Mama cow defends her herd

Driving the road from Timberon to Cloudcroft yesterday, I slowed to watch a mama cow defend her little herd from a coyote. There were three mama cows laying in a green meadow at the edge of the forest,  arranged in a circle, and within the circle were four calves.  The calves were fairly new – I would guess no more than a week old.

At the edge of the forest, where the meadow met the trees, there was a coyote or possibly a Mexican gray wolf, walking back and forth trying to figure out how to get past the big ol heifer that had him faced off. She was going back and forth right along with him, blocking him.

There was somebody driving up behind me so I had to leave. I’m sure the predator gave up eventually. He should know better than to mess with a mama of any kind.
Wish I had my camera.

It Wasn’t a Coyote

Allright, allright -  I’m such a New Mexico Newbie.  Go ahead, laugh.

Last July I wrote about a ‘coyote’ I had seen here while driving through the mountains.  It was very pretty, more colors, and I even stated “no it was not a wolf’.  Sheesh, could I have fit my virtual foot any farther into my mouth?

It was a wolf.  A  Mexican Wolf, no doubt part of the Wolf Recovery Project in Arizona and New Mexico.  It looked exactly like this picture I snagged from Wiki:

Mexican Wolf (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

And now that I have been enlightened, I realize that I could have alerted the forestry service that one of their wolves, possibly from the Gila release, was wandering around the Lincoln National Forest. But it was over a year ago. If I see it again, I will definitely make a call.

In my own defense, it does resemble a coyote to me – lanky, sharp face, on the small side for a wolf, but on the large side for a coyote. I’ll know better next time.

Hey – I saw a black bear last spring too!  Or maybe it was a big dog . . .

~Nan

California Sister Butterfly – my new BFF

There are advantages to hanging your laundry out in the air to dry.  Fresh clothes.  Zero energy cost.  And the stretching and reaching motion opens up your chest and allows all that good air to flush out the unused areas of your lungs.  It’s therapy – yeah.

Not to mention the critters.

So I’m puttering around the backyard, hanging up laundry – and this pretty li’l thing is fluttering along behind trying to land on me.  She must have been attracted to the white T-Shirt I was wearing, because she was very insistent.

California Sister Butterfly

Isn’t she pretty?  When I was finished hanging the clothes up to dry, I went to the computer to try and identify it.  They are known as either “California Sister” or “Arizona Sister” butterflies.  The “sister” part, is because the white markings look like a nuns habit.

I tried to move her from my shirt and put her on the tomato plant, several times.  I was afraid she would get hurt riding on my back while I was tossing clothes around.  She finally fluttered off, no doubt in search of a stationary T-Shirt.

I love the blue markings up near the top.  These are pretty large butterflies.  Here’s a picture of her on my hand, you can get a better idea of the size.

California Sister Butterfly on my hand

re-posted from October 5, 2009 nanettethorell.com/blog

Coyotes Are Different Here

They are bigger, and more colorful.  And they have a whole different set of vocals.

We used to hear them every night when we lived in California.   The land in front our house was designated as some sort of animal protected area, or crossing, or something to that effect.  As a result, the coyotes gathered there and sang to us every night.  When we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them, they were smaller than I expected.  Mostly grey and brown – about the same colors as a wild bunny.

Here in New Mexico they are bigger and more colorful.  Still the brown and grey coat, but patches of gold and rust as well!  They are taller and more husky looking.  No,  it was not a wolf.

I heard them singing last night, and at first I did not know what was making all the noise, it was so different than what I was used to.  Not so much yiping.   More range – upper and lower.  Really interesting.

I wonder if they travel in packs of 10-15 or more like they did in California?  The couple times I have seen them – they were traveling alone.

Thunder Mountain

Still in the 5th wheel, but very close to finishing the house. This is taking way longer than I expected but I will be so happy to finally move in, that I will most likely be delirious for months afterwords.
Thunder and lightning storms every afternoon for the past few weeks. The rain is nice but makes everything humid.
I acquired some already-started tomatoes from Ruby the Postmaster. She started too many and gave the extras away. I came home with 8 little plants. John planted 2 of them upside down in 5 gallon buckets, and I did the rest the old fashioned way. In a plastic bin. So far I am winning – heh.