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| House Finch on our property |
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| View into the Tularosa Basin, Trinity Site beyond far center mountains |
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| Recent rains have been good for the flora |
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| Dead tree sculpture |
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| Large stand of Mormon Tea |
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| Shinto shrine? No, telephone poles |
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| Sagebrush |
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| Through the cut |
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| White Sands on the horizon |
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| New Mexico Whiptail Lizard |
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| The Lincoln National Forest near High Rolls/Mountain Park |
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| Looking for wildlife |
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| Heading down the trail |
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| The flower stalk of a young Sotol |
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| Tiny ears of corn? No, new blooms on a Sotol |
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| Tree skeletons |
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| High country above White Sands |
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| Sotol putting up a new flower stalk (right) |
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| Spotted Towhee singing its lungs out |
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| You looking at me? |
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| This is my best side |
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| Resting in shade from the ramada |
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| Dr. K looking at Becca |
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| Vista from the ramada on the Grand View Trail |
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| Down canyon to White Sands National Monument (275 sq. miles of gypsum) |
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| Headed back to the trailhead |
4 comments:
No matter how often we hike this trail, there are always new things we never noticed before.
Packrat: The Rufous-sided Towhee has been relegated to the ornithological midden pile; the bird is now known as the Eastern Towhee. The towhee in your images is the Spotted Towhee.
Does Becca chase lizards, or are they too small/too common for her to bother with?
Scott: Regarding your comment on the Rufous-sided Towhee, I did notice that on the Cornell website, but the Spotted Towhee sounds available there were not the same as the bird I photographed. But when I googled "Rufous-sided Towhee" several YouTube videos of the bird came up, and the song was that of the bird I documented. I'll go with "Spotted Towhee," though, because I trust your judgment.
Becca will still chase a lizard, but not nearly as enthusiastically as when she was a pup.
Scott: Just visited the Audubon site and they provide more song audios from which to select, and, indeed, #3 is the song of the Towhee we encountered. Spotted Towhee it is! Thanks.
:)
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