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.
A story about how friends always save the day. Alleluia. Photo credit: Marian
Petey talks about the beautiful desert shrub Simmondsia chinensis, better known as jojoba.
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...