Another Bird Bonanza

This and the next five:  Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

Early this morning, while Becca and I headed up the trail alongside the arroyo just west of Tortugas Mountain, I spotted a large Red-tailed Hawk atop a yucca.  It was obviously searching for some tasty rodent morsel to eat.  The raptor was quite obliging as I took maybe 20 photos before it flew away.  We had just started trekking along the upper foothills trail when a Coyote cacophony began to the west of us.  The canids were really close by, and it sounded as if there were five or ten of them.  In truth, though, as anyone who has ever heard raucous Coyotes barking, howling and yelping, a few can often sound like many; and, just as unsurprising, the nearby Tricksters you were certain you'd see simply never appear.  That was the case today as Becca and I had not even a glimpse of them.  Our effort to find them altered our course and led to an encounter with a Greater Roadrunner grooming itself in the morning sun and an American Kestrel who was hunting far west of Tortugas Mountain.

About to dismount

Steep west side of Tortugas Mountain

I'm sure I saw something move

Anybody up that-a-way?

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)

Check out the color of those feathers

Doing a lot of preening while we stood nearby

Keeping a wary eye, though

Roadunners are smart and powerful

And what characters they are

Huge old Ocotillo, Tortugas Mountain and the Organ Mountains beyond

Becca crossing the Crosscut Trail

In an arroyo looking for Coyotes

Spent Soaptree Yucca seed pod

Another morning moon

My favorite Torrey Yucca

This Barrel Cactus is nearly three feet tall

Same Barrel Cactus, different perspective

Heading back

Jet over the Organ Mountains

I love encountering an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)

Giving me the cold shoulder

Don't think I don't know you're there

Just before takeoff

Closer in look at the mountains