We have driven up out of the desert flat lands and are moseying up into the Chiricahua Mountains. This is the beginning of Cave Creek Canyon. If you have ever been to this part of the country, the Café at Portal and the Lodge at Cave Creek are just to the left about ¼ mile.
Here is an example of the large rock cliffs that line the canyon. Big rocks.
Here are two large rocks that are slowly separating. The passage of time, a long time, will probably cause one or both to come tumbling down. We will not wait around to see even though it is beautiful country.
As you glance up at the rocks you can find various shapes and sizes of holes that have been weathered in the soft rock. Some are small while others quite large. We hiked a short distance to one and found some pictographs. Quite fascinating.
On one of our rides around the desert country to the east of Rodeo, NM we found this Ferruginous Hawk. Ferruginous means rust-colored, and refers to the reddish back and legs of light-morph birds (which are more common than dark morphs). Ferruginous Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks (plus the Golden Eagle) are the only American hawks to have feathered legs all the way down to their toes. Beautiful birds.
We don’t ofter get to see Ferruginous Hawks but on the same day we found this second hawk. They mostly eat a diet of small mammals, sometimes standing above prairie dog or ground squirrel burrows to wait for prey to emerge. West of the Rockies, Ferruginous Hawks spend the winter in grasslands or deserts with abundant rabbits, pocket gophers, or prairie dogs.
This is a female Northern Harrier, the overall brownish coloration identifies her as a female. She was just sitting on the sign alongside the road. She posed quite graciously for the pictures. You can occasionally see them sitting out in the fields on brush or trees but we had not seen one so close that would hold still for so long. She was not bothered by us at all. You normally see them swooping and diving over the grasslands searching for rodents.
Within an hour of seeing the first Harrier we found this second one. He was sitting on a fence post but flew when we stopped to take his image. He was very cooperative however and only relocated to a bush a short distance off. Male Harriers are gray and white in coloration. This one is a juvenile that is changing from the brown drab of the juvenile plumage into the adult male coloration. Interesting to see.
As we drive around this desert country we see lots of Loggerhead Shrikes. This one for some reason was buried back in the brush. Was he hiding from something or waiting in ambush for a meal to come along.
These are Javalina, Mom and the kids as it were. A larger Javalena, might be dad, is just to the right out of this picture. They are really nasty to dogs and so we keep the boys far away. They really stink if you get up close and they can be nasty to people as well so we also keep our distance.
This is the back of a Red-tail hawk. One of the field marks occasionally written up in the books describing the Red-tail is the “Windows” that can be seen on the back. Those are the bright spots on the back of the wings. They are really pronounced on this Red-tail
We couldn’t get away without showing a few sparrows. This is really big sparrow (LBJ) country, lots and lots of sparrows. Here is a Brewer's. It can be easily confused with other sparrows as there are minimal identifying marks that separate it from other species. It is truly a LBJ (Little Brown Job).
Here is a Rufous-crowned Sparrow readily identified by the reddish coloration on the top or crown of it head. The clear breast and ring around the eye are some other field marks that help with the identity of this sparrow.
OK, OK, enough with the sparrows already. Here is a Prairie Falcon. They are a raptor of the West’s wide-open spaces, Prairie Falcons glide above shrubby deserts and grasslands searching for ground squirrels and other small mammals and birds. They are very fast flyers.
As we mentioned in the introduction we are contemplating a new RV. This is what we have in mind. An environmentally friendly rig that allows you to really see the world and I am sure at times you can smell the output of all that hay hanging on the back. This has the new Chevrolet Wi-Fi hot spot built in and though you cannot see it, there is a 46 inch LCD TV in the back for your viewing pleasure at the foot end of the King Size Sleep Number Bed. This RV is not built for fast traveling but for experiencing quality miles. As you can see it may take us a bit longer to get back home. Neat rig with all the amenities.
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