So this morning I returned to my desert walk and found that my golden eagle is now as a rare as a bald eagle and rare was my sighting to find that the glorious raptor has moved on..... but discovered the migrating butterflies have moved in, we currently have two types, for lack of a better description, sprinkled liberally across the desert. The monarch color type are attracted to the bright yellow flowers and the black ones just seem hell bent to be somewhere else....like the covey of quail, the males are making bigger groups and eventually will battle for the alpha right. Once the babies are hatched, the rattlesnakes will come out as baby quail are the primary food. Quail are very spooky and run fast head first into the bottom of low laying branched tree bushes...where the snake is waiting. This will all take place mid May to August. August menu is song birds. wet winter has created volumes of bird food, so many quail on my wash trail.
And I was also excited as I heard coyotes on the canyon rim above me....but no, just some golfers howling to be putting the ball in the hole for a rare eagle.