A Buck and Some Birds

We had a very pleasant wake-up this morning; Janet sent a picture of the 11 point buck Grandson Chris shot on opening morning. (This is a cell phone pic so it is not real clear, but you get the idea.) Grandpa had to give a congratulatory call... and then we went back to sleep for a couple of hours - 2 hours difference in time you know. Nice Job, Chris!

When we finally saw the light of day we decided it might be fun to take a drive and check out a town celebration in Dragoon. Well, we did drive there only to find that the cold and wind had kept vendors away; only 4 or 5 were set up.

Oh, about that cold and wind. Yesterday, all day on the news all you heard was driving tips for driving the 8 or the 10 in severe wind storms. And there were gusts to 35 mph during the day. Last night this area saw gusts of wind to 65mph. I put the living room slide in before I went to bed and we got up around midnight and put the bedroom slide in. Those strong wind gusts can actually twist a slide and more easily do damage to the awnings on top of the slides, so we wanted to be safe. I am happy to report that we had no damage although the neighbor lady did bring our tire cover back. Anyway, it is now COLD... not by midwest standards but by AZ standards - the high today was in the high 50's.

Ok, so on with our day. Since Dragoon Daze was a bust, we headed to an area that is frequented by Sandhill Cranes. Our first stop gave us a nice walk, but no birds. This was an absolutely beautiful day. In the distance you see the Chiricahua Mountains; they got a dusting of snow last night when we, in lower elevations, got a bit of rain.

However, when we headed into Wilcox, we heard and saw hundreds, maybe thousands of Sandhill Cranes. If you are ever in that town in the winter, head for the golf course and you will be in for a birding treat. The cranes were everywhere and they were in groups of all sizes.

They were in the deep grass and barely visible at first.

Who knows how many birds may be in this picture besides the ones you see in the sky.

When they flew against the mountain they seemed to blend right in, even their shapes resembled mountain peaks.

In addition to the cranes, there were ducks by the 100's,

and even a few cows wandering through the grass,

and always Sandhill Cranes.

We will be in this area until the end of November and I just bet we will be back to watch the cranes at least one more time!