About this time every year Sandra makes a pilgrimage to the east coast to visit family and friends. I am left free as a bird and usually bored stiff with nothing to do and 2 weeks to do it. This year I decided to use the time pursuing volunteer work for next summer.
Since we have been together, about 4 years now, we have shared and satisfied our wanderlust volunteering in Alaska, Nebraska, Arizona,Texas, and of course Bosque del Apache here in New Mexico where we met...but that's another story. Anyway, I decided I would use the time for a road trip up to some beautiful places we had not seen yet and mapped out a trip to Utah with stops at Zion, Bryce Canyon Lands and whatever else on the way of interest. My plan was to leave a resume with Volunteer
Coordinators at these spots for work beginning after our winter at Bosque and one month assignment at White Sands.
After delivering Sandra to the airport, I left Albuquerque headed for Grand Canyon on a beautiful sunny morning with a sky full of balloons overhead, to pay homage to what I think is the most beautiful, scenic, quiet spot I have ever been to.
Shoshone Point is an almost secret spot on the south rim. Secret because once you've seen it, you jealously want to guard it from the average tourist. Although open to the public, it probably gets 10-20 visitors a day because you have to (shudder) walk a mile through the woods to get there. But when the trees end you are standing on the edge of the world in complete silence with a thread of the Colorado river visible a mile below and the occasional Condor gliding by on a rising thermal. This is where I hope I am scattered to spend eternity. But not yet! Today I was looking for the solitude found here while still alive and breathing.
To my enormous disappointment, I met a lady on her way out who said, "must be a wedding or something goin' on, there's about 10 cars passed me by heading in". I continued on in anger ready to confront these interlopers to my private corner of the Canyon. Then ahead I saw a small trailer with the words Superstition Search and Rescue on the side. My anger turned to guilt as I figured somebody had fallen over the edge. Also there was that old spark of excitement from my years of work with the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue team back in California long ago.
As I approached the canyon it was obvious from all the ropes and pulley systems and people in harness and hard hats peering into the abyss, that some kind of rescue or recovery was in progress. It was a recovery, but not what I expected. Some bozo, or in this case group of bozos had, with great effort, carried an iron picnic table and benches weighing hundreds of pounds to the edge and pushed it about 300 feet into the canyon where it snagged on a branch. My first evil thought was I hope they didn't let go. What kind of thinking drives so called humans to this kind of act? It's not spur of the moment, they obviously planned to drag it there with no one around and, I guess, get their kicks for about 10 seconds watching it fall, meanwhile destroying the view for all future visitors.
But that's not how it played out. This dedicated group of volunteers, professionals in all aspects of mountaineering from what I could observe, drove up from southern Arizona to spend a weekend figuring how to get it back out. I talked with some of them, men and women ranging in age from 20's through 60's and recalled the pride I felt being part of such a team. Today it was a table rescue, more of a practice run. Next time it might be a child. Check out and support Mountain (and desert!) rescue teams in your area. They do good things.
Oh yeah, the rest of the trip? It started to rain, rained all the way to Bryce Canyon, spent 6 hours in freezing weather in a leaky tent, 6 more in the car trying to sleep, turned to snow, headed back (in rain) through Flagstaff skirting 3 tornadoes, and home to warm, sunny, New Mexico where I'm staying a while.

I was out at the Bosque checking our bee traps for the pollinator study we are working on when about 50 yards away under a cottonwood tree I spied a huge owl looking at me. My car was about a 1/4 mile away, it was hot and the terrain uneven and difficult, but this was a great opportunity to capture a shot of a Great Horned owl, so I slowly backed off without disturbing it and sprinted to my car (1/4 mile) to get my camera with the long lens.Returning stealthily to the scene, I could see it hadn’t moved so I slowly raised my lens and...WARNING-CHANGE BATTERIES flashed at me. Since he hadn’t moved I retraced my steps, (1/4 mile), and grabbed my spare set. Back to the scene (1/4 mile) I started taking photos as I moved ever so slowly closer. The big bird watched, frozen in it’s shady shelter.After about 10 shots without change I had enough and gave him a quiet thank you . Back at the car (1/4 mile) I couldn’t wait to see my images. I blew them up on the camera screen and....see the attached, look closely- I wish I had!

