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Thursday, October 8, 2020

Bad Air on the Grand View

Dead tree
Dr. K, Willow, Frio and I hit the Grand View Trail early this morning; it was our alternate choice.  We were going to do the Bridal Veil Falls Trail, but there were several other vehicles parked at the trailhead, and we weren't in the mood to encounter other hikers, especially those with dogs.

We had a very nice trek up the Grand View and back, though the air was very bad in the Tularosa Basin today, probably from forest fire smoke.  We ran into nobody.  The temperature was in the low to mid-50s under sunny skies.

When we got back to our place I noticed what I thought, at first, to be a Ladder-backed Woodpecker in one of our pine trees, but when I saw its yellow belly I went in search of information to ID it.  I think it's a Williamson's Sapsucker, the first I've ever seen in the Sacramento Mountains.

This and the next 3:  local color along the Grand View Trail




Side-eye from a spiny lizard

This and the next:  my favorite Hedgehog growing in rock


Sumac

Grand View Trail

This and the next:  more local color


Heelers

This and the next:  Yellow Flax


Cliff with cactus growing on rock

Globe Mallow

This and the next:  Smooth Spreading Four O'Clock


The rest:  Williamson's Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus)?



 

1 comment:

Dr. K said...

I've never heard of Williamson's Sapsucker. Beautiful bird. Your photos do justice to the beauty of the Grand View Trail.

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