Living Desert Zoo & State Park

November 9, 2013




 I am sharing some critters from the Living Desert Zoo in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The Living Desert Zoo exhibits 40 species of native animals and hundreds of species of native plants. These are critters and plants native to the Chihuahuan Desert. There is 1.3 miles of trail, walk along seeing the wildlife, native plants, flowers and of course seeing the native wild birds.

It was in the Aviary, I saw my first Roadrunner. They are quick movers and kind of funny to watch. I did not count this captured bird as a lifer but later in the trip I started seeing the Roadrunners in the wild. I was really surprised to see a lot of House Sparrows in the Aviary.

I love the cute roadrunner and the  hare riding the armadillo?

 

The Roadrunner in the aviary.

Are these birds are native to New Mexico,  they look like they belong in Costa Rica. They are a cute couple. I do NOT  remember their name, I am guessing the Red-Crowned Parrot.

A display of the pretty native plants.

A Eurasian Collared Dove, not a native but I found it in one of the trees in the zoo.

Besides the zoo critters, I was seeing the wild birds in the zoo like the Yellow-rumped Warbler above.

A cool Mountain Lion seen at the zoo, I did get to see (no photo) a real wild mountain lion at the Bosque Del Apache NWR later in the week.

 

The Black Bear is another native animal seen in New Mexico..

The Great Horned Owl..

A beautiful butterfly on one of the native plants.

 

One of the many Red-Shafted Flickers I saw at the zoo and during the week.

Pretty sure this is another Townsend's Solitaire seen at the zoo.

This was one of the few lizards I saw during the vacation, I was expecting to see more.

The native plants at the zoo attracted many different butterflies and moths. I believe this one is a Sulfur..Clouded Yellow.

Another one of the pretties.  I have to find a website for native butterflies and moths of New Mexico. I hope you enjoyed the walk thru the zoo.

Thanks for stopping by and  I wish everyone a happy weekend.

 To see more beautiful photos and cute critters.

Please visit:  Favorite fotos Thanks to the gracious host Lydia of Where the Wild Things Were

Guadalupe Mtns National Park

  I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday 

 During our New Mexico trip we continued on the National Park highway to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas.  We visited the Pine Springs Visitor center also stopped at the Frijole Ranch. As we hiked the Manzanita Spring trail of course I just had to look for birds along the way.

Various scenes from the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

 Above on The Pinery trail exhibits describe the Chihuahuan desert vegetation.

At the Pine Spring visitor center we walked along the trail checking out the vegetation and the views of El Capitan (elev 8749).

The Sage Thrasher was a lifer for me..it was seen along the Manzanita trail near the Frijole Ranch. The trail is located behind the ranch house, the spring is a great desert watering hole for wildlife and a great birding location.

 Above the Red-shafted Flicker, Townsend's Solitaire and a couple of Chipping Sparrows.

The Frijole Ranch was owned by various people since 1876.  It has it's own school house, a springhouse, a cattle ranch, orchard. In 1966 the Hunter family sold the ranch to the National Park Service. Today the ranch museum is on the national register of historic sites.

The Red-shafted Flicker seemed to be a common bird, seen in many places during our trip.

As always, I hope you enjoy my post and thanks for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your comments.

Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit  Mosaic Monday and more
 from  Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to our host: Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week!

Red Shafted Flickers

I am linking up my Red-Shafted Flickers with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this post I am going back to this summer and my vacation in Oregon. During our walk at the Ecola State Park we sighted two Red Shafted Flickers also known as Northern Flickers. Birders in the western US see the Red-shafted flicker and the Eastern states see the Yellow-shafted flicker.

The Northern Flicker is a member of the woodpecker family and is native to North America. 

The Red-shafted Flicker is red under the tail and underwings and have red shafts on their primaries. They have a beige cap and a grey face. Males have the red moustache.

 The flickers feed frequently on the ground, they probing with their beak. The eat fruits, berries, seeds and nuts. Ants alone can make up 45% of their diet.

Here is a link to a previous post on the Yellow-Shafted Northern Flickers from the East coast : Northern Flicker, the cavity nester . This post showed that they are cavity nesters.

To see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit: Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes.
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday and thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes.

Leavenworth

I have another post and more photos from my vacation in the North Cascades, Washington state. This time we are in the Bavarian city of Leavenworth. After riding back to the town of Lake Chelan on the Lady Express boat from Stehekin we hopped back into our rental car and took off for Leavenworth. Leavenworth has been modeled after a Bavarian village and I really love the look. It is located on the eastern slope of the Cascade mountains and is on the Cascade loop and scenic drive. The beautiful Wenatchee River flows next to the city. I was attracted to the city after reading and looking at the Washington State Birding trail map I bought from Audubon of Washington. Leavenworth has many great hotspots for birding. The Leavenworth Nat'l Fish hatchery and the Waterfront Park were two places I decided I had to visit.

In this mosaic, I pictured the American Dipper a lifer for me. The dipper seen on the Icicle Creek likes to hang out in streams and feeds on aquatic insects. Icicle Creek was also were we saw the black bear. The Nat'l Fish hatchery has beautiful grounds, the gazebo and flowers and the beautiful mountains in the background. There had to be hundreds of Cedar Waxwings. Other birds seen were the Evening Grosbeak and the Steller Jay. The goats had a little habitiat and were seen in the city while we were walking back to our hotel from the Waterfront Park.

Lots of stores and restaurants on and around the main street.

The birds I saw at the Leavenworth fish hatchery were mostly yellow in color which is great for my Mellow Yellow Monday entry.

The birds pictured  below are the Western Tanager, Evening Grosbeak, Yellow Warbler all great birds for me.

Female Western Tanager, I really would like to see the colorful male someday.

 Another life bird was the Red Shafted Flicker, I see the Yellow Shafted Flicker on the east coast.

I am linking up with Mary's Mosaic Monday and
Drowsey Monkeys Mellow Yellow Monday  Click on the links to visit these fun memes.

Thanks to both Mary and Drowsey Monkey for hosting and thanks for stopping by to visit my post.