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.

Brantley Lake State Park, New Mexico

My first state park in New Mexico meets with my approval. Actually, this one was very nice and my site backs up to a big field with a lake in the background. You get such nice views out of the back of trailer or 5th wheel.

I guess I should just say it’s a part of the desert rather than a field. I always thought of deserts as big sand dunes with very little vegetation except for a few large cactus types. Maybe some are like that, but this desert is full of little creosote bushes, yucca plants, grass and some prickly pear type cactus. This is the Chihuahuan Desert, mostly in Mexico, but part comes into southern New Mexico. It’s not totally flat, but it’s not sand dunes either, and the ground is actually rather hard. I took the trail down by the lake and went through a small group of trees, similar to cedar but shorter. I never did get to the lake, since the trail turns around when it reaches a sand bluff above the lake.

The next morning, I took the trail to the visitor center, watching for rattlesnakes along the way. I really don’t want to run into those guys, so I made as much noise as possible, kicking little stones along the way. I figure they’ll hear me before I see them and they can give me a warning – in which case I’ll be headed the other way as quickly as I can. The only critter I saw on that 3 mile hike was one little rabbit, along with a few birds. It was perfect weather, still cool and totally overcast, it was still below 80 degrees at noon.

Since I went through a time zone last week, it gets light around 6:00 here and I haven’t adjusted to sleeping much later than that. When I get up, I go outside to enjoy the cool air – it averages about 70 during the night. I wander around my trailer and there are always rabbits around, they’re all over the campsite areas. For the past 3 days, I’ve had one sitting under my trailer for hours, no matter how many times I walk by or open the door, he doesn’t seem concerned. They will actually hop around within 5-6 feet of me.

Next is Roswell, New Mexico, a few hours north, to visit some alien beings. Hopefully they’ll be friendly!