That's No Mountain

Spring is finally here! At least, it is for Texas. I haven't posted in awhile, but that's because I haven't been anywhere in awhile. In my part of the world, reptiles and amphibians like to sleep through the season that's finally ending, so I haven't had anything to go searching for lately. My spring break vacation just ended, however, and I did manage to get out and see some sights.

This year, instead of a long road trip, I made a short day trip into New Mexico. Because its still a little too cold for herps, I was going for some birdwatching and cool scenery. First stop was Capulin Volcano National Monument. From the Texas panhandle until parts of north-eastern New Mexico, the terrain is pretty flat. Imagine driving through that for 4 hours and then having mountains appear on the horizon. Well, some of them were mountains, but most of them are more appropriately volcanoes. That's right: Lava, dinosaurs, and the whole nine yards...at least, millions of years ago. Capulin Volcano rises to over 8,000 feet from the surrounding plains, and is so high that it offers a view into Colorado. You could literally see the Rocky Mountains from up top. There were some cool birds there, and I found the ones I had come to see: Western scrub jay and Steller's jay. Did you know that there's more to "jay" birds than just the good ol' Blue?

A view from Capulin Volcano, Rocky Mountains in the distance

Another stop on the way home was Clayton Lake State Park. There was some pretty good birding there with waterfowl on the aforementioned lake, but the main reason for my stopping there was dino tracks. It seems when the dam was constructed for Clayton Lake, the resulting spillway flow removed many layers of rock and sediment, exposing dinosaur tracks. There are some good geocaches there too.

Those were BIG reptiles

So, no herp pics this time (if you don't count the tracks of the extinct ones), but I hope you enjoy the scenery shots. Just think, I saved you the hike in the thin air.