Audubon photos

Sandra and I have entered the Audubon photo contest, prizes are fabulous including a trip to the Galopagos Islands. We're not really planning on winning, but...
Looking at last year's winners was dicouraging. The quality of entries was fantastic. It's inspirational to see them and drives us to try harder. Anyway, here's 6. I won't say whose are whose since in 3 years she has achieved what has taken me around fifty (it's really the equipment!)

Sorry about the double posting of images, it"s been a long while since we used this! That's our friend Bob picking up "Sand dog" Sandra's find. The other snake is a mean one I came across. The Mtn Lion is one of 3...yes 3 that we were priveledged to see at the Bosque. This is mom. She had 2 cubs, nearly full grown with. I think it's the first time they were confirmed.Last but not least is a Great horned owl we spotted while doing our pollinator count. I am also posting my last column for the local paper on finding a babt bird and what to do then.

I FOUND A BABY BIRD, NOW WHAT?


It was another nice, cool summer morning. Sandra and I were about a block into our early morning walk up to the Tech campus. As I passed a low hanging branch on a fully leafed-out tree, in the gutter litter I saw a little rustle of movement. Stopping to investigate, to my surprise the rustle turned out to be a bundle of feathers no bigger than a ping pong ball. Almost invisible in the leaf litter and general gutter detritus, under all the downy feathers was a live little bird no more than a few days...hours? old.
Lying beside it was its less fortunate nest mate. Dead, already shriveling in the sun.
Now, our love of birds would not let us walk away from such a situation and we know enough that picking up a baby will not stop a mother from caring for it. That is an old wives tale. But what is the proper thing to do from here? The first and most logical seemed to move it out of the street and the sun. It is true that a mother will try to find the baby and continue to feed it if it has fallen from the nest. It's also true that you should try to find the nest and gently place the baby back if possible. We searched the dense foliage for a nest but were unable to find any. The decision was made to continue the walk and peek in on the way back to see if mom was able to take over. We quietly approached the scene on the way home about 45 minutes later. No change. No mom. Baby was quieter now and probably very dehydrated.
As gently as I could, I picked it up and brought it home with us.Sandra gathered grass along the way and prepared a small box with a lid and placed it inside. I made a quick trip to Walmart and bought an eyedropper (Why didn't we have one here? We do now.) and some gold fish flakes (sounded right at the time) and made an attempt to feed it while Sandra went online to glorious Google that knows the answer to everything. Typing in baby bird rescue brought up about 200,000 hits. Being big fans of Henry Thoreau, we clicked on to "Walden's Puddle Wildlife Rehabilitation Center" having no idea they were on the other side of the country in Tennesee. They had a phone, we called, got a machine, left a message and searched for more information. A short time later the phone rang. It was a nice, concerned lady calling from Tennesee who was surprised to find we were calling from New Mexico. She asked a lot of questions about the bird and the situation of finding it and gave us suggestions on how to proceed. Well, to my dismay, I found out trying to feed such a youngster was wrong and could likely kill it. Most importantly she said to prepare a suitable nest substitute from a berry container stuffed with grass and place it securely back in the tree as near as we could to where we found the bird. A plastic strawberry box from Smith's was perfect. I put the little guy/gal in and, climbing a step ladder, secured it as best I could near the spot.
The odds of all this working were pretty long, but at least if it didn't work, it would be a quiet, comfortable death. Better than a dirty gutter with all the traffic on Bullock.
My confidence was low, so we vowed to not peek and just believe in the best but after 2 weeks or so, I had to know. I climbed the tree and looked into the nest certain I would find a dehydrated little body. Guess what?...The nest was empty! No signs of trouble but a whole lot of bird poop, a good thing. We will never know what really happened, but the odds of it being found, fed and fledging are a lot better and I'm sticking with it!
thanks to Walden's Puddle and the caring person who promptly returned my call, we may likely have added a another voice to nature's chorus.
If you ever run into a similar situation, you can reach them at 615 299 9938 or if you care to make a donation, their address is PO 641, Joelton TN 37080 or just google Walden's Puddle.

I PROMISE TO KEEP UPDATES!

