Night Patrol

NightPatrol6375Sandhill cranes Bosque del Apache                            click to enlarge

There are unsung heroes in the animal world and this squadron of Sandhill cranes on Night Patrol are some of the best and bravest. Every evening as the sun goes down and the main flock settles in for the night, these brave birds take off on a lonely mission to patrol the shorelines around the nesting ponds at Bosque del Apache.

They watch for predators, the ponds are shallow and it would only take one enterprising coyote in hip boots to decimate the flock as it was peacefully sleeping. Those who have fallen asleep in the reeds are monitored closely for smoking as one careless individual with a cigarette could ignite the whole pond causing untold destruction. And of course there are the owls and eagles, those Raptors of the Darkness. Most dangerous of all they’re like the Pawnee in Dances with Wolves, big screaming devils that swoop down out of the sky when they’re least expected and steal young Sandhills who stray too far from their parents, leaving behind only ripples and the occasional blood-flecked feather to mark the passing of the unlucky.

It’s a thankless dangerous job flying at night without lights or instruments for guidance and there is the occasional tragic accident where one of these watchers in the night are lost after hitting the high tension lines near the ponds. When you see that bright orange flash against the coal black sky and hear that soul wrenching squawk you know we’ve lost another one. Some have also become disoriented and flown off into the darkness to wake up in Mexico or alone on the Tundra cold and weary. But they persevere night after night, ignoring the cold, the loneliness, the danger, doing their duty, flying the night skies to protect those below, taking the risks so that the ones at rest can wake to a safer dawn.

Thank you Night Patrol, Thanks IronBeak and RocketButt, Thanks CoyoteSniffer and Blivet, you big lug, Thank you IceBird and DivetMaker for all those crazy landings and thank you all the nameless ones that have gone before you. Thanks for keeping the night safe for the innocents and for being true heroes. We salute you.

Can You See Me Now

2013-11-18CanYouSeeMeNow-8257Cow Moose Yellowstone National Park                          click to enlarge

When you hear the word moose the first image in your mind probably isn’t of a svelte, lithe creature. No the first image you have is most likely one of a heavy lumbering creature, kind of like those Russian Bathing Beauties of the 50’s. To be charitable to the babushkas, times have changed over there and most likely there are some real winners now. But admit it, when you hear moose you conjure up a great huge 900 lb. beast with fat, flappy lips, squinty little bloodshot eyes, green stuff hanging out of her mouth, terrible table manners and a disposition to match.

Well I’m here to tell you that isn’t always the case. No all that comes later. Right now what we have is a stone cold fox, moose-wise. Look at that coquettish pose, those long legs and gorgeous fur. People, guy Mooses think this babe is hot. I mean smokin’. She has them lined up and waiting and she can turn a 1800 lb. bull into a quivering mass of love-struck moose-jelly with just a flick of an ear. It is not out of the ordinary to see one of these bulls with his antlers stuck in the brush, slobber running down his dewlap and generally behaving in a very foolish manner. They can’t help themselves. She would be Miss October in MooseBoy magazine and probably be on the cover too.

I know we all have misconceptions and base prejudices that we have to overcome. We have to stop judging a moose by her cover and see the beauty that is present in all of nature’s creatures. I’m willing to change and I know you are too because we all want to be nice and act swell to everyone. Ok, I mean most of us do. In fact I feel like being swell to a moose right now so I’m out of here. I’ll be down in the willows by the river if you need me.

I’ve Got Sunshine

MyGirl5316 Mule Deer Colorado Mountains                                  click to enlarge

I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day

When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May

I guess you’d say What can make me feel this way?

My doe, my doe, my doe

Talkin’ ’bout my doe My doe

I’ve got so much honey, the bees envy me

Well, I guess you’d say What can make me feel this way?

My doe, my doe, my doe

Talkin’ ’bout my doe My doe Ooh

Hey, hey, hey

Hey, hey, hey

Yeah

OK I couldn’t help it, they were so much in love.

The Far Reaches

MarbleCyn2538-2549Marble Canyon Arizona                                                  click to enlarge

One of the amazing things about the Southwest is how far you can see. There are places out here where you can see for two days. Vistas that are so achingly beautiful that you can’t believe you’ve been privileged enough to see them.

