The riparian woodland Ms. Mesquitey and I were hiking in is at around 6,000 ft. in elevation. I think that may be the upper limits of the elf owls elevation range. Elf owls (Micrathene whitneyi) winter in southern Mexico then migrate in the spring to southern Arizona, southwest New Mexico and west Texas to an amazing bunch of biotic communities where they breed and summer over. Lucky us!
The photo is taken from Wikipedia. I thank the unknown photographer who took it in Madera Canyon of the Santa Rita Mountains and shared it. It is a beautiful photo of the elf owl perched by a hole in a sycamore tree. Thank you very much, unknown photographer.
Can you believe I was whining about rainfall? It’s funny because as Ms. Mesquitey and I were driving to and from Cascabel we talked...
I was reading a Christmas card from some very dear friends and in the hand written portion of the card it mentioned this season...
Petey laments some invasive plant species and in particular a non-native grass that is spreading in the hills near his home.
