Western Tanager

WOW!

When I first moved to new Mexico in 2001, I saw one of these little cuties in my front yard. I have not seen another until today. Everywhere I go, I look for the neon coolness of the Western Tanager, and in fact just yesterday I was telling my sister about the time I saw one...

This afternoon I peeked out the window and this little guy was enjoying some suet. He was around on and off all day, and I sure hope that he returns. I am not sure if these are rare for Northern New Mexico, but I imagine they are at least very uncommon.

Return of Yoat... no Sightings of Baby

Yoat has returned, and is spending a lot of time cruising the property. She has been sitting in her "favorite" spot under the trees in the early twilight as she did last year. As always, she is not afraid of me, but i have noticed that when other people are present to enjoy the Yoat-watching experience, she is MUCH less apt to hang around and have her picture taken.

Even when observed from the house, she seems to know that there are strangers watching her. It is possible that her ability to smell is alerting her to unfamiliar aromas. She is likely accustomed to my scent, since she and I inhabit the same property.

Yoat eats the pinon cones that have fallen-- she did this last year as well. In fact, when I went out into the yard with my friend Nick to collect pinon cones last year, I noted that ALL of them were gone! Now given the size of the property and the number of pinon trees, that is a LOT of cones! Yoat does spend a lot of time looking for cones and then eating the entire cone.

I always wondered what the coyotes are eating out there. Since Yoat began to hang around, there are no more rabbits-- and this is great for my garden. Also, the usual hordes of ground squirrels are gone! This is also terrific. The damage inflicted to my fence line and other problems cause by the enormous rodents has ceased to be. Thanks, Yoat! I assume that it is Yoat who is controlling the rodent population.

When I first moved here, I thought that coyote eat deer. We have a lot of deer here. But not once, and not anywhere have I seen signs of a deer kill. Not a fresh kill, not an active kill and not an old kill. In fact, the deer and the coyotes seem to leave each other alone. I have only once (last mating season) seen the coyotes in a group greater than 3. Since the coyotes are very small-- maybe 40 pounds at most-- I doubt that one or even a pair could take down a huge mule deer. A young deer, perhaps, but not an adult. Those things are huge!

Baby has been missing for a number of months, and so her fate is uncertain. She may have moved on to live in another location. Her relationship to Yoat is also unknown. At first, I assumed that Baby was Yoat's pup. Then I began to wonder if maybe they were a pair-- a male and a female. Baby was very small when she showed up with Yoat last year, so maybe she was, after all, Yoat's baby, and has grown up and moved on.

New-comers: Young Evening Grosbeaks

These cute little guys showed up a few weeks ago. First there were only one or two, and now there are about 4 or 5. This is the first year I have seen them.

As I had thought earlier, these are, indeed young Evening Grosbeaks. Thanks to Sam Crowe at namethatbird.com for giving me a definitive answer.

Pointy

Hummingbird season is over, but I figured I should pay tribute to the little guys!

Strange Little Fungi

What ARE these things? I have no idea! A dozen of these wee mushroom-type-things seem to have popped up in one small low-lying area of my property. I have never seen these before.

Weather Balloon

We have had lots of weather balloon sightings in the past couple of months. Here is one that we saw last week. It is certainly a weather balloon, and has a distinct balloon shape.

El Nino Beginneth?

According to the spritely Mark Ronchetti, TV Weather Man for KRQE, this will be an El Nino year. Last night he warned us of our first sign of an early winter storm... I was too busy cheering on Jordan (Winner of BB11) to notice the weather.

But after being woken up repeatedly by uncharacteristic LOUD thunder and the power going on and off, I realized that Mark had mentioned the storm.

This morning, there is, indeed, snow on SF Baldy and out in Truchas (I think it is Truchas-- I call it "Tuchas" ). It's DAMN cold, and currently the mountains are concealed in a solid fog-- you can see patches of it rolling in from the photos.

Legs Sneaks a Drink

Here is some video I took of Legs. You do not usually see coyotes drinking a lot of water, but this particular coyote drinks a LOT every day!

Moss Mania After a Rainstorm

Out of sheer boredom and because I have a house which is too dark to sustain most houseplants, I have recently taken to making terrariums. I know-- "how very 5th grade science project" of me.

Drawn in by the creations of Etsy seller "BeadStyle", I purchased one of her do-it-yourself terrariums. I was hooked. As soon as she told me I could add native plants to the assortment provided in the kit, I was already combing the property in search of things to add.

