All of my fellow Portaleños, as well as the birding community, are following closely the development of the Horseshoe Fire, here in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeast Arizona. As of Saturday night, May 29, just over 1200 acres have burned in the heart of the … Continue readingThe Horseshoe Fire
As the main migration season winds down here in southern Arizona, the later migrants (some of them only infrequently encountered) can put in an appearance. White-rumped Sandpipers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Thick-billed Kingbirds, Blue Grosbeaks and Varied Buntings all tend to lag the other arrivals. Today Alan … Continue readingSwainson’s Thrush, a Distinguished Visitor
After a long stint of guiding three Big Bend tours, followed by local guiding around Portal, I’m finally settling back into being home. A sure sign of settling is taking the time to cook one of my favorite breakfasts: homemade granola. And, in a complete … Continue readingGranola Time
Alan, our friend Jim Shiflett, and I have journeyed to southeastern New Mexico near the Texas border to find Lesser Prairie Chickens on their lekking grounds. After checking the lek in daylight, we retreat about a mile and camp on BLM land. The prairie chickens … Continue readingRites of Spring: Lesser Prairie Chicken
Last month saw so few postings because I was deep in a manuscript on the first nest of Short-tailed Hawk found in the western US. In May 2007, Helen and Noel Snyder found the nest high in the Chiricahua Mountains, and several of us took … Continue readingShort-tailed Hawks
The El Niño storms of winter soaked the desert southwest, and now we’re seeing the results: native Mexican Gold Poppies cloak the lower slopes of the Chiricahuas and Peloncillos, and flood the San Simon Valley in a golden tide. Mexican Gold Poppies I’m off … Continue readingBring on the Poppies!
Yesterday the first Tree Swallows of the season were arriving in the Animas Valley, glistening with deep blue and bright white as they homed in on the waters of the cienaga. Tree Swallows are usually the first of their clan to arrive in spring, en … Continue readingFond of Swallows
This winter we’ve had plenty of occasions to celebrate rain in the Southwest. Yesterday another storm swept through the Chiricahua Mountains, and today the path I walked was diamond-strewn with ice crystals, glittering in the early sunlight. We used to get a similar effect at … Continue readingThe Diamond Path
OK. Say you’re a young female House Sparrow, living at the wind-blown edge of Lordsburg, Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Tumbleweed country… the sort of gritty, lonesome place evoked by a distant train whistle at night. And you’re confronted with a problem: specifically, you need a … Continue readingCreative Problem Solving in Passer domesticus
Ciénaga: cien aguas, one hundred waters. A jewel of a cienaga, among New Mexico’s finest, may be found on one of the big private ranches in the Animas Valley. The cienaga’s waters originate in the Peloncillo Mountains just to the west and flow underground through the … Continue readingCiénaga