A closer look at Mr. Flash (yes, it’s him; I promise!), looking at my buggy recently. He spent most of the visit napping (that’s Gaia grazing in the background; the other mares mostly were napping, too), but when he woke up and noticed the buggy, all of a sudden, he realized he should be on defense. It’s a hard, exhausting job for a young stallion to keep track of all those mares, who are (only) fairly tolerant of having him tag along with them, thank you very much. 🙂
There are no mustangs in this post (crazy, I know, with a title like that), but mustangs were SEEN.
This, my friends and fans of wild things and wild places, is a burrowing owl. Possibly one of THE – I’m gonna say (type) it – *cutest* birds on the planet. You know how I adore kestrels. … I see them all the time. But burrowing owls?!?!?!?! This might be the third I’ve ever seen in Disappointment Valley.
Huge shout-out to friend Mary, who not only was driving but spotted this marvelous beauty along the road. She casually asked if I’d seen the owl – she thought it was an owl? – and obliged my horizon-gazing self by backing up to where – sure enough – this burrowing owl was standing on a burrow (possibly/likely previously the home of a prairie dog family) right alongside the road. The owl him/herself (?) obliged us by being its beautiful, gorgeous, adorable self so we could take a minute or two’s worth of photos before driving on to not disturb its … burrow guarding? We never saw another bird, and this one seemed pretty comfortable.
Who needs opposable thumbs when one has feet/talons perfectly capable of gripping dinner? (I think this might be a carpenterworm? Though it’s much earlier than I’ve ever seen them. Eat all you want, friend owl!)
Like … WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! 🙂
And as if that weren’t enough, this was the end-of-day, sunset-lit, alien-mothership/stormcell cloud (one or the other … right?!) visible over upper Disappointment Valley just beyond (?) Spring Creek Basin:
Because … our planet Earth really is that gorgeous. 🙂
Notes: Owl pix taken with a 600mm lens from inside a vehicle. Crazy storm-cloud pic (and yes, the rest of the sky was basically blue and nearly clear) taken with my phone because a long-mustang-owl lens just could not capture the entirety of the above scene. Very last light of day. I sized the image and gave it a touch of sharpening, but otherwise, that is straight out of the camera, err, phone.
It really was a WOW kinda day. 🙂 “*Grateful*” doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about this glorious little part of our great, wide, wild, wonderful world.
Tenaz may look surprised by the sudden snow blanketing his previously very brown world … but really, he was looking down the ridge at another stallion.
We got about an inch and a half of the good, white wet stuff before it all soaked into the ground, leaving it as brown as before … but nicely more damp. 🙂
That snow on McKenna Peak and Temple Butte – last week – is there no longer. Bright blue skies, stiff spring winds, full sunshine and temps soaring back to the 60s and 70F recently took care of that. But what I’m really thrilled about is that, after trying (and failing) to catch fairly closeup pix of Sancho’s cutie-patootie little mustachio, it’s visible in this longshot pic!
The snow melted much too fast, but as usual, the horses and the scenery deserved at least another look on another post. 🙂 This is Temple, seeking out bits of green in the white; Sancho is a bit farther away.
Spring Creek Basin and its mustangs really are that stunningly gorgeous. 🙂
Dundee just looks so strong and fiercely wild here, doesn’t she?
I took this pic just about as the nearly full moon was rising over the basin’s northeastern horizon. It wasn’t that spectacular, really, but Dundee always is. 🙂
The lunar eclipse likely wasn’t visible from Southwest Colorado in the early morning hours because of cloudy skies. I’m not too upset; we did get a bit of moisture out of those clouds!
Mama Shane and pumpkin Odin grazing together. He enjoys the watchful and doting protection of all the “aunties” in the band, but sometimes he just likes to be near mama. 🙂
Pretty Mariah a few evenings ago, napping with her band.
It’s a good thing the horses still have their winter coats because while we haven’t gotten any sticking snow, Thursday, some squall waves passed through the region that left the ground at least damp. Up on the southern ridges of Disappointment Valley, there was actual snow and at least a temporary inch to 3 (?) of the white stuff, despite the strong wind (we even had an advisory) that blew it sideways. It was wet stuff, though, and we’re always grateful for ANY wet stuff.
The evening I spent with Mariah was fairly still, which was pretty nice.
Tenaz was having a bit of a nap with the band when his attention was caught by another stallion down the hill. The two would eventually have a little chat, but before then, I caught him with the most excellent background.
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I think I haven’t explained Tenaz’s name, and with such a unique name, I should! He was named by friends Lynn and Kathy, from New Mexico. I think I had mentioned in a post (when he was a baby) how *tenacious* he was, and they suggested Tenaz as his name.
From a search: “The name ‘Tenaz’ is derived from the Spanish word ‘tenaz,’ which directly translates to ‘tenacious’ in English, meaning someone who is persistent, determined, and holds fast to something; essentially signifying a strong-willed or unwavering character.”
It still fits him. 🙂
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 