JUMPING BOBCAT

A cotton picker in a Marana Arizona pima cotton field. October 2013

A Marana Pima Cotton Field. Taken after the Marana cop left me alone with my little Sony point & shoot, realizing I wasn’t running after that cotton harvester with a real shooter.

Shombay the Handsome Lion

We ran into a real dead zone in cell service here in New Mexico.

Life in Salt Flat Texas!

The Salt Flats had water! This is Salt Flat in Texas with the Guadalupe Mountains reflected in the oddish blue waters. Did you know your foot will sink up to your ankle in salt/mud like in quicksand near the water of the salt bed? I do. Now.

On our drive home...El Capitan Peak in Texas' Guadalupe Mountains. Guadalupe Peak, Texas' highest mountain, lies behind and to the right. Lots of history here! I was going to quote a US Park Service website about it, but it is shut down because the Federal Gov's shutdown...as is this Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

I can't even put into words how much I have always loved pronghorns! They're commonly called pronghorn antelope, but actually they are their own family, the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae. They are native only to North America I believe and existed during the Pleistocene period. A. americana is the only species of five left. The pronghorn is the second fastest land animal, second only to the cheetah. It can run at speeds up to 60 mph. It's eyesight is rated at 8X! They are very curious and luckily tolerated my presence for a little while, probably extremely amused after watching me crawl under the barbed wire. I decided I just couldn't live without bringing home photos of them! The buck would hang in back of its does at a distance, protecting them, and he would periodically herd them and lead them father away. Later two other bucks came into view in the distance and led the entire herd away. :( I haven't grown up in an area where they are common, so I wasn't familiar with their behavior. But I learned a few things and am SO looking forward to our next meeting. With a longer lens I hope!!!

Pronghorn Herd 

A beautiful pronghorn!

Had a visitor yesterday! A Turkey Vulture landed for a short stay.

The sun was setting low in the sky, setting, illuminating the cholla and saguaro cacti at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum during the last Summer Saturday Evenings of the season. August 2013.

Mountain Lion Cub

Heart flowers

Gila Woodpecker