"Outdoor Story" - Hair Raising Rattler Research

The "Outdoor Story" is a newspaper column Erv and I take turns writing every other week for Socorro's El Defensor Chieftain. This is my most recent! Sandra

Just like every other critter, large and small, rattlesnakes have their place and purpose on this earth. Still, they could use better PR because they often get a bad rap. From the serpent in the Garden of Eden to the asp that killed Cleopatra and in movies like “Snakes on Planes,” they are the bad guys. Little is said about their usefulness in controlling rodents and other small mammals, or the role of rattlesnake young as prey for hawks, eagles, roadrunners and even wild turkeys, as well as mammals including coyote, fox and badger.
Rattlers do warrant caution – their bite can be fatal if not treated, but they don’t seek humans and only bite us when surprised or threatened. Humans, on the other hand, have a long history of hunting and killing snakes, sometimes just for entertainment.
The Western Diamondback Rattlesnake is the largest of the Southwest desert rattlers; adults average 3.5 to 4 feet. They have a venomous snake’s characteristic flat-triangle head shape and their color ranges from gray-brown to pinkish with diamond-shaped body blotches. Their tails have distinctive bands of alternating black and white (coon-tail) that fade with age. Rattles grow segment by segment, each one a remnant of a shed skin. It’s a myth that the segments show a snake’s age; they can shed 2-3 times a year.
Diamondbacks generally hunt at night and early morning, positioning themselves to ambush passing prey. Having poor vision, they use their flicking tongue to “taste” the air by pulling chemical molecules into the Jacobs organ where they are translated into smell and used to track prey. Heat-seeking facial pits (hence the name pit viper) guide their strikes. Prey includes rodents like mice, prairie dogs and ground squirrels or the occasional bird or lizard, which they swallow whole. They can go several weeks before feeding again.
Rattlers are solitary outside of mating season and winter denning. In late Oct. they seek den sites where they burrow in quasi-hibernation with other snakes until early March. Live-born rattlesnake young are self sufficient, capable of delivering a venomous bite from the moment of birth – they only spend a few hours with their mother. It’s another myth that the young deliver more concentrated venom.
Enough background – on to the hair-raising research! In the fall of 2009 Lorraine McInnis, a UNM biology graduate student began radio tracking Western Diamondbacks at the Bosque del Apache to document their general movements and locate winter dens. She is radio-tracking 16 at the current time and hopes to track 25 individuals over a two year period. An additional 200 Diamondbacks have been tagged with microchips which can’t be radio-tracked but provide additional data.
The stimulus for Lorraine’s research was management of human/snake interaction - rattlesnakes are a safety concern in visitor areas of the refuge but she has found it an opportunity to explore aspects of rattlesnake biology that are not fully understood. Lorraine explains that any animal occupies a particular location for access to food, shelter, water and/or for breeding but snakes’ habitats and movements are also affected by daily and seasonal temperatures. “Cold blooded” reptiles externally regulate their body temperature.
The hair-raising part of all this is that each one of these 200+ snakes must be captured, examined and measured, then carefully radio-tagged and re-released to its original location. (Only those found in visitor areas are relocated elsewhere.) The radio- tagged snakes are then tracked daily no matter how remote or difficult to access. Trackers must take great care to neither disturb the snake nor get bit themselves. Erv and I have been greatly impressed by Lorraine’s skill, focus and caution working with the snakes but, as volunteer help, we always find it a hair-raising experience!
It has been shown that long distance relocation has a negative impact on a snake’s natural movements and even their survival. Lorraine’s detailed field research on Western Diamondback denning sites and normal patterns of movement will provide important information for Bosque del Apache managers to safely reduce human/snake interaction with the least impact on the snakes. Refuges are, after all, for wildlife - including rattlers!

surprise! We are still alive and well.

Okay, okay, We aren't keeping up like we should. Emails, Facebook, and oh yeah, life seem to be occupying my time. Summer is gone and no one told me. Sandra is into her 8th week with a new hip and stronger than ever. We have had a bit of travel, down to Cloudcroft, White Sands and that area, mostly to keep the motorhome in shape. It looks promising that we will be working at White Sands in Feb for a month to warm up before we go to Nebraska. The winter will be doing tours, lectures and boy scout projects at the Bosque. I hope I can twist Sandra's arm into writing more and on a regular basis,- she's much Better at this and I'm doing it on my iPad which I love, but hate the typing part...anyway if you're new here, keep checking. We are going to post our bi-weekly columns from the local paper along with photos from both.

