Festival of the Cranes - Sunday's hike

Sunday was the final day for the Festival of the Cranes. The festival always runs from Tuesday through Sunday. Last year, our Sunday trip was the Mountain Birding Tour led by Mary Alice Root of the New Mexico Ornithological Society, and Bill Thompson and Julie Zickefoose. This year we took the Canyon Trail Hike, a 2-1/2 mile round trip through Solitude Arroyo and canyon. The trailhead is located about 1-1/2 miles south of the visitor center. Bob Merkel, a Bosque volunteer, was our leader. We walked/hiked through quite a bit of sandy soil at first, and then we climbed higher into the canyon and the trail became rockier. Below are the photos I took of the trip. All of these photos were taken with my Kodak point and shoot. I was too lazy to bring my Canon and two lenses. Besides, I think I got good quality shots with the Kodak. My biggest problem is trying to identify all of the plants. Again, another form of laziness - I failed to write down the names of the plants our leader pointed out to us. And now, I regret that I didn't take notes. So bear with me, and if anyone notices my plant IDs are incorrect, please let me know.

If you want to see a larger image click on the photo. These are ripe gooseberries. I think birds and other animals will eat them.

I think this is a creosote bush.

I think this is rabbitbrush.

Prickly pear. I don't know why its coloring is different. Most cacti stay green all year long. I'm just wondering if this plant is sunburned or does it get this color after a frost.

I think we were told this is chamisa, a form of rabbitbrush.

By now we have reached a higher point and the rockier part of the trail. Below is the visitor center. The tent was extra for the Festival of the Cranes. This was probably the tent where the exhibits and vendors were.

This is looking east from the top of the trail. Center, right, is a lagoon, still part of the Bosque del Apache, although I don't think there is public access to this area. At least not by car. It's possible there is another foot trail around the lagoon.

This is looking north from the trail. I think the mountain on the left is Chupadera Peak (~ 6200' high), the most recent addition to the Refuge. There's also a hiking trail going up to the top that was created just this year.

These next two photos are pack rat nests. I found these to be very interesting. We didn't see any pack rats around, just their nests. These animals are nocturnal. They are also plant eaters and love "collecting" shiny objects to add to their nests. Click here for more info on desert pack rats.

Ok, now here is where my memory really fails me. I just asked my husband and his recollection is totally different from mine. He thinks these holes in the wall(s) were a result of "mother nature." My recollection is these holes were created by mud daubers (wasps). If anyone else has a suggestion I'd be more than happy to hear it. Nonetheless, this was quite fascinating to see while hiking through the canyon.

And here is a much larger "hole in the wall." And you can see the "white drippings" very clearly. Knowing the size of this hole I'm assuming it was a nest site for either an owl or a hawk. I think owls are known to use these holes. Last year's Mountain Birding trip provided a similar sight where there was a "hole" in a mountain wall and Bill Thompson found a great-horned owl perched in it. Click here to see the last picture of my post from last year.

Birding??? Challenge

A couple weeks ago Larry challenged those of us who would be interested in birding a spot we've never birded. Believe me, it was a bigger challenge than I thought it would be. I was disappointed because I did not get one single picture of a bird. I had decided to visit West Valley Community College located in Saratoga, California -- about 4-5 miles from where I live. It is nestled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, consisting of 143 acres, and has been in existence since 1964 -- about the time when the Silicon Valley experienced one of its growth spurts. The campus is a wooded area with the various buildings spread out, yet a short walk from one building to another. Walking around and through the campus makes you feel like you are far into the country. I chose to go last Sunday (Jul 1) around 5 p.m. and the campus was pretty close to being isolated. It was very quiet and I felt very peaceful walking around for about an hour. At times I thought I'd be able to find some birds and possibly get a picture if I sat down on one of the many benches there -- a real park atmosphere. Anyway, the best I did was spot a few California Towhees, but no photos -- they were too far away and flew off when I tried to get closer. The campus is definitely not devoid of birds; I saw many birds in flight. And I even heard more birds than I saw. But I'm not good at identifying birds by ear -- something I still have to learn. The birds that I saw and can report on were crows, towhees, swallows and titmice. But the trip wasn't a total loss. I still enjoyed my little adventure and have decided to share with you what I did find while walking around the campus of West Valley Community College.

This is part of a sugar pine tree that died while growing in the Sierras. Quite impressive standing next to it. The size of this prickly pear cactus tells me it's got some age on it. Anyone want to guess how old it is? My guess is that it is at least as old as the school has been there (1964).
These little ones are California ground squirrels. I think they were just born earlier in the spring. They didn't wander off very far from their "nest" so I think they were waiting for mama to return. They look smaller than what I found out about the size of these little critters.

This is a "natural" arbor of a coastal live oak. I did not get a photo of the Calif. Holly - it wasn't much to look at.

These are cannas - unlike the kind I have in my garden. These are planted near one of the buildings.

This is a grape vine growing over the pergola located at the Child Developmental Center on the West Valley campus. The second pic shows a close-up of the grapes, about the size of a marble.

This was another prickly pear cactus I came across - closer to the parking lot. And you can see that it's about ready to bloom.

The light blue flowers in the foreground are Lily-of-the-Nile (forgot its other name). And I don't remember the name of the purple flowered bush behind them. But it sure was attractive. This was growing in front of one of the fine arts buildings.

And this was the view of the Mt. Hamilton range from the parking lot. This picture also shows how wooded the campus is.