Wildcat day

Fresh lion tracks
Bobcat in the yard, Canyon RdDec. 29- I went out to check my camera trap(about 50yds from 

the house) and found that a bobcat had walked right near it, but not

in front of it! Then went up into the Pecos looking for marten 

tracks and came across a set of VERY fresh lion tracks! Stopped

me in my tracks. I had just spooked about 6 muleys, when I

crossed the lion tracks. He might have been stalking them. I

followed the tracks back uphill hoping to see him/her but didn't.

I saw where it stopped and looked back in the direction

where I had been. I'm sure it saw me. The tracks were about

3 1/4" L x 3 1/4" W, not huge, but big enough to feel very vulnerable.

As I left I found myself checking over my shoulder a few times. 

Dec 28 X-mas bird count

Dec. 28 - Christmas Bird count Espanola

It was an icy morning along the Rio Grande.

Highlights included:

Seeing the Rio Grande choked with ice.

A great view of an adult Bald eagle with prey.

3 Wood ducks

8 Buffleheads

30+ Goldeneyes

1 Redhead

10 Canvasbacks

50+ Gadwalls

2 Widgeons

1 Great blue heron

1 Killdeer

Great light all day.

At my gate

December 27

At my gate

(cottontails)

Also saw ravens chasing off a

peregrine(?)(a large falcon),

and a red-tail

Florida Mountains

Southern Sojourn

Dec. 17- Back in Santa Fe after being down south for more than 3 weeks. The day I left (Dec.15) I saw ants and butterflies, and some flowers in bloom. I'd been hearing crickets every night. By the time I got to Socorro it was freezing and when I got to Santa Fe there was about 8 inches of snow on the ground. From summer to winter in two days.

I spent almost all of my time hiking and camping in the Florida Mountains near Deming. Its a really rugged place, full of rocks, cactus and thorns. It was like bootcamp for couch potatoes. I saw more shooting stars in 3 weeks than I've seen in a year of "normal" life. I also saw lots of Persian Ibex, and golden eagles. Quail and roadrunners ("Paisano"or countryman to Mexicans) were also common. A few times I saw Peregrines, Prairie falcons, Merlins, and Pyrrhuloxias(a beautiful desert cardinal). Northern harriers were common over the mesquite flats and grasslands. Accipiters hunted the mountain and the valley.

Great Horned Owl & Magpie

Raptors have a hard time in this canyon, and the magpies seem to be having a population explosion.

Great Horned Owl

Nov. 11 - This morning I woke to the sound of magpies making a big fuss over something. I ran outside and found this Great horned owl perched in the Siberian elm behind the barn. About 20 magpies flew off when I appeared, but a few persisted in harassing the owl, which seemed fairly imperturbable. At least until they actually started plucking at its "ears". The owl opened its beak and gave a sort of wheezy exhalation at its attacker. It stayed in the tree enduring the magpie's insults for about a half hour before disappearing.

Northern Pike

Nov 1, Rio Grande

Northern Pike

Sugarite Canyon

Oct. 28- Sugarite Canyon

Oct 26, El Guique/Lyden

Also 1 Merlin &

some Wood ducks

Oct 25, Eagle Nest Lake

                                                              Oct 25,  Eagle Nest Lake

Otter tracks and scat.

Otter tracks in mud and a latrine site on a sand bank on the Rio Grande, Taos County, NM.

More Gold

Oct. 23 - More gold! The aspen photo is from last week before the hard freezes and winds knocked most of the aspens bare. Now its the time of the cottonwoods, the rivers lined with gold. The road to Taos along the Rio Grande is spectacular. Ducks(Green-winged teal and Mallards) are moving and Great blue herons are in evidence. While searching for otter sign Jim Stuart and I were treated to the long song of a winsome ouzel perched on a rock in the river just a few feet away. Neither of us had ever heard this song, or if we had, we attributed it to another bird. It was amazing to hear. Very long and complex. 

Otter Reintroduction

Oct. 14 - We've got otters!!

Five river otters from Washington state were transported to Taos, NM, and released into the Rio Pueblo de Taos. Two males and three females cautiously left their holding pens and started to explore their new home soon after the doors of the pens were opened. They all looked happy and healthy, and our team gave a collective sigh of relief. This was the culmination of a 9 year effort to return otters to the state. After a short time in the immediate area all the otters disappeared up and down the stream. 

Aspen Vista Knoll 10/8/08

FIRST PLEIN-AIR OIL PAINTINGS IN MANY YEARS!

October 8 - First I tried watercolor(in an effort to be more practical and eco-friendly) but didn't have the right stuff. So I exhumed my old oils and found a couple leftover canvases. I hauled it all up to the mountains where the aspens are all glowing, and the first snowfall threatens to end it all post-haste. Yesterday I managed to make 2 smallish paintings. Today I did one larger one. I'm no better than I was when I stopped painting back in 2002, but then I'm no worse. And.... its fun, and a great place to be.

