Nature’s Art

Nov

Los Alamos and Bandelier National Monument

Yesterday, Wednesday, November 6,2013 was a very exciting day for both of us. We decided to take a day trip to Los Alamos and visit the Bradbury museum. The drive from Santa Fe to Los Alamos is, as expected, visually stunning. The mountains change to steep cliffs that appear to be made of sandstone, but are, instead made of volcanic ash.

Jemez Caldera – Valley is the result of what is left from the volcanic eruption.

Over one million years ago the Jemez volcano to the north of this area, erupted twice. These eruptions were so massive that over 400 square miles of ash were ejected in amounts up to 1000 feet thick in this area. The ash compacted over time and became a pink crumbly rock. This then eroded over time in the weaker areas and formed a “Swiss cheese” affect, giving the cliffs cave like holes. The pueblo indians took advantage of these cliffs to enlarge these holes and build dwellings in them.

Swiss Cheese Cliffs in Bandelier National Monument

We arrived at Los Alamos first and immediately stopped and visited the museum. The Bradbury is a science museum dedicated to the history of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and to the current research and development projects of the lab. For us, being science buffs, we throughly enjoyed our visit at the Bradbury. The small history section was packed with information and exhibits, plus there was a short film you could enjoy in a spacious theater area with great seats. We spent almost 2 hours there looking at all there was to see. You can visit their web site here to learn more: www.lanl.gov/museum/ Admission is FREE!

We had thought we would also spend some time exploring the town of Los Alamos. However, we quickly decided there was not much to see, except “Bath Tub Row” named for the houses that had indoor bath tubs at the time the lab was established. We saw Oppenheimer’s house and then decided to leave for the Bandelier National Monument. Leaving Los Alamos to get to this park is interesting. You must pass through a security clearance toll booth, where they look at your identification, driver’s license, since you must enter the section of the city that houses the Laboratory complex. Once out the effort is well worth it.

Cliff Dwelling

The area proceeding to the National monument is spectacular! Pine trees, mountain passes with hair pin turns and lastly a deep canyon with stunning cliffs! Los Alamos is hyped up on the internet to be really special, and it is OK mind you, but Bandelier is much better and not as advertised as Los Alamos. If you are in this area go to the monument!

Those who know me might be aware of my dread of heights. For the record, I am working on conquering this fear, but it is a challenge. This trip has brought out the best and the worst of my dreads, as I call them. Dreading something is often worse than the actual event. The cliff dwellings were my challenge yesterday. For the most part the short walk to them is flat and very easy. The steps that lead to the cliffs where the pueblo is, are not for those who suffer as I do. I did it, though I have to admit I was weak in the knees when I got back to the car!

It is incredible that up to 500 people once dwelled here! So meager a lifestyle it must have been, yet they found plentiful water (there is a bubbling stream here that flows continually), game (turkeys were raised by the tribe), and numerous plants used for consumption and medicine. In addition, they planted corn, the staple. We never saw one, but there are antelope here.

The drive back in the late afternoon was equally spectacular. As we came into Santa Fe, the sun was just right against the mountain, and in shadow the range appeared purple. Purple mountain majesty, against the fruited plain, we saw it that day for sure!

Nov

The Blue Hole & Pecos

By Sandra Ringo | Nature's Art

Today we visited two unique sights in New Mexico, a blue hole in Santa Rosa, and the pueblo ruins in the Pecos National Historic Park. The blue hole is located just off old Route 66 in Santa Rosa. The aquifer is an 80 foot opening forming a stunning blue hole of crystal clear water that flows at a rate of 3000 gpm.

The two of us at the Blue Hole.

The Blue Hole

We also visited the Pecos National Historical Park, which has some peublo ruins, and also the ruins of a mission. Here is a photo of the mission.

