Around Camp Thunderbird

Animal natives note, but seem little disturbed by, the construction going on.
Right now, there are four ravens drinking at my cooler water drain as they casually keep a persistent half grown road runner from doing the same.
Handsome desert iguanas use piles of rubble or materials as lookout posts during mating season.
Round-tailed ground squirrels use everything for shade or hang outs as though it were made specifically for them.
Jack rabbits check out each change with a concentration that reminds me of a house cat.
Cotton tail hop around in the here and now as though nothing has changed.
Removing a shed discovered snakes and geckos.
A side-winder left its distinctive trail along the berm to which new bit and hunks of broken concrete had been added.
Quail lead their well-grown chicks around seeming to use the changes as a teaching opportunity as they snack on newly uncovered bits.

Around Camp Thunderbird

The shed is raised and the sand raked. The lumber it sheltered and the wood of which it was constructed has mostly been given away and hauled away.

The present generation of round tailed ground squirrels seems to be made up of individuals smaller than those of preceding generations.

Slender alligator lizards are eating voraciously.

Grand looking male desert iguanas are protecting territories from one another.

Around Camp Thunderbird

The neighbor's dogs have been using my woodshed as a killing ground for rabbits. They have had the good grace to eat parts of the rabbits or are taking them home. Most often the heads are gone;so,they may be taking them home as trophies. I may use this activity as motivation to clean out the woodshed and to perhaps tear it down. I have started by painting a large sign with the word "Free" to put out by the road in an attempt to recycle the wood.

I was looking across the the road just before sun-up this morning and saw a largish mammal that I didn't recognize. Neither it's shape or the way it moved seemed reminiscent of the local for. I could of been of the cat family but didn't move or act like the feral cat I've seen around and it seemed a bit too big to be that rather large feral cat. A mystery.

The large handsome desert iguanas are still around. I see their trails and burrows often, but seldom see them. Most often when I do they are moving quickly away from me. Not easy to get a good look at them these days, but do from time to time.

A large number of broad, black beetles showed up a few weeks back. Now they have become speckled with a green of a little plant that attracts them!

'My' cacti continues blossom. Now the pinks and reds dominate and the yellows are seldom seen. One blooms a wonderful bright orange.

Lively Desert Sand

There are none of the well-grown desert iguanas to seen these days. They had been getting big enough to be a bit intimidating, if one didn't know that they are vegetarians.

I have seen a pair of elegant chipmunks heading to or from my patio these days. They are the largest I've seen in these regions. Their full curled tails have a bit more white near their nicely bushed ends. Their nicely marked fur fits their healthy bodies just right. They could be called regal. The little fox might call one of them a banquet.

There have been lots of lizards around, mostly very young ones. Those most in evidence these days are the very speedy ones, nearly white in color, with a set of black strips circling the upper part of their tails. Those tails curl upwards when these guys are showing off their speed. I guess that right now they are mostly of an age we could call pre-teen. I'm not sure, but do suspect that they are eating some of the small ants living in many colonies in a wide circle around my home. Many had been living in my house and their dispersion is a direct result of our wars. I have been trying to keep them from organizing a counter attack.

There has also been a solitary road runner close around the house. He is probably eating some of the little wiptailed lizards, He'll be working hard to earn those tiny mouths full. He'd eat better if the portly iguanas hadn't become cautious enough to spend their days under the sand.