Westward NABs

It has been a busy week here at Intrigued HQ. Progressing nicely through the backlog of fixes to props that experienced a malfunction on the trail last year – that amount has been steadily decreasing each year as we continue to “harden” our designs and implementations. The main issue tends to be the trek down and then back up from the valley each year as all the jostling tends to awaken the “spirits in the machine” so to speak. Was able to add a new section of shelving in the outbuilding yesterday to accommodate our every-increasing sized props. Linda declared the prop development has to end when that fills up. I simply pointed at all the leftover 2x4s. I can hear the voice from the cornfield “Build more shelves and the props will come” hehehe. Also getting ahead of all the homestead upkeep. A lot of this push is due to successfully getting my ankle surgeon appointment moved up to tomorrow and bracing for the likely bad news. Trying to keep as much work off of Linda as possible if I’m put out of service for a while. I know I’ll need to rely heavily on Brad to keep you entertained during that recovery, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Sit back and enjoy a few NABs found on our trips out West.

There are a lot more NABs after the jump!

It is no mystery what we are primarily after when the Intrigued staff are out in the field. If you spend any time here, you already know that our sights are set on finding and tinning all the feathered creatures we can. From time to time we do find ourselves observing those specimens that cover themselves in a “fluffier” coat. These we affectionately call NABs or “Not a Bird’s. Brad has recently brought you one of these from their Alaska adventures (link here). Now it is my turn to put a spotlight on several specimens we spotted while on our Arizona/Nevada travels. Warning, we are not as versed on NAB identification as we are on the feathered collective, so apologies if we misnamed any of these animals.

Ahead of the jump, we kicked it off with a Cat. To be honest, I am not exactly sure what kind of Cat it is, but the likely guess is a Bobcat (link here). I wish it would have given me a better shot at the tell-tale tail. Instead, it just laid there and enjoyed a nice siesta in the sun dreaming of putting those huge paws to use. This “Bob?”Cat was spotted at the Arizona-Senora Desert Museum outside Tucson, AZ (link here). We were reluctant at first to make the visit primarily based on the price. $30 per person with no reciprocity to other zoo, botanical gardens etc. memberships. After realizing the priced, we opted to visit the Saguaro National Park just down the road. After doing more research later that night, we decided to make the investment based on many recommendations on the web. The next day we opened up the pocketbook to see what it was all about – my brother Ron was with us as well.

Soooo glad we did. That place is absolutely amazing and had a great time! It was a tough hurdle to overcome to win us over after the disappointment in the entry fee, but they managed to do just that. There is a mixture of desert history, native background, zoo specimens, the best gem/mineral display I’ve ever seen and to Linda’s horror, a reptile area that is amazing. All this is navigated by a nice trail system that takes you out into the desert biosphere. To my absolute astonishment, they had my second favorite NAB to the Wolf – the Ocelot. I became a huge fan of this endangered (in the US) and rarely seen nocturnal Cat several years ago.

The Ocelot is gorgeous and we are always on the lookout for one whenever we visit Laguna Atascosa during our trips to South Texas. There have been spottings there and that happens to be the NWR’s mascot. The only other place we have seen them is at the Corpus Christi Texas State Aquarium (link here). (Side note, one of my most viewed YouTube videos was taken there – link here).

Moving on from the Cats, here is a very familiar NAB that is easily recognizable with its bushy tail and satellite dished ears. This was spotted at Red Mountain Park in Mesa. That park, by the way, is quite nice with a large lake and paved walking paths that gives excellent access to the local inhabitants (link here).

“I like big [eared] Bunnies, I can not lie. Oh, baby I wanna get with ya and take your picture.” When it comes to the cutest Bunnies, I have to get it to the West. Those oversized feet paired with those big ears make me melt every single time.

Here is another specimen we found at Desert Museum – just look at those ears!

