Today was really a cool day. First, the temperature was upwards of 87 degrees until we ended the day in the desert. Then it finally got over 90 degrees after we hit the highway. The second reason this day was cool was my friend and I went into this old mine drift. Shafts are vertical, and drifts are horizontal.
Upon entering the large opening I hollered "Hey" to see if there would be an echo. There was no echo, but a large Owl flew out. It was the most beautiful sight seeing that bird in flight, plus I've never been that close to an Owl before. I walked into the mine, and my friend mentioned that it smelled pretty bad. When I got closer, I recognized it as a large pile of Bat guano.
When I got near pile of guano, another Owl flew out, but landed on a ledge about 15 feet above me. It kept looking down at me, and showed now signs of fear.
The smell was getting bad, so I started out, but noticed what looked like a ball of grey fur on the floor. Walked over to it and noticed it was a baby owl. Wow, things are getting better. I wanted a good picture of it, so I moved in closer to take the picture.
At first I thought it was dead, but then I saw it breathing. I was positioning myself for another picture when I heard this clicking/snapping noise about 6-7" from my hand holding my phone/camera. Wow again! There was another baby owl and it looked pissed off. I told my buddy to let's get out of here so mom and pop could return.
Before the Owl episode, we were driving on this road, and what I first thought was a deer turned out to be a Jack Rabbit. I've never seen legs that long on a Jack Rabbit before. It also looked kind of sickly. This particular rabbit is not the one I first saw that even my friend said was huge. I even saw a Cotton Tail that looked larger than a normal Poodle.
The reason I was out in the desert was mostly for exploring an area I hadn't been into yet, but my friend was after a particular sized Mesquite trunk or stump. We got 2 galls that were at least 24" diameter and 4 feet long. No pictures of that. Sorry.
There also was this Bee hive at the mine entrance.
.............. Jerry (in Tucson)