Beep Beep!

Birds, Hiking, Travel, USA

I love my walks in Palm Springs! This is one of my favourites these days. It is super close and I am in a variety of environments. Desert wash, mountains and pathways.

On my second walk here I was so happy to see a Roadrunner (beep beep 😃) but alas I did not have my camera. I have been watching ever since. The Roadrunner along with a couple of other birds were on my 2023 photo bucket list this year. To get one of these fun guys was the my most wished for though. I kept going back… but no bueno.

The day I took my camera I was hoping to get some photos of a Vermillion Flycatcher I had seen on my very first walk in the wash down by Indian Canyons Golf Course and possibly even the Western Bluebirds that my daughter, niece and I saw one day. Oh my! They are all so beautiful and this time I had my camera!!

Here are a few of the pictures I took that day.

The Wash as I enter the trailhead. It’s about a 1/2 km through this lovely area. And of course with all the rain – so green!
The trails are so well maintained by a local scout troup
The Foxtail Barley are so abundant and look so nice against this Barrel Cactus
This is my favourite part of the trail!
Brittle Bush (Encelia farinosa) although it has busted out so much with it’s blooms you can hardly see the distinguishing sage green leaves and how it spreads out so beautifully from the ground. It really is a beautiful plant, blooming or not.
So, this is some sort of hawk but I couldn’t get close enough and was not carrying my BIG BERTHA lens with me on a hike.
The Northern Mockingbird. I just do not get tired of these lovlies!
And finally… Beep Beep!
They sure are cute, right? But, inquiring minds want to know – Can a Roadrunner out-run the Coyote. Sadly, for the Roadrunner, the answer is NO. The coyote can run at approximately 43 mph whereas the Roadrunner is a slow 20 mph. In Canada speak, that works out to 60 km for the coyote compared to 32 for the roadrunner.
AND… the money shot – what a beautiful bird!
And last but not least another Northern Mockingbird in a beautiful yellow tree (Sweet Acacia)
surrounded by brilliant blue skies!

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