Well Slap this could of been the last time for a while atleast that we will get to camp deep in the washes. It seemed like everyone wanted to say hi and even let us take take some good pics. It was an truley an amazing weekend finding life in the dunes.

Tuesday afternoon unloading and setting up camp this little guy was hanging out with us.

Then on Wed. morning What Hurts and I go out for a nice 6:30am ride looking for Mr. Red. He takes me by a nest he knows about and I take him by one I know. Then we found a third one on the way back to camp. So for the first morning we saw 5 differant hawks. Not a bad start to the trip.

So then Wed. we go for a ride, We are looking around and Mikes finds some Sand Food.

Nice Pics. Looks like you stoped to smell the roses.

Speaking of flowers there were still plenty out there.

Almost forgot this, Mike spots an egg not far from a Hawks nest, Not sure what it is but its not a chicken egg.

A CH-53 cruises over to say hi

Wild life was everywhere this weekend! Some guys found a good size scorpion under their carpet when they were packing up and leaving today. It had a stink bug in its grip with they were taking it back to the bushes, and it would not let go of that bug!!!

I shoulda took a pic of it, it would have been an easy five inches long!!!

Friday after the race we head out in search of more. We cruise by one of the nests and there he is. This time we are better prepared and get these shots. we also find some more sand food

Killer pics Mark, but i know you have more....

I have seen many of these but never even a chance to get a pic. Well got lucky that he stopped and I had my camera ready.

awesome!!

O.K. Slap, Now you know Mr. Red is my Fav. but never have I seen this guy out there. Friday evening we are still on the hunt and we think we have Mr. Red in a tree. Something is just not right. We are waiting for him to take off and he just sits there. We even tried to get him to fly away but no luck. Well after looking a little closer we realize its not Mr. Red. Slap I did not know he was out there but we saw Mr. Great Horned Owl. It was not easy to get a good shot but here you go. I think Scat might have a better one so hopefully she will post it. What a way to top off a great weekend of seeing Mother G's wildlife.

Very, Very nice pictures and thanks for taking the time to take them and post them. I like the white flowers, they smell so nice.

That Owl is just to cool.

Awesome pictures Mark....

^^^ What he said. Great job Mark!!!

Wow, a jack rabbit......I have not seen one of those in years! I think they are so awesome......thanks for posting the pic!

The owl is very cool too! Didn't realize they lived out there!

Very cool pics Mark, thanks for sharing!

EFFEN GREAT PICS!!!!!!!

I did manage to snap a few good shots, i'll post them after I determine the best ones (I actually took my camera out and in 3 days I took over 150 pics so it's going to be a sifting issue) even though Ifly covered all the critters from the trip..
Best part was pulling outta camp and the calls "Where are you guys going?" and of course we said "Hawk Hunting" boy did we get more than we bargained for and really the guys wanted to try to hatch that poor egg I just rolled my eyes and said "NO" it's been out of the nest way to long...

awesome pics mark! thanks for sharing

thank you for sharing and awesome pics for sure.

Those are some Bad AZZ pics!

Great pix Mark!

TOP pics!

WOW! Cool pics! That hawk is awesome! The rest are cool too. It's amazing how wildlife survives out there. Thanks for sharing. I wonder what was in the egg.

My first view and all I could think was there was something not right with this bird, we shouldn't have been able to get as close as we did without it taking off. And it didn't have the right shape. Thoughts of maybe it's sleeping or dead kept playing through my mind as What Hurts kept making all kinds of noise trying to get it to do something...
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
then Ifly realized it had moved and definately wasn't Mr. Redtail
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Someone had to go in the tree (and since I only had flip flops Ifly got to be the monkey in the tree )
Click to view attachment
my best pic from our first encounter with Mr Owl...
Click to view attachment

I definately have some great pictures, but I believe my favorite picture was capturing the elusive Mikey... found him out in the dunes just hookin for a ride

Very nice...thanks for sharing...

Awesome pics! I never knew there were owls out there. Learned something today!

Great pictures Mark! thanks for sharing

On Saturday a group of us took off for a ride and make the Hawk nest stop 1, pull up and what do we see.... The Owl sitting in the nest... didn't have time to take any pics as the sun was dropping pretty quick and the group was more in ride mode so off we went.. So Sunday morning fily and I went back to the nest hoping we could get some better pics, I definately am going to have to get a carrying strap for the tripod when we go out specifically to take pictures of the hawks and now Owl's. I managed to snap several but I like this one bestClick to view attachment

The nest was found on Wednesday there was a hawk in it and chirps were heard coming from the nest. We went back on Friday and the owl was in the tree, the hawk was still in the area and the nest was silent. On Saturday the owl was in the nest, didn't see the hawk. Looks like the owl found a new home.

Oh boy the things i'm learning about our desert creatures....

look at the size of the talons on that hawk! yikes

take a closer look at the talons on the Owl

here's my favorite of the egg... it's a bit bigger than an extra large AA egg, I am currently doing research to determine what would have laid it... although my first guess is a Hawk
Click to view attachment

This should be your avatar scat

sexy legs Mike

I was thinking it would be awesome for him to use it

Then I would have to change my name to What a freak!

Awsome pictures!!

Great pics

this was another patch of sand food that we came across friday afternoon
Click to view attachment

Great pics! I ran into the sandfood right out of camp. Lots of it out there.

Thanks all, im glad everyone liked the pics. Now were is Slap hiding out at?

Help me out here. I"ve seen the "sandfood" before. But, what is it? Are we looking at mushrooms in the sand. Are they edible? Are they halloucinogenic?






(forget the last question).

Sand food is a root parasite with a thick, scaly stem that may extend 6 feet (2 m) or more into the dune where it attaches to the roots of nearby shrubs deep in the soft sand. The entire plant lives below the surface of the sand, with only the flower head pushing above sand during early spring. The scaly stem is without chlorophyll and is nonphotosynthetic, and all of its vital organic nutrients (amino acids and carbohydrates) come from nearby host shrubs. An old, dried flower head with a long, subterranean scaly stem superficially resembles a sand dollar attached to a long piece of seaweed

Thanks for the pics. I always enjoy seeing the lively side of dunes.

Awesome Mark.. Truely Awesome!!! Thanks for sharing..

sweet pics fosho