Torpor and turkey

The last few nights have been cold: when I got up this morning, before the sun's arrival, it was 34 degrees. In spite of that there are still a number of insects. I find them in the Mexican woolly sage (Salvia leucantha), hanging on as if dead until the sun warms them sufficiently to get on with their job. This beautiful plant is a hit with the hummingbirds, butterflies and the various varieties of bees and bumble bees, and it gets a lot of attention from our human visitors too. This morning I caught this bumble bee warming up.

I have been meaning to include the turkey vultures in this blog, but I found I am too late this year. They have left for Mexico, or other, warmer, places. We have a flock of them that roost by the mailboxes in a stand of big mesquites. Early in the fall mornings, at least until this week, they sit on fence posts with their backs to the sun, wings spread out to catch more heat. It is quite a spectacular sight as they are big birds (up to 32" tall and with a 6-foot wingspan), and I am sorry I cannot include a picture.

Talking about turkey, when I wrote the Riggs Lake blog I forgot to mention that we saw some wild turkeys on our way down. They are big birds too (36"-48"), and while I did manage to take a picture while they were wandering off, you will probably be asking yourself, where are the turkeys? They are there, honest...