Breakfast for an American Kestrel

I heard a lot of squawking in the backyard yesterday morning. I saw two American kestrels at the top of a dead tree. I wondered what was going on, so got out my telephoto lens. It turned out the female was holding a lizard in her bill! The male was sitting nearby, making a lot of noise.

The noise continued and they kept turning their heads. American kestrels are our smallest falcons in North American, and also the most common. However, from 1966-2015, their population has decreased by 50% according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey (source).

 Having such a good view of these kestrels was quite a treat! But it appeared that they weren't going to stay put. The female wanted more space. She flew to a nearby tree branch, lizard still in mouth.

She transferred the lizard to her talons. Now she was making some noise. I wish I knew what she was saying.

Then it was time to eat. She started by pulling off the head.

Then came some innards.

Yum, yum!

She took a little break from eating. The lizard's head is now completely gone.

She's getting ready for the next course.

And now there are just lizard legs and a tail visible from her bill.

Minor readjustment.

And now just the top of the tail is left.





All done!

Here's the male. I guess he will have to find his own breakfast.

We're hoping this pair will nest in or near our yard, as they've done the past several years. 

To learn more about American kestrel life history, click here.

April Fools!

 April Fool's Day is a big day in our house. I'm not quite sure how it turned out that way, but now the kids expect some good pranks. And they plan pranks to play on us! I started with putting tape over the shower heads. The kids shower first thing in the morning in two different bathrooms, and didn't even think about checking the spigots, so I got both of them!

Then I had "fried eggs" ready for them for breakfast--made of yogurt and mandarin oranges (peach halves work better, but we didn't have any). They liked that trick.

My husband got into the action with the cup game. He showed them two one-dollar bills. Then he put them under one cup and moved the cups around with elaborate hand gestures. He asked them to pick a cup at the end. They successfully picked the cup with the two one-dollar bills. Then he picked up the other cups, which had ten-dollar bills under them and walked away smiling.

The kids taped the trigger on the cleaning attachment at the sink, so when you turned on the faucet, it sprayed water across the room. The kitchen got a little cleaner that way!

The best part was handing out some Donut Seeds. These can be planted anytime of the year. Instructions include digging a hole on the north side of the house six feet deep and eight feet long. "In the dark of the moon at midnight, plant seeds about two feet apart. For frosted donuts, sprinkle blooms with sugar. For chocolate covered donuts-fertilize with chocolate syrup. Water with coffee...You must believe. If nothing grows, you end up with Donut Holes!" You can find the template at TeamKNK.com  --thanks!

 See previous pranks at this post.
What did you do for April Fool's Day?

Chihuahuan Desert and Guadalupe Peak

 

I went to Carlsbad Caverns, which most people think of as a huge, amazing cave. And it is. But it's under some pretty terrific landscape, the Chihuahuan Desert. It's not super eyecatching at first, but when you start looking, you see quite a variety of plants. Agaves predominate, and the lechuguilla agave is endemic to the Chihuahuan Desert.

I didn't actually spend much time on the surface of Carlsbad. After a full day in the cave, I headed to nearby Guadalupe Mountains National Park and spent the night with a friend.

We had a lovely evening catching up and then she had to leave for work very early the next morning. So good to see you, Carolyn!

Since it was really early and I had a lot of energy, I decided to tackle a trail run. And not just any trail run, why not Guadalupe Peak? It's the highest peak in Texas at 8,751 ft (2,667 m). The trail starts 3,000 feet below and 4.2 miles away. Well, that sounded a lot like hiking Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park, just starting 5,000 feet lower. I've recently signed up for a high elevation marathon, so I needed to get training, and this sounded ideal.

The trail quickly switchbacked up the mountainside, and I enjoyed great views into the Chihuahua Desert.

After about 1.5 miles, the trail went to the north side of the mountain, and I saw trees! The protection from the hot sun creates a nice microclimate.

The trail also flattened out a bit, making running a lot more manageable.

After running through the trees and more switchbacks, past a campground, I came back out on the south side to more wonderful views.

 

And then finally I was at the top! I passed two people on the way up and was the first one on the peak that morning.

I put on my jacket, as it was very windy, and took a selfie with El Capitan in the back.

This rock used to be a barrier reef during the Permian time period, and fossils abound.

After about 10 minutes alone at the top, a nice guy joined me.

 

We talked a bit, then I was getting cold, so I headed to the subpeak and then down.

The views of El Capitan and beyond were amazing.

 It was quite a bit faster going down. I had a better view of this bridge.

I passed 22 people on the way down. It was a great run, even though I wasn't super fast. It made me feel like maybe signing up for the marathon wasn't too stupid of an idea. And it was great getting to know the high country in the Chihuahua Desert a little better.

If you go, go early in the day, I can see how this could be a very hot hike. And enjoy the views!

