Rocks

A day or so ago (I can't really remember, time is twisted here) Denise and I hiked up to some caves. It was really nice hike up. One this about this region is the low density of trees and shrubs. You can pretty much look at a point and then aim for it, you'll eventually reach your destination. Unless rocks stop you of course.

The rock around here is very neat, though its tough to photograph its true colour in full daylight (a pinky orange)

One of the larger caves, the walls had many scrawlings of dates and people who had slept there at one point (some from the early 1900's)

One particularly cool Native cave drawing, many of the others were stripes or dots, this one showed particular care (and a fancy headdress)

Denise, in her natural cave setting

A view out the window

Feeder action

Wow, only two postings and I've already slowed down. Sigh.

The hummingbird feeders at the station are always a source of amusement and photo ops. About 3 species are commonly seen at the feeders, with a few other rare ones. Here are a few shots, enjoy
A black-chinned male

A blue-throated female (I think...)

A trio. Two black-chinned males, and a black chinned females (the females are the species that I have worked with in the past, and that Denise and I will be working on for this field season)
A magnificent hummingbird (male); can't really see it in the photo but they are a bright turquoise and blue. Very handsome. This one is pretty concerned with the other hummingbirds that are interested in stealing his sugar water

The beginning of the photo dump

I don't know whether its the heat, or the dishwashing, but I'm feeling only slightly inspired to write long tomes about the station (perhaps you can go back and read about my last trip here, not much has changed). This may end up being more of a photo blog, with only small captions. I figure the 2 or so people that are reading this won't mind :)


Denise spending some time with the resident mule deer Mickey. When I was at the station last time, there was a mule deer named Molly. Apparently she was eaten by a mountain lion (yes, there are mountain lions here, sorry Mom. ) but she had given birth to Mickey. He likes to hang around the station for the apples.


Yer standard cactus, cept without the spikes. I think these ones are edible.


A striped plateau lizard perhaps? These things are like squirrels or pigeons. Meaning they're everywhere and eventually you stop noticing them.

Its an awesome time of year to be in these mountains, cacti are beginning to flower and they add such a nice colour to the landscape

There are sycamore trees that run along the creek near the station. I'll try and get a photo later of a whole tree