatures must secure water during the early evening hours because of the strict bondage of narrow temperature ranges in which they can survive. The night creatures are driven from their hiding places by hunger and thirst, in search of seeds, roots, pollen, and one another.
Insects eat pollen.
Rodents eat insects. Reptiles eat rodents. Owls eat reptiles. And so it goes, the never-ending cycle that assures the perpetuation of all species of life. You turn on your flashlight and notice a walking stick and a praying mantis on the branch in front of you.