The photos below are of plants which are unidentified (by me) and which are growing on my property... as soon as I identify them, I will know whether or not I can add them to an indoor habitat. Any assistance in identifying them would be awesome!

The moss-ball formations which have broken free of the ground make for easy collecting! This was what I first noticed while hunting for plants to add to my terrarium. I am assuming the moss breaks free in light-weight balls so that it can "travel" to new places?

Another area of "loose balls".... so to speak.

Above: Moss-clumps with coyote scat. This moss tends to grow in areas where coyotes do their business.

While out hunting for moss to terrarium-ify, I noticed something very cool. The weird brown dried-mud-looking clumpy moss stuff which is everywhere somehow turned into very springy little clumps of green moss!

The brown yucky looking crust-blobs not only turned green in many places after our rainstorm yesterday, but I also noticed that small balls of the moss popped free of the ground. The balls are made up of tiny star-shaped green leaves.

Above, is an area where you can see both dormant and active moss-balls. The moss-cluster areas also tend to accumulate an assortment of other little plants. I am guessing that this is because the moss prevents soil erosion and holds moisture.

The photo above is what the mossy areas usually look like : just crusty areas of brown blobby gunk. Not too attractive, right?

One of the trees that overhangs the moss field has at least 6 different types of tree-moss.
Different angle of the same moss-covered tree. Lousy time of day to be photographing, but I will certainly add more pictures soon of this particular tree and its green booty.

Northern Flicker

I do not see these guys too frequently, but this morning, a Northern Flicker was taking a drink at the coyote-depleted water tub. Hopefully, he ate a whole bunch of icky bugs while he was in the area!

"Legs"

"Legs" began showing up in broad daylight-- at 14:00 or earlier. Sometimes he is with a female. Both are malnourished, shabby and appear to be in poor health. Coyotes are not big water drinkers, but Legs shows up pretty regularly each day to empty the bird-water tub.

Coyote Update

I have not really posted too many of my coyote photos. The pair which I usually photograph, the "friendly" duo of "Yoat" and "Baby, have not been seen as of late. This may be owing to the fact that I need to replace my outside lighting and cannot see them in the pitch blackness of night... or it may be that they have chosen to make their home elsewhere.

Yoat and Baby are pictured above, with Baby (the blue-eyed vixen) shown atop her pal "Yoat" (the most beautiful coyote in these here parts). I have loads of pictures of this duo, as they are not shy and have always cared less whether I am nearby. For over a year, they have walked around the property day or night, and other than an occasional run-in with interlopers, they have pretty much been steady residents.

In past weeks, however, I have not seen them and there are other coyotes who appear to be living here.

Hmmmm....

While outside attempting to photograph my new Fall earrings, I thought I saw something odd... and upon further inspection discovered what appeared to be a writhing ooey-gooey worm-ball! Ok, so they are not really worms, but more like caterpillars.

Something must have hatched or metamorphosed or landed in the pinion sapling... just not something you see every day. And that's a GOOD thing. YUCK!

If You Pour It... They Will Come

I know very little about Grosbeaks. Not sure we even had them in Florida! Over the past few years, I have noticed the random specimen every once in a while, usually in the late Summer. They are always super shy and somewhat illusive.

This year, however, there seems to be an abundance of these chubby lil' fellers. Maybe it's their strangely shaped heads or the fact that they are more colorful than the average bird in these here parts, but I think they are pretty cool. One thing I can say for certain is that these guys LOVE WATER.

Ok. It's the desert, and if you stick some water outside in a bowl, chances are you will see some bird action...but these guys are pretty much always in or near the water, more so than the other species. And they are not just there to drink. Even when it is pouring rain, they splash around and enjoy repeated plunges into the water. Very cute!

Other Cacti

The strange meandering silhouette of the large cactus is quite formidable. I think this is a cholla cactus. When it dries, it looks very cool, and many artists use the dried shapes in their work. The low profile prickly pear is New Mexico's version of "the weed." Trying to avoid these things while dog-walking is near impossible! They are tough to dig up and even though they look really cool, especially when they flower, I would prefer that they were not so abundant.

Unknown Flowering Plant

This is a strange plant which I have always liked. When it flowers, early in summer and/or late spring, it produces little purple flowers. It then shoots out a runner of sorts which has some little bean pod type thingies. No idea what the name of this plant is, but the bean pod things are rather nifty! If anyone knows what this is, please feel free to comment.

Indian Paintbrush Plant

This, I think, is a wildflower known as an Indian Paintbrush. This is the first one I have seen on the property and every time I go near it, very concerned hummingbirds go on the offensive!