Outwaiting a Trickster

Yucca in sunlight

In the outback west of Tortugas Mountain this morning I crested a ridge and came upon a Coyote who looked to be eating something--a rabbit or a bird, perhaps.  He saw me immediately and took off.  I made some Coyote-like noises in an attempt to get him to slow down, but he was spooked.  Finally, maybe an eighth of a mile away, he stopped to look back.  I used my full 65X zoom to try to photograph him, but since I didn't have my monopod with me it was difficult to get a steady shot.  The way he kept staring back to the area in which I first spotted him gave me the notion that he might want to return to finish his breakfast.  As a younger man I might have been able to stand dead still for a longer period of time, but as an older man I could feel my back tightening after only ten minutes of inactivity.  By the way. can you imagine how many bugs land on you during a ten-minute period while you're standing still?  Before I gave up I had an image of the Coyote sitting back behind some distant Creosote Bush observing me through a pair of 50X binoculars and thinking to himself, "Look at that moron standing like a statue so I won't see him.  Humans!"  Needless to say, he didn't return while I was there.

Lots of air traffic this morning

Jets heading east to west

This Loggerhead Shrike was making a lot of noise, but didn't show himself

Sending a signal about Trump?

Not as close at they look

Large Hedgehog Cactus

Mormon Tea buds

Look at all those animal tracks in the arroyo

See him?

A little better look

Stopping to check me out

He's a good eighth of a mile away from me now

Having a little sit-down

Heading out

Looks like a hoverfly to me

Couldn't find this one on the internet

My, what long legs you have

This is why it's called Spectacle Pod

Spectacle Pod is in the mustard family

Really long shot of what appears to be a Red-tailed Hawk

My friend Jimmy in front of a blooming yucca