Canyon and River

The pond, throwing a miniature tidal wave against the shore. Later that same evening the horned owl glided in on noiseless wings, waded to the center of the pool where it splashed and drank simultaneously before flying off into the night. With wings that were wet, however, it was no longer noiseless and the swish of its primaries panicked the deer within hearing range and for an hour afterward the pool remained deserted.

Shortly before the rising sun lightened the sky in the direction of Tucson the clear-cut whistles of the Palmer thrashers broke the stillness, and as daylight brought color and detail to saguaro silhouettes a diurnal invasion of the pool began. Just as the early evening marked the greatest concentration for the night hours, the early morning marked it for the hours of daylight. The first visitor was usually a tiny cottontail, an animal that would suddenly appear in the half-light, drink for a moment, and then wander off down the ravine. Although I roamed the surrounding territory during every hour of the day's twenty-four I never encountered this animal away from the waterhole and I have often wondered from what distance he came to procure his meager daily drink.

As his bobbing tail disappeared from view the white winged doves would leave their nearby nests and start concentrating in the area until ocotillo branches, normally vertical, were bent to horizontal positions by the weight oftheir combined numbers. Finally when two or three hundred were clustered on the bushes, one more venturesome than the rest would drop to the ground and walk to the waterhole. This was the signal for the invasion and his example would be followed by others until the ground itself seemed to be moving and converging toward a common center. The first doves to reach the water would literally dip in their bills to eye level and after satisfying their thirst with a single long gulp would fly off and make room for those crowding behind.

When the doves' ranks commenced to thin, the other birds of the region could be seen approaching, either singly or in pairs, and for the remainder of the day the pool had little rest between visitants. Harris ground squirrels sidled their way to the water's edge and throughout their roundabout approach their bushy tails were flicked from side to side in a manner that made this appendage the most notable part of the animals. It was almost as though they had matador blood in their veins and were enticing unseen predators to attack the capes and not the bodies.

Noon and four o'clock brought other definite influxes of doves to augment those that dropped in throughout all daylight hours, and then as the sun sank in the west and the time for the deer visitation drew closer several black-tailed jack rabbits would wander toward the pool. There was nothing hurried about their approach and nothing direct