Bushwhack Burnout

Tortugas Mountain (left) and the Organ Mountains

Frio, Willow and I started off on our "new normal" trek this morning, hiking the long dirt road, bushwhacking east into the desert and up onto the hills west of Tortugas Mountain.  But that was all the bushwhacking I could handle today so we took other dirt roads to supplement our journey.

Saw a lot of beautiful sights, most notably the hawk whose photo appears (too many times) below.  I think it's a Swainson's Hawk, but I'm not certain.  The upshot of the whole photo-op was that while I stood snapping images of the more distant hawk another was perched in a Torrey Yucca not twenty yards distant; but I didn't see the other raptor until I started putting my camera away and it took off.

The morning trek was a hot one, though things began to cool off a bit as some high clouds rolled in.  That didn't last long, however, and now--in the early afternoon--the sun is blazing and the wind is gusting.

The long view

This and the next:  has features of Blackfoot Daisy, but I think it isn't

This and the next:  Desert Zinnia

Bushwhacking

Relaxing in a wash

Chihuahuan Desert scene

This and the next:  Prickly Pear

Spectaclepod and Creosote Bush

This and the next:  Ocotillo buds

Another long view

Heelers

All of the rest are of the same raptor:  I'm thinking "Swainson's Hawk"