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 Peak

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday 

I am linking up with Lydia of Where the Wild Things Were and the Favorite Fotos linky. Thanks Lydia for hosting the party.

On the 4th day of  our vacation we left Carlsbad, New Mexico, stopping at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We went on some short hikes and then headed back onto the road passing some of the pretty Guadalupe Mountain scenery.

My hubby teases me about my luck with weather on our vacations. I have rarely had bad weather or rainy weather during any of our PAST vacations. Seems my luck held true, nothing but blue skies were to be seen during our week away.

Guadalupe Peak and more pretty blue sky. It was weird for me to drive for so many miles and see the same mountain peak from almost as far back as Carlsbad. We did get different views of the peak.

While traveling around New Mexico and Texas, the Townsend's Solitaire was one of the birds popping out to be seen.

We saw lots of Chipping Sparrows, another one of the more common birds we saw all week.

I loved the view looking back at the Guadalupe Peak!

Salt Basin and Linda Lake...a few gulls flying away..the blue water and sky almost meet.

On the edge of Linda Lake, I want to guess and say this is a Least Sandpiper.. I will not mind if someone else disagree's with me.

Another look back at the Guadalupe Mountains from Linda Lake.


 Thanks for visiting my post and  blog and I always appreciate your comments.

  Happy Skywatching everyone!

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.