Art Show / Exhibits

-
Yesterday Saturday was a quiet day mostly around camp.  The weather was not at its best and was cold, windy and occasionally, rainy.

Although we stayed in camp, it still managed to be a wildlife gratifying day.  Got to see some (new to us) birds early that morning.  Mule Deer and Elk came to visit us and relax next to us in the camp as well.  We were very surprised by this since the campground is packed and plenty of dogs everywhere.



























Today has been a spectacular day weather wise.  Most of the morning was sunny and bright with not a cloud to be found.   Drove into town and checked our new friends the Great Horned Owl and babies.  (make sure to click on the pics and enlarge them to see better details) Then we walked through the Art Show exhibits in display in town this weekend.  Artists from surrounding towns drive in and display their talents.  From handmade jewelry, sun catchers, wind chimes, wood carvings, metal sculptures and many photos.  Pictures of the mountains and every animal in creation.  All very beautiful and very expensive.  I was very glad to see the flag display showing some remembrance of this weekend holiday honoring our Vets.






 



We returned to the walkway and bike path around Lake Estes.  We entered via the Matthews-Reeser Bird Sanctuary, constructed by the city and visitor center.  It is adjacent to the golf course.  Again, we were impressed by a couple of beautiful birds now migrating in this area. 

For those of you following this blog and recall the weird sign warning of danger due to Mama Elk and calving posted a few days ago?  Today we got to see why this warning was posted.  Got to see the elk baby feeding on the lake edge and several of the aunts/uncles that were nearby.   A great treat indeed getting to see all this regional wildlife in the middle of a busy town bursting at the seams with the holiday crowds.





























Comments

  1. Patrick PecotMay 31, 2017 at 12:11 PM

    It looks very peaceful out there. Be careful around all that traffic! Elk traffic, that is...

    Hey, we did have a parade of Canadian Geese stop traffic on one of our local bridges this weekend. It was just a little reminder that nature can still flex its muscles.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Masked Bobwhite Quail

-
Image
Masked Bobwhite Quail As mentioned in previous blogs, one of the missions of the Buenos Aires NWR, is to reintroduce this endangered bird. One of our many jobs here is to care for this bird once a week.  There are other volunteers that are the primary care givers.  They perform many tasks daily in providing care to the “pens”; where they grow before being released into the wild.  Others also fill in like us, making sure the quail have food and water daily. There is a display pen near the visitor center where several quails are kept for public viewing.  The flight pen is for staff only access and is about a mile away from the visitor center.  The birds here are banded and reintroduced to their natural habitat before being released into the wild. Locked and electrified fence to discourage predators, providing access to the flight pens. Immediately upon entry into this fenced in area, one must step into a Vircon bath to disinfect our shoes.   There is one mor
Read more

Buenos Aires NWR

-
Image
Buenos Aires NWR First a little history of this area, the following is a summary, directly from the Buenos Aires website: In the 1800's, the Altar Valley was an open grassland teeming with large herds of pronghorn. Masked bobwhite quail calls filled the early morning summer air. The grasslands blanketed the landscape, uninterrupted as far as the eye could see. Pedro Aguirre, Jr. came to this location and started a stagecoach and freight line that would connect Tucson and the mining towns of Arivaca, Arizona, and the town of Altar in Sonora, Mexico. He built a homestead here in 1864 and named it Buenos Ayres, or "good air," because of the constant winds found there.   Aguirre was the first person to develop artificial sources. He began by constructing a large reservoir near the head of the watershed at the confluence of the Lopez and Compartidero washes. With water in place, cattle industry exploded.   But the cattle industry suffered a setback. A severe drough
Read more

The Sonoran Outpost

-
Image
“The Sonoran Outpost” Just a few pictures to show you the neighborhood in which we live.   Yes, it’s a compound, surrounded by a chain link fence, topped with razor wire.   An electric gate allows access for us.     We call it, home!   You can see our truck, marking our site. Baboquivari Mountains Home! In addition to the volunteer RVs, there are several mobile trailers here.  One of them is called the Community Center.  We use it for our twice monthly Volunteer Potluck dinners, and it contains the laundry room as well. The other trailers are temporary housing, for staff biologists and wildlife specialists.    
Read more