Desert Packrat: The Down-and-Out

Sunday, June 14, 2015

The Down-and-Out

We finally removed the wire cage around our Chinese Elm

Dr. K, Becca and I hiked the Grand View Trail before heading back down into the lower desert this morning. The hike was fun, but somewhat hot; the heat was a little draining because we were just getting used to the cool higher mountain treks we'd been doing. We'd better suck it up, though, because here in the Las Cruces/El Paso area of the Chihuahuan Desert we'll be experiencing triple-digit heat. Yipee!

Three-leaf Sumac berries (birds love them)

Getting going on the Grand View Trail

A look down at White Sands

Becca and Packrat in the ramada

Sotol in bloom

The flower stalk

Dr. K checking out the blossoms

Closeup of Sotol flowers

Heading on down the trail

Becca next to a stand of Apache Plume

Dr. K sniffing the plumes of Apache Plume

Where pine nuts come from

Double blooms

Sotol with new flower stalk

Young Sotol

Black-headed Grosbeak

Headed back

A much-needed shade break

3 comments:

Dr. K said...: I can't remember when the flower stalk of the sotol was so full.; June 14, 2015 at 4:21 PM
Scott said...: "Thank you for that tasty snack!" signed Mule Deer. A Black-headed Grosbeak might be a life-lister for Kali and me (but I'll have to check our life list; every time I think I might have a life-list bird, I check my list and see that I saw one on a western trip on 1987, etc.).; June 15, 2015 at 9:09 AM
packrat said...: Scott:

Not the best photo of the Grosbeak, and before I enlarged it I kept thinking the bird was a Bullock's Oriole. But when I saw the beak I knew right away it wasn't. I went to the Cornell bird site to listen to the Black-headed Grosbeak's song; that's when I realized what it was. Apparently, they summer (and breed) here in New Mexico.; June 15, 2015 at 10:54 AM

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