The summer rains have reached Southern New Mexico, we can look forward to the desert becoming greener and even more beautiful.  The Chihuahuan Desert is home to many beautiful flowers. Here are a few to keep an eye out for on your next hike.

For links to additional information on these flowers, go to our plants list at https://jornada.nmsu.edu/jornada/species/jer-plants

One winter’s evening, as the last light of the sun leaves the sky dark, you step out your front door and hear the cawing of what seems like hundreds of black birds. And there, by your car, in the tree is a sight seemingly from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The tree is filled with birds, lots of them.  Are they watching you? Waiting for you to turn your back as you open your car door? They seem to have a disturbing purpose, just waiting for the right moment, for you.

Have you ever been walking in the early summer afternoon and suddenly had a bird fly at your head? Or let your dog out into the backyard and a bird dive-bombs at her over and over again? Next time this happens, have a close look at the perpetrator; it just might be the Western Kingbird.