An Encounter with Desert Locusts on the desert grasslands in Maleha, Sharjah

A solitary desert locust upfront in the desert sand

The desert grassland was teeming with these large hoppers

Hop, hop, hop, they never stop!

Can you spot the locust hopping on the desert sand?

Explorations in the desert grasslands can lead to truly wonderful encounters. My early morning walk in the desert of Maleha lead me to encounter of numerous still in the solitary phase of desert locusts on the wide spread of the dry grassland. Numerous hoppers were hopping, jumping, skipping a beat on the sand and on the available desert foliage. The awesome part of observing desert locusts in the field, is how fast and how high they jump on a single leap and also how they can also glide in the dry desert morning air to move away from me as I photo chase them. Plus, they can also  easily camouflage themselves in the sand and escape my detection. I wonder, if  I would encounter these hoppers in their aggregation or swarming phase out in the desert!

DESERT LOCUST, Schistocerca gregaria (ORTHOPTERA: ACRIDIDAE)   

Awesome creation! AWESOME CREATOR!