Critters and Scenery

What a week for critter-sighting and scenery.  The weather was gorgeous and the animals seemed amenable.

Beginning at the Chisos Mountains Basin, how about a mid-afternoon moon rise.  Just as it broke over the ridge to the north of Casa Grande. 

A little later the lens effect from the atmosphere was a little less and the moon appeared smaller but sharper.

After lots and lots of hikes, looking for animals and coming up empty handed, right in the parking lot at the Basin Visitor Center I get a Cactus Wren that does not seem the least bit bothered by me walking up and snapping a dozen shots.

Cactus Wren

Then, minutes later and on the exact same yucca, a Say's Phoebe posed for its portrait.  Although it was not quite so tolerant of me getting close like the Cactus Wren was.  By the way, it took a half-dozen books and about eight people to finally identify this little song bird.

Say's Phoebe

The next two shots come from just outside the north boundary of the park.  In a previous post I mentioned the "fins of fire", long, thin ribbons of rock that were formed when magma oozed into cracks of the earths crust.  I finally found one that photographed well enough to give an idea of what I am talking about.

The undulating rock runs miles deep and miles long but only two or three feet wide.

 

 Just a short distance away from the road-side view of the dikes we got a surprise look at a small herd of buffalo.  We have been past this spot a number of times and at varying times of day and never saw a hint of any animal activity.  But today here is a very skittish gathering of cows and bulls.  I just barely got the camera up and snapped a few shots before they had run behind this hill they are standing on.

 Back to the park and Rio Grande Village.  More specifically, Daniels Ranch exhibit and the campground nature trail.  Cyndee and I were on one of our project days so we were in uniform and making contact with visitors.  Turns out our contact with visitors was with more than the people kind.

I think I have mentioned it before, but the Rio Grande River is not all that easy to just walk up to.  It is either bordered by towering cliffs or dense bands of river cane.  The cliffs are easy to understand but it is kind of hard to get your head around the river cane thing.  I think I finally have a couple of shots that gets the idea across.

 

That's Cyndee above, bushwhacking through the river cane.  The river is in there somewhere, we can hear it.



 

We finally got within sight of the river but that is all.  The cane was just too thick to get all the way to the bank.  A large machete would have done the trick but I was not interested in the $750 fine for damaging vegetation that would have come with it.

At the Daniels Ranch exhibit there is a great stand of cottonwood trees and thick brush around the outer edges of the grove.  You could hear all sorts of birds but most were staying concealed in the brush.  But not all.  This ladder back woodpecker was pretty busy working his way around one tree in particular and only took notice of me after I had been following him around the branches for some time.

Ladder Back Woodpecker

 Just down the road from Daniels Ranch is the Rio Grande Village Campground Nature Walk.  The park service has built a pond for the purpose of reviving a species of fish that had dwindled to three individuals.  They call it a mosquito fish and it came very near extinction but this little habitat must be just right because it seems they have done well, numbering in the thousands.

The pond has a series of floating platforms, connected with bridges.  Below Cyndee is making her way out to the first platform.  Each platform has a bench or two, making it easy to linger.

We did not have to look very hard to find fish.  There were schools, or maybe the right name is shoals of fish at the surface almost anywhere you looked.  It was pretty interesting as they had sorted themselves into groups by size.  These guys below were way bigger than the tiniest we saw but not as big as the frying pan-sized ones.

Sharing the pond with the fish was this pie-billed grebe.  The sun was on the wrong side for a proper shot, but it was the only one I was going to get.

And on the opposite bank, in the (you guessed it) river cane was a blue heron.  He was doing some serious preening and it was a long wait for him to pull his head out from under his wing so the shot could be taken.

 The pool car we had checked out had to be back so a ranger could use it to get to an afternoon program she was giving.  It was too early to call it a day so Cyndee walked over to the employee laundry room, which also has a lending library.  The library was in need of some organizing and books that needed to be rotated to lending libraries in other parts of the park.  After a few minutes I heard Cyndee's voice at the door of the camper; "Get your camera and come see this."

She told me to be quite and ease my way around to the shady side of the laundry room and look in the weeds.  And there they were, three javelinas.  Two adults and a juvenile.  I photographed them in the shade for awhile but I think they sensed I was there and started moving.  I circled the opposite way around the laundry room and picked them up as they stepped out into the sun.

The above guy is pretty relaxed at this point but sort of looking over his shoulder, thinking maybe there is something afoot.  A few more steps away and with the security of a bush, he stops to take hard look.

I took a couple of side-steps to get clear of the bush between us and I guess that was all it took for his concerns to be confirmed.

All of sudden he transforms into a razorback, snorts and starts clomping those javelin-shaped teeth together loud enough to make me start checking if I am at a safe enough distance.

At this point we both come to the same conclusion, it is time to move away.  He goes his way, I go the opposite way.