The interaction between land and sky happens differently here than other places with the features on the ground being lit from above and the clouds above being lit from below. Light and shadow, colors and shapes the combinations are endless  and you can get lost just watching the changes occur. It’s like the worlds biggest kaleidoscope.

One time in another life I had a resort in the southwest corner of Colorado. We had people staying with us from all over the world. There were some folks checked in that were from some big urban center back east and they came in and said they wanted to check out, they were going home. When asked why, weren’t they enjoying their stay, their reply was “They didn’t like being able to see this far”. It made them nervous. It changed their entire sense of perspective and made them feel small. I remember thinking at the time that I couldn’t see far enough.

Whether you’re from the camp that feels more comfortable in the confines of the urban canyons or you need the wide open spaces to feel alive, the one thing that is undeniable is the beauty of this country. Some of us need to be here while others can make do with a picture. Which one are you?

The Assembly

The Meeting0255click to enlarge

Dusk is about to set in and there is a very important meeting about to take place. During the heat of the day many of the attending individuals settle into their daily appearance of simple rock formations that slowly bake in the noon day sun, but as dusk arrives they begin their nightly morph into the creatures they truly are.

Ask any traveler that has spent time in the back of beyond about hearing and maybe even seeing, the ghostly rustlings of things moving slowly, heavily, in the near dark just out of eyesight. The sound of sand being compressed until  the grains are one point from becoming powder. Shadows that stretch the wrong way for the setting sun and slow but furtive movement caught out of the corner of their eye, producing the feeling that some kind of transformation is happening that can be felt rather than seen. It’s the imagination made tangible.

There are many creatures that live an entirely different existence than ours, who have thoughts and plans and purposes that do not include us. In fact, they are most likely not even aware of our presence, let alone our soft little bodies. Millennia to them must be the slow ticking of the cosmic clock and they would not understand the brief blinking in and out of existence of our tiny little lives.

But this evening is the beginning of a portentous event, a meeting of many important creatures to settle age old disputes and begin a discussion that will last for centuries and perhaps decide problems that have been vexing them for even longer. Their true shapes are just becoming visible. You can see who many of the principal characters are and try to ascertain who will be a leader, who will be an advocate and who will simply add their voice when it is needed.

If you were to stay out here all night and listen to the sounds of thoughts being spoken at a rate so slowly that it was the deep bass of the elements grinding together, the sound of wind keening around the edges of the rock, the soft whisper of sand being slowly pushed aside by stone creatures who live forever, or at least what seems like forever to us, would you be able to understand at any level of your consciousness what was transpiring. Perhaps, perhaps not, but I believe you would know something momentous was happening. I think you would have dreams that would be fantastical, but you wouldn’t be able to share them with anyone because I don’t think you could live long enough for the thoughts, ideas and concepts to compress into visions you could describe. And that’s alright with me. I’m OK with not knowing everything. Just sharing the experience is enough.

Sometimes I Just Sits And Thinks

SometimesIJustSits6016
                                                        click to enlarge

Sometimes I  just sits and thinks, other times I don’t. Today is one of the other times.

The Bread Thief

BreadThief8945click to enlarge

It’s been a long hard day. Foraging for food is not for the faint-hearted, not when it’s in the low 20’s and the wind is a steady 30 mph out of the west. Not when the neighbor’s dogs are out and you spend half the day running circles around them. It’s fun for them but then they get to home to a nice big bowl of dog chow and sleep in a warm house and you still have to find dinner.

You’ve been to all the usual places and it’s a barren wasteland out there. No one’s left anything out, there is no food to be seen. Even the mice are tucked into their little mice places and aren’t going to come out again til morning.

Then you remember that place up on the hill, they’ve left stuff out before. They were soft touches and the birds made out like bandits. It’s worth a shot to check it out. Oh man, they had left some bread out for the Stellar’s and they hadn’t found it yet. It’s like a total ‘Eureka’ moment. The motherlode. It’s gone and they’ll think the birds got it. And as luck would have it the last rays of the sun are a bonus that you hadn’t counted on. A reward for perseverance. Life doesn’t get any better than this.