Petey gets a Pleistocene moment in some man made wetlands near his home.
Sandhill Cranes have only been wintering over in the Sulphur Springs Valley for around 60 years, so we won’t be finding any million year old fossil remains as found in Nebraska near the Platte.
Ironically, the cranes winter over in the valley because of the intense agriculture giving them fields to glean during the day. Also, it helps to have the White Water Draw wetlands and the Willcox Playa giving them shallow water for loafing and roosting. Otherwise, they would certainly fly on by to another more exotic location.
The flat agricultural lands of the Sulphur Springs Valley hardly qualify as exotic, but those Sandhill cranes make them look quite beautiful.
Autumn is the season of migration for many avian species and in the borderlands of southern Arizona hummingbirds are passing through, sparrows are arriving...
There is a road across the grassland and I still go there for stories. I suspect that everyone needs a road or trail or...
I do love the fall and winter smell of moist old leaves and grasses. It always sparks a memory of my childhood in moist...
