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.

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.