New Mexico Wreck

New Mexico Wreck

September 7, 1994

Guess where we are?  We are supposed to be in Wyoming, but we are still in New Mexico.  We are at El Vado Lake, between Espanola and Chama.  Were at Heron lake for 3 days.  It is a "quiet lake" where boats are allowed to go at only trolling speed.  It has lots of rainbow trout, salmon and sailboats.  We came Friday evening, and it rained all night and all day Saturday.  There were people everywhere, most with boats since it was Labor Day weekend.  I'm sure they were as glad as we were to see the sun on Sunday.  We have been riding our bikes around, and yesterday we hiked on a 14 mi. (roundtrip) the trail along the Chama River to lake El Vado.

Back to why we are here:  Leaving Espanola on Sept. 23, the bumper and car hitch pulled off the Suzuki, and it sideswiped Aristotle a little, then went flying across the highway, through a fence, and hit a tree. We were very lucky that it didn't hit another car, and that it hit a small tree.  The tree bent as it was hit and the Suzuki climbed it a few feet before it came to a halt.  A few feet away, it would have gone down a steep embankment, and been demolished.  A guy working nearby pulled it out and we pulled it into Ojo Caliente.  They couldn't fix it, so a wrecker took it back to a body shop in Espanola.  We were told they could probably get it out for us by September 2, but "parts didn't come in, etc." and Labor Day didn't help.  It is repairable but will cost us about $3500.

So we have been seeing more of N.M., but not wanting to go too far.  We spent a couple of nights on a high bluff overlooking Santa Cruz Lake, hiked down along the Frijoles River, then back another way, along a dry creek that ran into the river.  W. had his trusty contour map and compass, otherwise, I would have rebelled.  It turned into quite an adventure!  There was no trail, so we had to push through the underbrush, and we hit a couple of steep drop-offs and had to play rock climbing.  Actually, that was pretty scary.  The whole trip took us almost 12 hours, and we were all scraped up and bruised.  We also stayed a couple of nights at Nambe Falls and at the Tesuque Pueblo R.V. park.  Didn't like Tesuque because there was no place to hike or ride bikes, but got the washing done.

We had a wonderful time with Jimmy & Shenda and those precious babies.  We stayed at Bandelier most of the time, so hiked & biked around there, also around Los Alamos & White Rock.  Took Audrey (the au pair) & the kids on a few short hikes and to the museums,  went to the Baker family reunion at Peggy's cabin, took Audrey with us on a Sunday to Santa Fe Ski Basin, and back into town and ate at The Natural Cafe.  I had my first bike wreck in the forest above Los Alamos.  I was riding in between the car tracks, but it was gravelly and the tires just slipped, and I went down. The heel of my right hand is still sore; the gloves saved me from a big scrape, but I got my worst bruise ever on my left hip.  W. had a fall too, when he was riding in his hiking boots, and couldn't get his foot out of the toe clips quick enough.  That was when we had left the bikes at the Ponderosa Campground, drove to Bandelier Visitor Center and hiked up the canyon (where J. & S. run sometimes) about 7.5 miles, got the bikes and rode down to the car.  Anyway, he just doesn't bruise as beautifully as I do.  If this is how retirement is going to be, I'm going to beat up all the time.

We have discovered roasted green chiles in Espanola.  They are wonderful on almost anything.  Will have to stop at the roadside stand in Espanola when we go back and get stocked up for the rest of the trip.  We will also stock up on a few dozen vegetarian tamales from Chimayo.

The mail forwarding is working pretty well.  We should have some waiting for us when we get back to Espanola.  We have to call in our location by Thursday because they send out the "S's" on Friday.  We missed calling in time (2 hr. difference) once, so it has been 2 weeks since we got the mail.  Anyway, if you want to mail us something and get it to us in maybe a week instead of two, you could send it directly to the above address.  The suite number is our member number.

The cellular phone isn't working well as a replacement for the home phone.  Like right now we just aren't in a cell and don't have the car to drive to a pay phone.  Sometimes we don't have the phone plugged in because it drains the motorhome batteries.  We have been trying to use pay phones because it is much cheaper.  We have to dial about 30 numbers to get our messages - to use AT&T, passwords, etc.

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Golden Eagle Combat

Golden Eagle Combat

 

July 29, 2004

On a long, high-mountain, gravel road, over the Buzzard-Muddy divide that connects Rifle and Redstone, Colorado, we spied what appeared to be a Turkey Vulture circling above.  The bird was dark and about the same size as a Turkey Vulture, but somehow I sensed a difference.  So, I pulled over to the side of the road, grabbed my binoculars and quickly identified the critter.  The golden nape and pale bars on the upper wing were distinctive and together with its buteo-like appearance, identified it as a Golden Eagle.   Well, Golden Eagles are not terribly uncommon the western mountains, but it is always fun to find one.   From our roadside vantage overlooking a valley consisting of pasture land at the bottom, Quaking Aspens and assorted conifers on the ridges, the eagle was taking advantage of the updraft from the valley to float around lazily in the afternoon sun.  By now, Pat also had her binoculars on our subject bird.  

Our bird suddenly dove down on some flying object below.  That object was identified as a second Golden Eagle which also dove down among the aspen trees to escape the attack.  At the last second, the target eagle twisted and turned and we could not tell if the two had made contact.  But when the aggressive bird sailed back into the air, it reached with its beak to remove something (maybe feathers) from its talons.  The target bird did not seem to be badly injured because it flew up and began to circle near the aggressor bird.  Several times we watched the similar scenario of aggressor and target bird.  I wondered if it might be some kind of mating ritual where pairs meet in the air, grab each other’s talons and swirl like a helicopter toward earth.   But this never happened.  I also considered that the target bird might be a young eagle that had recently fledged from the nest and the mother or father bird was trying to drive it away from the parent’s territory to find one of its own.

Then, 2 more Golden Eagles appeared.  Again, the aggressor bird dove on the target bird.  This time, the target bird landed on the branch of a tree and when the aggressor dove at it, the escape tactic was to hang, upside down from the limb.  At this point, the two new eagles joined the “game.”  They both dove rapidly toward the seemingly helpless, upside-down bird.  All of this action was taking place several hundred yards away from us so I could not tell if the birds had made contact.  But, after all three attack birds had passed, the target bird, still upside down, dropped from the limb, head first, toward the ground.   Low shrubbery and trees prevented us from seeing the ground where the eagle had dropped so we could not determine its status.  But my impression was that the 3 attack birds were not intent on some avian game, but their attack seemed murderous.

I considered hiking to the spot where we had last seen the target eagle to determine its condition.  But, it was private ranch land and I was doubtful that I could even find the exact spot where the attack took place.  We watched the 3 remaining eagles as they glided over a ridge and out of sight.  They appeared and disappeared several times.  Sometimes catching an updraft and soaring high in the sky.  We continued to watch them for maybe 10 minutes and never again saw 4 birds.  Our assumption is that the target bird was either injured or killed.  

The location of this action was about ½ mile west of the locked-gate, main entrance of the Lazy CF Ranch.  

At least two of the four eagles were young based on the presence of white patches on the undersides of their wings.  I did not notice the age of the target bird but assume that it was likely a younger bird too.

Since I am not an eagle expert, I do not know if this behavior is common practice among Golden Eagles or whether this was an anomaly.  However, it was fascinating to watch and a little horrible too.

 

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