More megafauna

I am back from New Mexico and have moved to Independence. We are slowly getting things unpacked and organized.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of the vertebrate megafauna (or evidence of) I saw in New Mexico.

Hungry Lizard

Rattlesnake - I put my backpack fairly close to this guy, but he did not rattle. Luckily I saw him and was able (with the help of a long stick) to retrieve my bag.

Hummingbirds - I stayed at the Licthy Center (which is run by the Nature Conservancy) and there were about a dozen hummingbirds that visited the feeder. They provided early morning entertainment.

We were doing our work along the Gila River in SW New Mexico. At one of the campgrounds in the Gila National Forest was closed because some guy was bit in the butt by a bear while he was sleeping in his tent. Several miles away, we saw evidence of bears at one of our sampling sites.

A family of turkeys.

Racoon Tracks in the mud

And my favorite - the Gila Monster