The weather improves daily here in south Texas. Today, the best so far, is sunny but cool with manageable humidity and a brilliant blue sky dotted with small puffy clouds. It explains the increasing numbers of what the locals refer to as “Winter Texans” - northerners migrating south to enjoy a temperate winter here on the gulf coast.
We continue to work 3 days/week at the Laguna Atascosa FWR and Sunday mornings at the Texas World Birding Center on South Padre Island. In addition to the wonderful variety of birds and wildlife, I have been introduced to butterflies in infinite variety as they also migrate south. If you think birders are a specialized lot, you must meet butterfly enthusiasts!
Today I’ll add photos of whistling ducks, butterflies, and an armadillo.
The Black-bellied Whistling- Duck is a subtropical species slowly spreading northward. Unlike most ducks, they mate for life and males are actively involved in egg incubation and chick rearing. The male here stood vigil as his family napped then gathered the sleepy-eyed chicks and their mom for a swim and relocation to more distant quarters. They are also unusual (like wood ducks) for roosting in trees, webbed feet not withstanding.
Butterflies include the slightly iridescent White Peacock, the Queen (a bit similar in appearance to the Monarch) who demonstrates some of the perils of long migration, and the American Snout whose schnoz explains the name! I’m beginning to admire these beautiful, interesting creatures more and more as I follow them with my lense.
The armadillo is a fascinating mammal with thick leathery plate armor and great digging ability which it uses to forage for grubs and other edibles and for digging burrows for home base or escape. Poor vision; great sense of smell. How wonderfully odd that we share the world with such a creature!

Laguna Atascosa NWR - Texas Gulf Coast

Although I may perspire a bit or causally rub an itch, I don’t usually “sweat” or vigorously scratch in public. Both, however, are now part of my persona thanks to the chiggers and high humidity here in south Texas. Erv and I were looking for a warm winter spot but, arriving in early October, we got more than we bargained for with 90+ degrees and 90% humidity… OK, I’m exaggerating a bit but that’s what it feels like. On the other hand, we know the weather will improve and the birds and wildlife are great.
In the last day we’ve seen coyote, Javalina (a small wild pig in appearance but actually a collared peccary), deer, raccoon and armadillo within 20 yards of our motor home. Fortunately snakes and alligators have been seen at a greater distance. And the birds – amazing in variety and quantity! In one tiny wetland pond we saw lovely roseate spoonbills (pink like flamingos), wood stork, egrets, heron, avocet and curlew. Nearby were a variety of other shorebirds and ducks (including Black-bellied Whistling ducks with bright red bills and pink feet and American Wigeons sporting buff “Mohawks” atop a grey head with green cheek patches). Children’s art mimics nature at her most colorful!
Coming to the feeders at the visitor’s center are brilliant green jays and orioles and noisy chachalacas ( large rather prehistoric looking birds resembling a hybrid of turkey and roadrunner) and other neo tropic birds. Guess you have to bear tropical weather for tropical flora and fauna! We’re like kids in a candy store enjoying the abundance and variety of life here at the Laguna Atascosa Fish and Wildlife Refuge.
Less than a half hour away is South Padre Island, part of the Gulf’s barrier island system. It’s a lovely strip of land with long beaches bordering the gulf on one side and Laguna Madre on the other. Dolphins and pelicans are frequently seen, fishermen abound and the large fresh shrimp are a treat. Best of all, South Padre is a mecca for migrating and overwintering birds. We’ve begun volunteering Sunday mornings at the Texas World Birding Center (“ask me” guides along the boardwalk) for the opportunity to regularly see and photograph the birds. We’ll be here through the end of the year and anticipate a good three months.

Moving On:

In this, our last week, we prepare to get “on the road again” with anticipation flavored by nostalgia for the Aplomado Falcons and the dynamic open spaces they now consider home. (OK, the anticipation is mostly Erv’s and the wistful nostalgia mine.)
The falcons have become increasingly self sufficient and this week are fed on an every-other-day schedule. We use “off” days to work on photographs and reports for the Peregrine Fund summarizing our experiences and the falcon’s development. We’ve also taken time to pamper ourselves with a restorative soak in one of Truth or Consequences’ hot springs and to explore more of the ranch delighting in a “find” of petrified wood and checking out the “big house,” Ted Turner’s understated ranch house which blends well into the environment. I was particularly drawn to a Spanish-era door there.
Next week we return to Socorro where Erv will tend to his Tracker (sorely abused by multiple trips on ranch roads) while I reconnect with family in Albuquerque, then drive to Big Bear Lake, CA to savor mountains and present our Bald Eagle and Sandhill Crane programs. We’ll start up the blog again in October from our volunteer post at Laguna Atascosa NWR in southeast Texas near the gulf coast. Please join us there!
I’ve enjoyed being “blogmaster” from the Armendaris and hope to have given you a taste of the challenges and pleasures we’ve experienced here. Please share your feedback and comments via email: sjnoll@msn.com.

