Spent a few days in a Phoenix suburb and found lot’s of Gambel’s quail. There was both a greater number than I’d ever seen before and they were not as skittish. Nesting appears to be on the agenda.
There are some beautiful areas around Phoenix. One I drove through had the desert landscape, especially palo verde trees, heavy enough to pretty much hide business and shopping areas from the road.
A female phainopepla.
Below, a verdin and a cactus wren. Just starting to see ocotillo plants blooming.
Spent two days at Hueco Tanks State Historic Site, 25 miles east of El Paso, Texas. I have been so happy with Texas State Parks in general, was curious about this one. Was surprised at how crowded it was in the middle of the week, as I was not aware it is a world renown rock climbing site. They have had problems from its being so popular and now limit the number of people that can enter the park. Only one-third of the park can be explored on your own, as the lone rock climber shown above is doing. For the other two-thirds, you need to have a guide go with you. There were people waiting to go climbing both mornings I was there. The campsites are beautiful, but they are in the restricted area. Bet people with kids have a hard time keeping them off the rocks.
Came across this article in the Los Angeles Times about the park: Ready to rock at Hueco Tanks State Park.
The park is a good birding site. Above, a verdin (top) and a pyrrhuloxia (bottom) flying under a water faucet just to catch a drip of water from it.
The way here: After leaving Big Bend stopped at Marfa, Texas. This is a great small town with a lot of artists and art galleries that blend in with the small ranching town. It has a movie history, with the James Dean film Giant filmed here, as well as No Country for Old Men.
On leaving Marfa, saw the below object. Have since learned it’s an aerostat used in anti-drug surveillance. There are 11 aerostat sites, mainly along the Mexican border, that are being used as an electronic fence. This has to be a lot better than trying to build a fence along the border that would cause a lot of environmental problems.
