Heron Lake State Park | New Mexico

  

Ospreys are in the southwest as well as places like Florida -  I was surprised to find them here.  I found a nest that I was able to photograph, after waiting patiently.

She then "flew the coop" after staring at me intently, wishing I would go away.   

The Rio Chama runs through part of the park, and this is the great view from the trailhead.  Easy going down, but coming up is strenuous.

I love this little island, which at one time was a peninsula when the water level was very low.  It has come up quite a bit since I was here 3 years ago.

The reservoir is quite large, with rocky shoreline as well as sand in different areas.

A marina for small boats is available for those who want to leave a boat in the water, or stay overnight on the dock.  A dry storage area is available also.

The Heron Dam is not spectacular looking, but some of us campers got a little tour, with lots of specifications and details.  The machine shown below tracks the lake level each hour.

We didn't get to see inside this control panel, but the look of it from the outside is intimidating enough!



This ladder goes down 275 feet to the guts of the dam, but we didn't get to go down - probably a good thing, because we had a large group.

 My campsite is huge, with steps leading down to a backyard and firepit as well as a large table off to the side under some large shade trees. 

My shade trees are quite picturesque.

  

Desert Critters and Other Stuff.

 

I was so lucky to get this photo of an owl.  It was dusk and I had just opened the door to my RV to go outside and saw him sitting this post, just about eye level with me.  Other birds were swooping down to try to get him to leave, but he just kept ducking and turning his head to watch them.  Then, he just stared at me and I took this shot. 

 

 

Saguaros have these beautiful blooms, and after the blooms die off, the seed pods start unfolding. The dark color on the top in the photo below was the bloom, the open seed pods are below.  This is what people harvest to make jams, syrups and other food.

 

This seed pod is fully opened. 

 

 

This really isn't a desert creature, but she's interesting.  She loves to stick her nose in the ground to smell the critters in there.  She will sit there for an hour, just snorting and sniffing.  Silly girl.

 

A month (or more) ago, I took a photo of this bird sitting on her nest.  It's in a cholla cactus, and I saw her numerous times just standing on the spines of this cactus. 



 

I checked the babies every day.  First, they just looked like little piles of fluff in there.  Then they started getting bigger and started watching me.  Mama bird yelled when I went to take photos, but she never got upset with me.

There are lots of bunnies around and lots of coyotes walking around.  Never did get a good photo of a coyote because I was either driving or didn't have my camera.  I'm sure some of these little bunnies were coyote snacks.

Another strange thing in the desert, people getting close to cacti to get photos.  I was hiking one day and - oh, wait, that's me!

It has been really hot here lately.   I left a pair of Crocs out one day after using the pool.  Didn't think anything about it until the next day - they were about a size smaller! 

This sunset is red because it was so hot that day.  Not technically, but just my observation.