In Praise of a Dog Park

Mitch Chapman

2020-04-03 16:35

I live in Santa Fe, in a sort of depression. The area was a Japanese-American internment camp in WWII. Sometimes I call it "the hole".

These days the governor wants us all to stay at home except for essential travel. I'm guessing we shouldn't be heading out to the national forests, so most of my meanderings are now in the hood.

I'm coming to appreciate "the hole" more and more. It's no mountainside, but climbing out of it is still good exercise.

At the top is the Frank Ortiz dog park. It used to be a garbage dump, though possibly not an official one. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

The thing about the dog park is, it has great views.

The Landscape

Santa Fe Watershed
under water at 10,000 ft

Jemez Mountains, Winter Dawn — Jemez Mountains, winter dawn

Wildlife

The dog park has a lot of wild residents and transients, too.

Ladderbacked Woodpecker feeding on a yucca
(eating aphids, I think)

Corvids

Piñon Jays
I like their half-crazed, laughing call.
It's startling to see one skillfully reach into a piñon and twist off a cone with its beak.
Changing climate may force them to move on from northern New Mexico.

Little Birds

Male black-chinned hummingbird, resting — Male black-chinned hummingbird
resting after an arcing airshow

Juniper Titmouse
Like the jays these may disappear, if the junipers and piñon die out.

Spotted Towhee, greeting the dawn — Spotted Towhee
Greeting the dawn

Cassin's Vireo and breakfast caterpillar — Cassin's Vireo
and breakfast caterpillar

Raptors and Falcons

Red-tailed hawk
I see these mainly in winter.

Sharp-shinned hawk - alert and unafraid — Sharp-shinned hawk
Alert and unafraid

A Cooper's (or is it a sharp-shinned?) hawk trails a raven.

Merlin and prey
I've only ever seen these small terrors during winter migration.

Ground Pounders

Jackrabbits

Blacktailed Jackrabbit, just before it casually speeds away — Blacktailed jackrabbit, about to jump to lightspeed
I rarely see more of these creatures than their long legs, loping away.
I can't imagine why they're so shy, with so many dogs around.

Blacktailed Jackrabbit munching piñon needles — Munching piñon needles

Cottontails

Rodents

Botta's Pocket Gopher – with its poor eyesight, I don't think it saw me — Botta's Pocket Gopher
With its poor eyesight, I don't think it saw me.

Reptiles

Little Striped Whiptail
These can mate with western whiptails to form a female-only hybrid species, the New Mexico Whiptail, that reproduces by parthenogenesis.

Plants

This is high desert, dominated by junipers and piñon. As you get used to the landscape a variety of plants becomes visible.

CamphorweedCowpen Daisy — I'm forever, mistakenly, calling it "camphorweed"

Prickly pear - their blooms remind me of shaved ginger — Prickly pear
Their blooms remind me of shaved ginger.

Claret Cup Hedgehog Blossom
Its subtle detail reminds me of scanning electron microscope imagery.

Hedgehog and Hummingbird — Hummingbird - aerial refueling

Good Fortune

Santa Fe has several nice neighborhoods. I used to think that one of those might have suited me better. Right now this seems an ideal place, where a few minutes of effort can yield a complete change of scenery.