Collared Peccaries

Part of Las Cruces and Picacho Peak

There were no vehicles in the Sunset Area lot nor any parked along the entrance road when I got out to Tortugas Mountain early this morning.  When I started my hike it was 34F with a fairly strong wind.  The wind died to a steady breeze, but the temperature never warmed sufficiently for me to remove any layers of clothing.

I did a long bushwhack in the outback far west of the mountain whose payoff was encountering a small herd of Javelinas (maybe 8 or 9 individuals, mostly young ones) two of whom I spooked by my proximity; they quickly sped away from me.  By the time I was able to track them down I had climbed a high hill and spotted them in the desert below, hence the bad photos of the desert critters I've been seeing more often than ever before here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert.  In several of the photos of mama and young 'un you can see the larger Javelina rooting around in a hole; I frequently find these "Javelina holes" where the peccaries have been digging for roots and tubers to eat.

On my way back in this morning I kicked up a young Mule Deer buck who bolted out of the underbrush and put distance between us before I could whip out my camera for a photo.  The buck was traveling alone.  Later, up on the high foothills trail, I ran into my pal Jimmy, and he and I palavered for a good long while before parting ways.

Light and shadow

Small valley

Part of Tortugas

Woodpecker

This and the next:  Javelinas (aka Collared Peccaries)

Baby Bird rock

This and the next:  2 experiments

This and the next 3:  Mama Javelina and baby

Baby Peccary butt

Too soon to collect nesting material

This and the next 2:  the long view

Soaptree Yucca

Javelina hole

This and the next:  two more long views

This and the next:  same arroyo looking west and east

This and the next:  Cactus Wren in Ocotillo