Mission Ruins

Nov

The Palo Duro Canyon

By Sandra Ringo | Nature's Art

This is day one of a much needed vacation for the two of us! We decided to take a full week and travel Northwest to Santa Fe, New Mexico with a one day stop-over in Amarillo. The main intent for this one day short trip was to spend a few hours exploring

Visitor’s Center Palo Duro State Park

the Palo Duro Canyon. The name Palo Duro is Spanish for “hard wood”, which is a reference to the Juniper trees that are common in the canyon. I was very pleasantly surprised by the sheer beauty of the cliffs and the spectacular colors in the strata formations. Here are a few photos we took today.

The visitor’s center was an easy drive from the park entrance and had some window views of the canyon. It was very windy when we arrived, so I was able to take some quick photos of the canyon from inside the visitor’s center.

Danny in the Visitor’s Center

Palo Duro Canyon View

Jun

Cardinals Take Flight!

By Danny Ringo | Nature's Art

The cardinals took flight yesterday (June 2). Early in the morning, we noticed that the baby birds were very restless. They were moving around in the nest a lot more than usual. One jumped up on the nest edge and started stretching his wings. This gave the others more room to stretch as well. Having watched cardinals raise another nest full of baby birds earlier this spring, we knew that this sudden restlessness meant that they would fly today.

The first baby cardinal jumps to the edge of the nest.

As the little ones prepared to leave the nest, the mother kept coming back with big fat bugs to feed the little ones. This will give them the energy needed to make the flight. At one point the mother brought a large moth to feed the baby birds. It was so large that she tried to put it in each mouth only to find that none of the babies could swallow it. Finally she jumped to a limb, chewed it up and ate it herself (she needs some energy as well!).

The mother bird arrives with some food - a moth.

Mother cardinal tries to feed a baby bird before its first flight.

The bug was too big for the first bird. Let's try this one! Notice how the first bird still wants it.

As the mother watched from higher in the tree one jumped out of the nest onto a limb and the mother bird took him step by step through the process of flying to trees that surround the creek at the back of our lot where the male bird waited. They did this with each bird, one-by-one until they were all safely together again so the parent birds could continue to watch over them and feed them. The process took about 6 hours. The photos below show how they did it.

The first baby bird jumps out on a limb.

Mother bird takes a wary look at me before she flies to get more food.

Mother bird jumps down on a plant shelf just below the tree with the nest in it, encouraging the baby to make the leap.

The baby bird follows the lead and jumps to the plant shelf.

The mother bird then flies over to some patio furniture and chirps at the baby to follow.

The baby follows again.

The baby flies under a patio table.

Mother and baby bird have a conference before proceeding.

Not everything went according to plan. This is not easy!

Mother looks down at baby as she leads it back toward the back yard.

Mother feeds baby one last time before they head out toward the trees surrounding the creek.

The mother bird gets ready to lead the baby bird across the back yard to the creek.

Jun

Cardinal Babies in the Nest

By Danny Ringo | Nature's Art, Photography

I know there are a lot of photos of Cardinal babies posted on the Internet. Still it is an amazing site to be able to witness a miracle like this on a day-to-day basis and I wanted to share it with all of you who visit this blog.

Cardinals are present year round and bring beauty and song to us here in the North Central Texas area. A couple of Cardinals built a nest earlier this spring on our patio in a little potted tree right next to our living room window. The father and mother both worked diligently to build the nest and feed and protect the baby cardinals. During that time they successfully raised one batch of 4 birds. I didn’t take photos at that time but swore if they ever came back I would do so. Much to our surprise, about a month after the first bunch left, the parent birds started checking the same nest out again. Before we knew it, eggs started appearing in it again.

I took these photos today (June 1). There are three babies this time. They are moving around a lot, preening themselves and keeping mom and dad cardinal very busy feeding them. What a cool thing to be able to witness such a beautiful thing so easily! By the way, if you want to find out what a baby cardinal is officially called you might want to check this link Wiki-Answers-Baby-Cardinals (After you take a look at the photos below of course! Be sure to click on each to see a larger photo.).