WILDLIFE
A Welcoming Habitat
The open land, native vegetation and two ponds with running water offer an inviting habitat for the many animals and birds who visit or make Talahogan their home.
Water--Vital in a Semi-Arid Climate
In the high desert climate of Red Rock Country, the ponds—front and back—are critical for wildlife, particularly as the climate warms, precipitation becomes less predictable, and the American Southwest suffers from long-term drought. The regular denizens of Talahogan visit the two ponds daily, and many of the birds bathe in the shallow creek. For other animals these are local watering holes they frequent during hot, dry periods. From afar, the animals can hear the sound of the small creek.
Quail Dining Room
The "Quail Dining Room" (aka bird feeder) has been a fixture of Talahogan's habitat for at least 70 years and is visited daily by the resident covey of Gambel's Quail, blue jays, cardinals, bushtits, and array of other wild birds. Despite the sign--or perhaps because of it!--the bird feeder is crashed by other denizens looking to feast on the gourmet birdseed...or alas the quail themselves!
A Birder’s Paradise
Red Rock Country is home--permanent and seasonal--to myriad wild birds that frequent Talahogan’s inviting habitat. Birders particularly will delight in the wide variety of feathered creatures that abound yearlong or in different seasons—roadrunner, great blue heron, ash-throated flycatcher, Crissal thrasher, Northern flicker, ladderback woodpecker, yellow-hooded oriole, phainopepla, Western kingbird, collared dove, Cressen finch, Western cardinal, spotted towhee, Woodhouse scrub jay, American robin, bushtit, Say's Phoebe, varieties of hummingbirds, among others.
Talahogan's Resident Fox!
While most wildlife come and go on this unfenced property, some have made Talahogan their home for years, like Zorro, a grey fox. An excellent climber, Zorro makes his home on the rooftop by the chimney of the old cabin where he finds haven nightly from predators such as coyotes and bobcats. He's a welcome fulltime resident, quiet and respectful, and earning his keep by keeping pack rats and other rodents on the property in check!