The desert cottontail’s coloring is well-suited to the desert where it lives. I didn’t get the composition quite right on this one but oh how I adore the soft light on this lovely little rabbit.
Tag Archives: New Mexico
Charge of the Bunny Brigade
While it might look like I’m about to get the world’s softest headbutt, the little cottontail tucked its head in tight to groom the fur of its chest.
Close but Different
One nice thing about my visit to Bosque del Apache was getting to watch both Western and Clark’s grebes up close. The species are very similar in appearance but up close the most distinctive difference is more apparent. On the western grebe (above), the black on the head dips below the eye, on the Clark’s grebe (below) it does not.
I always assumed that, like the Clark’s nutcracker, the Clark’s grebe was named after explorer William Clark of Lewis & Clark fame, but it was named for surveyor and naturalist John Henry Clark.
Birds in the Rocks
We hiked the Rinconada Canyon Trail at Petroglyph National Monument amidst the many petroglyphs new and old, many depicting the animals of the canyon, such as this petroglyph of a bird (a roadrunner perhaps?).
I spotted another bird in the jumbled rocks, this one very much alive, a mourning dove sitting on a thin nest of grasses. We hiked during the evening hours and heard doves calling from all around the park, bringing back fond memories of growing up back east where the coo-coo-cooing of doves serenaded us on many a night.
A Tight Squeeze
After crossing the trail, the tarantula tried to hunker down under this rock but despite its best efforts it didn’t quite fit. I decided to continue up the trail and leave it be, either to stay there or find a more accommodating hiding spot.