"Wildlife encounters" Top 5 Page for this destination Carlsbad Off The Beaten Path Tip by Bwana_Brown

I was not really expecting to see much wildlife at the mine site! However, this Desert Cottontail, a member of the rabbit family, seemed to have settled in for good amongst some old sections of metal electrical switchgear cabinets that had been hauled out for junk and were just sitting there rusting away topside. These cute little creatures inhabit the American west from Montana all the way down into Texas and over into Mexico and California. It did not seem very skittish compared to the Snowshoe Hares common in eastern Canada where I grew up. I came across it on several occassions as I walked from our office to the Cage Hoist for another trip to the depths!

The 2nd photo shows a creature I was really interested to see - a Roadrunner! Seeing it brought back pleasant memories of all the laughs I had decades ago watching one of these outwit 'Wile E. Coyote' on the Warner Brothers cartoon shows! Sure enough, there was this largest member of the Cuckoo family trotting around the mine site (they can reach almost 20 mph) - always wary to maintain a safe distance from humans. On a couple of occasions I noticed that the Roadrunner seemed to have a morsal of some sort in its beak - and was saddened to learn from one of the site secretaries that it would occassionally fly up when necessary to grab young Swallows from their nests beneath the building eaves (3rd photo).

The 4th photo shows a rear view of a squirrel in the backyard of the house I was using for my residence. On more than one late afternoon, as the sun was setting, I noticed it laying flat on its belly atop our surrounding rock wall with its legs splayed out as it soaked up a few rays. It lay there motionless for hours - something I had never seen a squirrel do before.