Four North American Deserts in a Week

Last week I had the opportunity to visit all four major North American deserts: Mojave, Chihuahuan, Sonoran, and Great Basin. Here's a map from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum that shows where they are located:

Image from: http://mojavedesert.net/description.html

Now comes the fun part. Check out the photo and see if you can guess which desert is pictured. Answers are under the photo. Click the links to learn more about that desert. Let's start right away:

This desert is huge, but only a small part is in the U.S., in western Texas and southern New Mexico. It's the Chihuahuan Desert, a hot desert except that it's at a higher elevation, from 1,200 to 6,000 feet, so it's not the hottest in North America. It receives an average of 10 inches of rainfall, the most of the four deserts. The most widespread and dominant species is the creosote bush, which is also common in the other hot deserts. Other common plants are ocotillo. The characteristic plant is the lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla), usually found in limestone soils. Other agaves, yuccas, and sotols are common. Pictured above is an ocotillo in the background and agaves (maybe lechuguilla?) scattered with grasses. The photo was taken at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Next up: (hint, this one is a bit of a trick, as it's in a transition zone)

Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), the tall spindly, plants, are common not only in the Chihuahuan Desert, but also the Sonoran Desert. The huge cactus is a barrel cactus (not sure which one). This photo is taken on the Ocotillo Trail at Kartchner Caverns State Park, which is in the transition zone of Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts. This one should be easy!

Our hottest hot desert is the Sonoran Desert, with their characteristic saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea), which die in a hard freeze that lasts more than 20 hours. Other common plants are littleleaf palo verde (Cercidium microphyllum), ocotillo, ironwood, mesquite, and cholla. Photo taken at Saguaro National Park. Can you also spot the cholla and prickly pear cactus? Only two deserts left. Which one is this?

If you guessed Mojave Desert, you're right! The Mojave Desert is between the Great Basin and Sonoran Deserts and is the smallest of the four deserts. It's also the driest, with an average of 2 inches in the east and 5 inches in the west. It's divided into upper and lower bajadas. In the photo above, taken along Highway 93, you can see creosote bush, common in the lower bajada. Common associates include bur sage, Mojave yucca, banana yucca, and various cacti. The upper bajada is dominated by Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia), which happened to be in bloom!

That leaves just one desert left, the highest elevation and coldest:

This is the Great Basin Desert, where sagebrush is the dominant shrub. Although some cacti are found in this desert, gray, low shrubs dominate the landscape. Another identifying feature is the Basin and Range Province, with alternating mountains and valleys. In the background in the photo above is Great Basin National Park, a park that is almost entirely in the range, looking out at the basins in adjacent Snake and Spring Valleys. Here's a photo of three of the most common bushes: on the left is tall sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), in the middle is greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus), which is just starting to leaf out, and on the right is grey rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus). Fun fact: when early settlers were looking for good land to settle for farming, they looked for sagebrush, which showed that the soil had good nutrients, with greasewood nearby, as greasewood depends on groundwater and usually grows where water is within 40 feet of the surface. If they had that combination of water and good soil, they could probably have good crops!

Which of these four deserts have you visited? Do you have a favorite?
More to come on them in the coming days!

Spring Morning on the Ranch

 The spring light has been delicious, with moody clouds, dramatic slanting rays, and extra humidity in the air to lend an ethereal mood to the high desert. The birds have been returning from their winter sojourn, so I got up early one morning to go in search of sandhill cranes during the golden hour. My husband warned me they might be hard to find, as he thought they had moved out to the meadows. I went anyway, knowing I'd find something interesting to photograph. I stopped at the feed yard, where one cow perched as queen of the hill.

Further on, out in a field, I found a pair of Canada geese clucking away.

A raptor, I think a red-tailed hawk, perched near an abandoned building high up on a dead branch.

The raucous trill of the red-winged blackbird caught my attention.

 

I couldn't find the sandhill cranes. But I did find lots of meadowlarks. And I took many, many photos of them. The one that came out best was this one, singing his heart out for a mate, perched on a fencepost. Good luck, beautiful bird. And thank you for filling the morning with your beautiful song.

Watching an Archery Champion Compete

When I came back from Texas, it happened to correspond when my sister-in-law was going to be in Las Vegas to watch Brady Ellison and his wife Toja compete in the Vegas Shoot Indoor Archery Competition. Brady is my husband's second cousin (or something like that). Brady's gone to the Olympics in Beijing, London, and Rio de Janeiro, bringing home two team silver medals and an individual bronze medal.

I arrived at 8 pm, just in time for the championship shoot-off between Brady and another competitor. They were shooting recurve bows, which are more difficult than the more common compound bows. We had great VIP seating right on the floor. Thanks to my sister-in-law Chris for meeting me at the entrance and showing me the way! It's quite exciting watching the event when you're emotionally invested and really want one of the competitors to win.

Brady ended up placing second for the Indoor World Series finals.

The next morning was a different archery shooting competition, the Las Vegas Shoot, at the same venue. They started with lots of archers out on the floor. I was impressed by how many there were. People had come from around the world, and I think 50 countries were represented.

After the round, the cousins gathered with Toja and Brady at their booth. I couldn't resist buying a couple cool t-shirts for the kids (Desert Boy wore his for a straight week before finally putting it in the laundry). You can find more on the Official Brady Ellison website. I had to head home, but there was still lots more shooting all day long. It's cool knowing world-class athletes, and maybe that will help inspire the kids to practice their archery more. :) And hopefully we can have another cousins' rendezvous this year with even more cousins.