The sturdy carapaces of these extremely rare creatures (saltamontes del oro) are actually coated in gold dust from digging burrows in gold-bearing ore deposits to lay their eggs. It is said that if you encounter one during mating season and follow from a safe distance, the insect may lead you to a claim. The hardy [...]
Rio Grande Gorge
Sagebrush, piñon, juniper, gorge, at least eight or nine extinct volcanoes
T is a new one on me. I was walking along today right here on a perfect afternoon in the terrible high desert. There wasn’t any wind. It was very quiet. Just then I heard the weirdest whoppety-whoppety sound, loud and up close. It was a medium-sized cottontail rabbit! The animal was running at breakneck [...]
Western (Bullock’s) oriole on hummingbird feeder. They can wreck them in short order.
The big news is that the orioles are back, as anyone can plainly see. Also of passing interest is that I have either eliminated the middleman or else he just left, and now the lights are back on. That’s a good way to put it, I think, even if the truth is that it’s always [...]
The terrible high desert strikes again
This is somewhere near the bottom of the Rio Grande Gorge, maybe twenty yards above and fifty in a straight line from the river. The top of the cliff is 800 feet above. The scene is more unusual than you might think. The humongous boulders, for example, but especially the really sturdy sagebrush and a [...]
Um, what’s that in the lower hole?
I hiked a different trail this afternoon, imagine that. We found a real gem in the Rio Grande Gorge, but I’m not naming it here until I can check something out. You’ll see why. Those rocks! I don’t know what they are, but igneous for sure: lava, basalt, granite? There’s a place with great honking [...]
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