This next NAB comes with a bit of angst. Here at the homestead we are in a never ending battle with three devious members of the animal kingdom. Tops on that list are the Trash Pandas (link here). Whoever is responsible for giving them opposable thumbs hates me. Next on the list is the Mole – ugly, malicious and downright destructive whenever they realize were away on an extended trip. Rounding out that list is the Chipmunk. Some will say charming, others cute – all clearly urbanites that don’t have to deal with these devil spawn under-digging their concrete and patios. However, when spotted from afar (as in multiple states over) I’ll still snap a picture. This happens to be a Harris’s Antelope Squirrel (link here).

Sticking with the Ground Squirrel family, next up is the Rock Squirrel (link here). This one was found at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ (link here). If you are not familiar with this location, put it on our list to visit the next time you are in that area. It is an absolutely incredible urban park that will keep you entertained for hours. Multiple lakes, diverse habitats, nice walkways, numerous events and even tent camping if you so desire.

Birders will enjoy this target rich environment. If you recall, this is where we stumbled upon the Streak-Backed Oriole (link here). Note, this place can get busy, especially if they are having one of their kid events. Get there early before the crowd comes and the large parking lots start to fill up.

Continuing westward, we find ourselves at the Lake Mead National Recreational Area. Yes, this is the same location as the recent Western/Clark’s Grebe post (link here). It was on that very same outing that we came in contact with this desert mainstay, the Coyote.

This one was spotted rapidly moving just off the waterline below the BLM camping area. It was definitely on a mission and looking intently ahead as it navigated the rocks and sand in its way. So intently in fact, it didn’t see me standing there taking its picture as it moved past. A late reaction (and my foot slip on some pebbles) alerted it to my presence.

Wasn’t exactly sure what it was going to do as I was relatively close and essentially trapped between it and the water – swimming with The Beast was not on the agenda that day. After a 30 second assessment, it turned its attention in the original direction, cocked its ears forward and headed onward. Would have been nice to get a picture of it swimming (based on its wet coat) as I have never witnessed that before – the packs around here don’t go in the water (that I have seen).

While visiting Saguaro National Park West (the day we didn’t go to the museum), we came upon a creature that always makes us Midwesterners chuckle – the Mule Deer. When you are from the “Land of the Big Bucks”, seeing this puny looking member of the Deer family makes you wonder if they shrunk in the rain or desert sun. This little guy was strolling through near the visitor center trail loop.

Unlike the Coyote, it spotted us immediately and proceeded to show off its rack. Not bad from a Mule deer perspective, but it would get laughed off the playground compared to our White-Tailed specimens. Now they do have much larger ears than our WTs – cute on their Bunnies…admittedly goofy on their Deer ha!

Per the above discussion on the Ocelot coming in second only to my affinity for the Wolf, I bring you the Mexican variety. I’ve been captivated by Wolves ever since my first visit to Ely, MN to see the International Wolf Center. Great place to visit, but bring your most potent Mosquito repellent or you will be carried away. Add to that the numerous encounters in the wild in Yellowstone National Park and they have a fan for life. Maybe this is the first time you noticed the Intrigued logo is a Wolf (see upper left corner of this webpage). I will say this endangered Mexican variety at the Desert Museum does look significantly smaller than the ones we’ve seen elsewhere (link here). Raven and Ruger wish their kindred Desert Dog a long and happy life.

Last up is Wynona.

“Wynona’s got herself a big brown beaver
And she shows him off to all her friends“

Let’s be clear, I can’t stand Primus – never have, never will, but along with Naked Gun’s “nice Beaver” this is always the standard response when coming upon this creature (link here)…well, for guys I guess hehehe.

Well, that brings us to the end of my NAB feature.

Hope you enjoyed this change of pace. I do not tend to take enough shots of a specific NAB to feature in a post by itself, but always fun to group them together.

Oh, I also recently put out a new post from our Haunt Department. This one is a bit long and more of a haunt tool focus, but if you are interested in our custom tools we use to make our props you can check it out here:

or directly if the embedded link doesn’t work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WBrH6MT5Wc

Take care everyone, I’ll let you know what the surgeon says on our next post.