They’re baaaaack

16 07 2024

Despite the very hot, dry-again conditions, the four o’clock has started blooming again!

Always great to see these colorful blooms in Spring Creek Basin, especially in a not-so-great wildflower year.





Cool critter

15 07 2024

When I saw the giant hole at the side of the road as I passed, one of my favorite bands of mustangs just ahead, I thought, “hm … badger opened that hole.” And I didn’t think much more about it.

Until I stopped several yards away and was dithering around getting my camera out of my pack and ready to aim at ponies.

And I saw the low-to-the-ground scurrying grey-and-black-and-white critter. … !

It got to its hole before I got my camera to my eye, but then it proved to be wonderfully curious!

Badgers have quite a ferocious reputation, so I was glad of my long lens. I took several pix from different angles, and it watched me calmly from the safety of its burrow. Badgers commonly dig into the burrows of ground squirrels and prairie dogs to get at the critters inside (not so safe for them, eh?). See that pile of dirt? All fresh. I spent a few minutes with it, then moseyed on to finish the evening with mustangs.

So cool. 🙂





Bounty

14 07 2024

All that remarkable grass. Gaia and her bandmates are in grazing heaven.

The forecast can’t make up its mind whether we have rain on the way or not. … I’m hopefully in the “on the way” camp.





Sharing

13 07 2024

I love how Dundee not only shares the swish-power of her tail but also some of her zebra stripes with Rowan. 🙂





Gimme a swish, eh?

12 07 2024

There’s a lot of mutual bug-relief-seeking behavior among the horses, including Juniper and one of her band mates.





Subtle slither

11 07 2024

As I was following a couple of bands as they grazed their way through a grove of pinon-juniper trees on their way to an open area, I caught sight of this bull snake, slithering into the safety of a hollow trunk.

Maybe it didn’t like the activity, or maybe it was searching for a place of coolness on a hot day. Maybe it had its own snakey priorities in mind. … Just a little reminder that as we follow the obvious, littler critters are following their own, slightly more subtle lives in Spring Creek Basin.





The downside

10 07 2024

With the good moisture and lush vegetation (maybe not to some, but it is to us!) comes the dreaded gnats. They’ve been out for a month or more, of course, but the hordes seem even more horrid and obnoxious since the rains. Mosquitoes, too, if you can believe it.

It’s hot and dry again, and we’re ready for the next teaser of rain to show up in the forecast.

As they do with everything else, the mustangs – like Buckeye – take the bugs in stride … but I think it has to make them at least a little bit crazy. It makes this human a lot crazy.





Light dance

9 07 2024

Sundance.

‘Nuff said.





Carrying on

8 07 2024

Our BLM range tech, Laura Heaton, was out in Spring Creek Basin last week doing some utilization (of vegetation) monitoring with her lovely assistant, Roo!

Do you see how GREEN it is?! We both think the grass is growing inches per day. It’s awesome to have finally gotten rain (now a stretch of hot, dry days looms).





From the shadows

7 07 2024

Handsome Sundance catches the light just right among the pinon and juniper shadows of Spring Creek Basin’s north hills.