Time of the aspen

October 3, 2008-

It has been 5 years since I have seen the aspens turn in NM, and this last week I was overwhelmed by their beauty once again. At the annual San Geronimo day footrace at Taos Pueblo I got my first taste of the season. The yellow, gold and orange trees were bundled into a huge ramada/shrine at the west end of the race track, and the guardians of the track use golden branches to gently wave the racers past. Then up around Lake Fork Creek in the Latir's I hiked among the flaming trees and took in deep breaths of their distinctive acrid, fallen-leaf smell. At the place I went to cross the stream I was surprised to find a late-season dipper(water ouzel) in residence. I envy his days spent along the rushing stream. I hunted for blue grouse up along the Cabresto but found only a scattering of feathers, and a red-tailed hawk crying out at my intrusion. Back on the road I discovered an area I had never been, Midnight Meadows and the road across the mountains to Red River. Sawmill Mountain and Greenie Peak.

September 26, 2008

September 26-

I stare out the open door.......Indian summer

Yesterday 82 degrees

This morning a hummingbird and two baby lizards, the Solitaire singing.

A sudden wind......a flurry of yellow elm leaves falling.

White butterfly dancing.

The heavy rains and floods of summer a distant memory.

Black bear

Ran into Rick Martinez at the farmers market and he told me he saw a bear run down my arroyo as he drove by last Sunday around 3pm! 

Collared Lizard

Sept. 11 - I was delighted to find this little Collared lizard on the west rim of the Rio Grande gorge yesterday. I had never seen this species in that area, and it really made my day. In fact, I had just been thinking about Collared lizards and was planning on going to the place I had seen them a few years ago, when this one, with its tail held high, caught my eye. 

Latir lambs

Sept. 11 - A few days ago I managed to get up into the high country in northern NM. It was great to be in that world again. As I ascended I was surprised to find the first fallen gold apen leaves on the trail. The rushing streams and deep spruce-fir forest around 10,000 ft soothed my soul. An unexpected bonus was finding an abundance of chanterelles, after a disapointing 'shroom season near Santa Fe. After passing a well-used elk wallow I arrived at tree-line to find a herd of bighorn sheep grazing on the grassy slopes above me. They were not unduly alarmed by my presence, and I was able to get very close to them. When I sat down, some of them approached to within 20 ft or so. Another herd joined them and I took a lot of photos. There were a few of this years lambs staying close to their mothers. Up on the ridge line I got to see a variety of raptors, including a pair of golden eagles, a harrier, a coopers, a sharp-shinned, and a small falcon.(The evening before I had seen a peregrine passing over the ridge) Fall migration is underway.  I saw many marmots and pikas in the rock fields, and Clarks nutcrackers noisily going about their business. 

Uur River, Mongolia

Sept. 3, 2008

Its been a whirlwind lately. North to Wyoming, south to Texas, then yesterday west to Acoma for their feast day. Tomorrow I might pay tribute to the East(a short hike east at most). For now I am in the center. I dug a new outhouse hole and fertilized my melons. I also made my first fire of the season in the woodstove, it was so chilly this morning. Otherwise I didn't get much done. My brief encounter with west Texas over the labor day weekend was so unusual that it lingers like a dream, almost as if I wasn't really there. The smell of rain and creosote bush, and the black or zone-tailed hawk that I saw in the middle of Alpine, are my most vivid memories. My visit to Acoma was like entering a living dream of blue sky, white clouds, huge rock outcrops, centuries-old hand-holds in the rock on the way up, and down. Massive white kiva ladders leaning on ancient adobe and stone walls. Beautiful bare-footed dancers with multicolored mantas and eagle-plumed tablitas. The men half-naked with fox skins bouncing behind, black and white skunk-trimmed moccasins, shaking white clay-coated gourd rattles. Mountain fir boughs(in women's hands and men's armbands). The heartbeat of the drums reverberating in the narrow passages. Cool-aide, pickles and snow-cones. The water cisterns full of tadpoles(spadefoot toads), gulping air. Yellow sand and clean air. The mission church with pink trim and beautiful deer guardians, walls 1o feet thick. Ancient corbels and vigas, brought from far. Older than the United states. Fields of corn and chili, rock houses.

The bearded moose

August 26, 2008

I've taken my que to start a blog by my recent discoveries of other inspirational blogs. Especially Susan Tweit's, Community of the land, which led me to Susan York's beautiful site, which led me to other sites. Simultaneously to discovering these sites, I was invited to visit my Peace Corps friend Jordan "Laoshi's" site. Amazing! Now I just have to figure out how to post photos and all the rest.

......and why the bearded moose you ask? Because the first question I was asked when starting my blog, is to name it, and I've been thinking of moose lately. A few days ago in Northern Colorado I was lucky enough to see two very coy lady moose that I had startled from their early morning business. They ran behind some willows and kept their eyes on me until I left. Today I found that the pictures I took of them might as well have been of ghosts, the negatives are blank.