SOUTHWEST ~

Cliff Palace
( Mesa Verde )

[ Random travel notes, not in sequence: northern New Mexico, southern Colorado, west Texas ]

Cliff dwellings facing west.

Mutton grass in wind. The

curling two lane.

Junipers abound. Blue

berries. Guide says they're used

to flavor gin.

And seasoning once, for

the Anasazi.

Rice grass, too, popped

or fried, food for

mule deer. Bitterbrush.

Uses. Bark for kiva roofs,

menstrual pads, diapers.

Pine pitch waterproofing

baskets, smoothed along

arrow shafts, wood handles.

Scarlet gilia, fendler, yucca.

Rope, cord, snares, & belts.

Plant flesh, man flesh, earth.

Sandals, roots, syrups. The

small white moth in the

yucca flower.

.





Intellectual, explorer, thief,

Gustaf Nordenskiold published

The Cliff Dwellers on the Mesa Verde

in 1893.





.





STATUS



P      Permanent resident

S      Summer resident

W    Winter resident

T      Transient (this also includes a summer visitor, post-nesting

         wanderer, and an elevational wanderer)

X      Breeding unknown

?       Breeding postulated

N      Not seen in the park in the last 10 years



Wood stork, Snow Goose, Ring-billed Gull, Franklin Gull, Marbled Godwit,

Ptarmigan, Pheasant, Chukar, Gambel's Quail, White-breasted Woodpecker,

Three-toed Woodpecker, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Gray Jay, Golden-crowned

Kinglet, Red Crossbill, Bobolink, Water Pipit, Swainson's Thrush, Sage Thrasher,

Phainopepla, Nashville Warbler, Lucy's Warbler, Grace's Warbler, Common

Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Painted Bunting, Lincoln's Sparrow, Harris'

Spoarrow, Fox Sparrow, Black-chinned Sparrow, and Song Sparrow.



HABITAT  TYPES


Mesa Top

North Rim

Side Canyons

Deep Canyons

Riparian





.





The Animas flows

past Durango


here we picnic





.





And by what's left of the Pecos

___________________

Kim Dorman

from Gleanings / fragments / addendum december 2013

(Houston)