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.
It’s been a long time since the Santa Cruz River ran and even when it did it only ran in intermittent sections along its...
For goodness sake, I forgot to mention the black-tailed jackrabbit’s ears! The large ears are magnificent parabolic reflectors that keep them well informed of...
The first time I saw and identified crimson sage (Salvia henryi) was years ago just outside Paradise in the Chiricahua Mountains. ..”just outside Paradise”...
