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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

A little Lajitas birding

I rode around the Lajitas golf course with my son this morning. It's hard to bird with a non-birder riding a cart, but it was fun anyway. Here was my favorite spot. They pump warm thermal water into this arroyo where it runs for a while before disappearing underground. Just the gas for the diesel engine to do this costs around $22,000 a month. Mind-boggling!


I noticed that birds didn't drink the water until it went further downstream where the temperature wasn't as warm. I'd like to visit this spot during a cold winter norther.

As for birds, I saw a lot of nice ones, but nothing unusual. At least 4 Redheads...


I wish I had thought to photograph some of the interesting flora, all in bloom, but I didn't. One thing that intrigued me was the deep reddish Desert Willow. I must get me one. Another large shrub/small tree looked like a legume but the blooms were yellow brush-like. I've seen acacias with white brush-like, and with round yellow balls, but I don't remember seeing this shape in yellow. I'll have to research it and see what it is. Oh, I just remembered, I did take a bad photo of it. Here it is.


UPDATE: The above tree has been identified as a Screwbean Mesquite.


2 comments:

  1. That's a crazy use of money and resources to create water illusions. So many better ways to design a golf course in the desert, and "use" water. But some have more dollars than sense...

    The last tree looks like Screwbean Mesquite, AKA Tornillo, in the foliage color, flower shape and color, etc. Though no coiled seed pods on it from what I can tell, which I though always have a few hanging on.

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  2. Thanks for the ID suggestion. I never even thought of Screwbean as a possibility. I wish I had taken better photos of it.

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