New Mexico Creatures

As always, I found many interesting animals during last week's trip to New Mexico. Here are some that I was able to photograph.

A Rocky Mountain bee plant was attracting several species of hummingbirds and, of course, bees like the one above and the large, black one below


I found this large scarab beetle along the upper Gila River.

The industrious harvester ants below this mound had cleared a large area of all vegetation, with the exception of a low-growing forb.


I wonder if these plants resist the ants or if they provide a resource that encourages the ants to keep them around.

I think this is a young Woodhouse's toad.

Here are some large, out-of focus mule deer with antlers in velvet in the Gila uplands.

And, one of my favorite animal species, a female Black-chinned Hummingbird perched in my favorite tree species, Rio Grande cottonwood.