Small Critters:

Although our vistas are large scale, we spend most of our work time on a small piece of real estate about 20 yards square and have become increasingly aware of the small critters co-inhabiting that space.
Being E.O. Wilson fans, we’ve especially enjoyed watching the 5-6 varieties of ants come and go on their daily business. Observing one carrying a dead comrade from the front of the shelter to its ant hill(about 50 feet in 10 minutes) Erv calculated the human equivalent to be a 5'5” adult carrying an 80# weight 1.5 miles in 10 minutes. And we’re not alone in this ant fascination. One of our fellow site attendants,a Tenn. State student,tossed out pop tart half then counted how many ants it took to pick it up and move it. Our equivalent is ants teaming up to carry away quail parts that fell off the tower as the falcons ate. Fascinating stuff!
While Erv watches ants, I’ve developed a fascination for lizards and beetles (remember the horned lizard photo early on?) and neither of us can help but notice the few, but large tarantulas. We’ve seen lizards eat aunts and the roadrunner eat beetles, but never a face-off with a tarantula.

Pleistocene Pause...

Break out the cigars! There’s a new baby born down here on the ranch. It’s a bit premature, but it appears healthy and active. It’s a Bolson tortoise. The thing is we don’t know if it’s a baby boy or baby girl. And we won’t really know for sure until it’s about 15 years old. The sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the incubator. Males are produced at one temperature range, females at another(Hot mamas, cool daddies. The problem here being there was a prolonged power failure one evening that may have critically affected this newborns gender. But whatever we have,it’s cute as a button and full of life. Hopefully there will be more hatching soon and the nursery will be hopping,well,slowly crawling anyway.
The Bolson tortoise was “discovered”in 1959. Until that time it had been thought extinct for 10,000 years. The story is that a group of biologists working in the Bolsón de Mapimí region of Mexico were at a ranch and saw chickens eating out of a large tortoise shell. They inquired about the origin of the shell and the locals responded that it was, “la tortuga grande del desierto,” the big turtle of the desert.
Bolson populations had declined mostly due to over collecting for food and the pet trade. Incursion of roads, railroads and agricultural development continued to accelerate the decline of the species in the last 40 years. In the central portion of its range locals are keenly aware of the tortoise’s protected status and aid in its conservation. However it is believed that tortoises are still collected and eaten and their habitat compromised.
In the fall of 2006, 26 Bolson Tortoises were translocated from the Audubon Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch in Elgin, Arizona to Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch in south-central New Mexico, a Chihuahuan desert environment within the prehistoric range of this species. Here this group of tortoises is known as the Appleton tortoises in commemoration of Ariel Appleton, a champion of Bolson tortoise conservation.
We were privileged to see one of these remnants of the Pleistocene hatch at the “nursery” here on the ranch.. They can take days to work out of their shell and don’t reach maturity until around 15 years. Their life span is similar to that of a human.
The Ted Turner Endangered Species Fund is in charge of the project on the Armendaris and TESF biologist Lisa Haynes is acting mid-wife. She is on call 24/7 and helps the hatchlings by delicately removing shell fragments,keeping moist paper towels under their yolk sac and providing food and water along with other things to welcome the baby into the world. All the incubators are on a system to control temperatures and humidity. Even so it's a venture into the unknown and things happen. At this time only one has made its way into the world, but there are high hopes that as many as 12 others will be pecking their way through shortly.
Lisa will be leaving the ranch for an appointment in Arizona this weekend, and Sandra and I will be watching over the eggs. A new tiny foot poked its way out of another egg this morning and we are following the progress closely. I hope it all happens before she leaves. Because as Butterfly McQueen’s famous line in Gone With the Wind goes, “I don’t know nuthin’ bout birthin’ no babies!”
(This blog entry is taken from Erv's weekly column,"The Outside Story",in our local newspaper.)