In a Rut

This bull elk was making a racket bugling this morning

When I took Willow out for her morning business meeting we heard a bull elk bugling and bellowing loudly.  I spotted him and quite a few cows out in a grassy area across the valley from us.  Took a few pics of him and the girls.  Later Dr. K, Willow and I did a hike in the forest near the cabin following our regular route.  Afterward Dr. K and I drove down to Alamogordo to dump some garbage, buy groceries at Lowe's Signature Market, and put gas in Red the CR-V before heading back up the mountain.

One of the cows in his entourage

Elk cows

High on juniper berries

This & next:  Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

Willow spotting critters

Flesh fly? on Golden Crownbeard

The rest:  Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay