Notes To My Mother

On a car camping trip to Big Bend National Park the first stop was the Guadalupe Mountains.  After sleeping in the car it was up early to catch the sunrise on Guadalupe Peak.  From there it was a several hours long drive south to Lajitas, a wide spot in the road just south of Teringua.  We had lunch in Terlingua one afternoon and the power went out in the entire town and we couldn't pay our bill because the credit machines didn't work.  It was about 105 degrees, not a pleasant temperature to get stuck in. Tucked into the beauty of the desert scenery are cactus wild flowers that present a striking contrast to the landscape you find them inhabiting. While we spent a lot of time sleeping in cars we did treat ourselves to a very luxurious stay at the Lajitas Golf Resort.  Just down the road is an interesting site to visit.  It is the old movie set located along the Rio Grande River with easy access from the road to Big Bend Ranch State Park, just a few miles fr...

At the Hood Canal in the state of Washington, the Bald Eagles come to feed and joust about with one another.  The food they are after are a fish called the Midshipmen.  The Midshipmen lay eggs in the oyster beds and when the tide recedes they are available food for a variety of birds.  For the eagles it seems there are two sources of this food, one is the Hood Canal itself, and the other is the Great Blue Herons.  Wherever you see herons standing in the shallow water, you will likely see an eagle come swooping in either right at them or just next to them.  But the eagles are always on the watch and when the see a heron flying with a fish in its claws they are off to the chase.  In the image above you can see the eagle closing in on the heron who has just release the fish which you can see just below its wing. The herons know the eagles are not after them but the fish, so letting go of the prize is a smart thing for them to do.  Here you see the eagle s...

When eagles grapple, lock talons and spin in the air, one of them has to turn over on its back and extend its feet for the other to come down and engage.  I have seen this same behavior with white tailed kites (see prior blog post).   A review on the web explains this behavior as a territorial struggle.  At the Hood Canal you could see this happen often, one eagle turning on its back and the other engaging, though often they would appear about to engage and not.  What is curious to me is why, if this is a battle for superiority, would one of them take a position upside down, which would seemingly imply a weaker, inferior more vulnerable position?  I am still convinced it is more of a courting behavior.  Of maybe just fun to do. In any case Bald Eagles are top of the pecking order and no one knows it better than the Great Blue Herons who feed in the same waters. Speaking of fun, watch the behaviors between eagles and Great Blue Herons and you are sure t...

A couple of years ago a friend invited me to join him to photograph red foxes.  I of course thought they would all be red.  As it turns out red foxes come in a variety of colors, grey, black, tan, and the multicolored as seen in the following image.  Kit foxes, the babies, are very curious and very playful.  As you can see the back kit above is checking me out.  I'm standing still, making very little noise with my camera and he seems to be wondering what the heck I am going. This is the dog fox, an adult male and the parent of the kits you see here.  He is gone most of the day while the kits stay close to home and play.  When he returns the kits mob him and he starts playing and running right with them, actually escalating the level of play. This little grey red fox was a delight to watch.  He loved the flowers and would go from one bunch to another slowly working his way closer and closer to me.  I kept thinking, "lay down, lay down!" as I w...