The scientific name of the band-tailed pigeon is no longer Columba fasciata, but is Patagioenas fasciata. That’s too bad because I was hoping to start a new dance craze called The Columba. Patagioenas does not sound like a dance craze, but is a combination of two Ancient Greek words meaning clatter and pigeon. The genus was first used in the naming of the white-crowned pigeon in 1853 and it now includes 17 species. It was applied to the band-tailed pigeon while I was sleeping. My apologies to my birder friends. That said, I will still be dancing The Columba this summer, especially when it rains.
Southwest white pine is a magnificent native pine. If you are having trouble identifying it in a forest of towering conifers, look on the ground for the easily recognized cones, then look up.
The photos are mine of some cones on the ground and of a couple young plants in nursery containers. Yes, I have a handful of sweet little Pinus strobiformis here at home…I can’t help myself.
The photos are mine and of a fruity canyon hackberry (Celtis reticulata), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium!), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis!!) and the “rustyish” seed...
Petey finds a seep in the dry stream be of the Ol’ Guajolote and there are deer tracks in the soft mud.
Monkey flowers are in the Figwort Family (Scrophulariaceae). The species I’m jabbering about in this show is called seep monkey flower or Mimulus guttatus....
