If the perfect dayhike combines beauty, drama, and moderate physical activity, then a dayhike to the Frisco Box is perfection. The drive to the trailhead is scenic. The walk is pleasantly level. And the 3 mile trek climaxes in a startling box canyon the width of a large living room. Through this room flows the San Francisco River. Craggy rock walls rise above the stream bed, which in many places is also the canyon bottom. Amid this harsh geology, cottonwoods and alders have found a foothold, adding further lushness to the green of Virginia creeper, grapevine, willow, and wild rose.

In 1867, Simon Schwendener startled the scientific world when he announced to the Swiss Naturalists' Club that lichens were not the distinct organism they had long been thought to be, but rather were formed of two separate organisms: a fungus and an alga. Leading lichenologists were outraged at the radical idea; not for 50 years would Schwendener's theory be accepted. But once it was, lichens were seen as a classic example of a mutually-beneficial symbiosis: The alga, able to photosynthesize, provides food for the fungus; the fungus provides shelter and water to the alga. Some 20,000 kinds of this unique association grow on earth, living in almost every environment, from within Antarctic rocks to the surface of desert soils. Lichens can withstand years of desiccation by simply becoming dormant. They revive again with miniscule amounts of water - in the desert, humid night air suffices. While dormant, lichens can also stand searing heat and extreme cold; some species can survive temperatures as high as 180ºF and as low as 100ºF below freezing. Some arctic lichens are estimated to be over 4,000 years old, among the world's oldest plants.

Snakes are perhaps the most feared and hated animals in New Mexico, but people’s fear of snakes comes from lack of understanding and superstition. Snakes are not mysterious at all, and these fascinating creatures don’t deserve the anxiety many people feel about them. Of the 46 snake species found in New Mexico, only 8 are poisonous and potentially dangerous, including 7 species of rattlesnakes and a coral snake.

Kit foxes are almost exclusively nocturnal, and thus rarely seen. These smallest of North American foxes are beautifully adapted to life in the desert. Their pale coloring makes them nearly invisible against a background of light-colored desert soils. Thickly-furred paws allow them to trot silently as they go about their nightly rounds; the hair also helps them float on sandy soils. Large ears help these dusk-to-dawn hunters to pick up night sounds. Even their small size may work to their advantage, making it easier to keep cool.

While jogging down the irrigation ditchbank one afternoon, I heard a loud, rattling call. A not-quite-crow-sized bird flew up from a perch above the ditch with strong, precise wingbeats, headed downstream. Its distinctive silhouette included a daggerlike bill and a ragged crest atop a big head. Its plumage was sober blue above and pure white below. A wide blue-gray stripe crossed its chest.

One searingly hot summer afternoon, I spotted a thrasher standing quite still on the ground in the shade of a small tree. The thrasher's long curved bill was open and its wings slightly spread. At first I thought that it was sick. But then I noticed a plump white-winged dove perched on a branch overhead. It too held its mouth wide open; as I watched, I could see the skin of its throat pulsating rapidly.

Creosote bush's distinctive odor and the leaves' shiny appearance are due to a resinous, varnish-like coating which helps the plant keep from drying out. The sophisticated coating also screens the sun's harsh rays, sheltering the delicate inner cells from heat and ultraviolet light. And it discourages grazers - the mix of waxes, volatile oils and other compounds tastes terrible and is indigestible to most animals. Only one small grasshopper, which spends its entire life on creosote, happily munches the resinous leaves.

One evening in early May, I set out on a walk along the irrigation ditch at dusk. As I turned the corner onto the ditch road, I saw a cloud of birds flying back and forth, skimming low over the water, fluttering up over the road, then turning and flying back down the ditch like swimmers executing graceful laps.

Despite their size, great horned owls are often overlooked because of their camouflaging feather pattern and their ability to fly without making a sound. The forward edge of their flight feathers is serrated to disrupt the flow of air over the wing, thus eliminating the noise created by airflow over a smooth surface.

Centipedes are arthropods - critters with external, jointed skeletons like insects, or shrimp, and belong to their own class, Chilopoda, Greek for "thousand feet." Actually, centipedes rarely have more than 60 or 70 feet, and the same number of legs. Although often called insects, centipedes possess too many legs: Insects have six or fewer; centipedes never fewer than 30. Also, insect bodies are divided into three very different segments; centipede bodies are comprised of a tiny head and many similar segments, each sporting one pair of legs.

Here in New Mexico we are blessed with at least four varieties of predator felines, and I believe there is the remote possibility of a fifth type roaming secretly in the Southwest New Mexico bootheel. The smallest species of cat that inhabits our state is one you would never suspect of being a vicious killer of wildlife, but it is, nonetheless. I do not know its scientific name, so I will just call it "Fluffy", or the common house cat. It is one of the primary reasons why there are not more coveys of quail around. Fluffy is a very efficient killing machine, and besides quail, it will regularly prey on young rabbits, songbirds, and small reptiles.

The Best Places to Go Birding in Southern New Mexico Bosque del Apache NWR Sevilleta NWR Elephant Butte Lake State Park Caballo Lake State Park Bitter Lake NWR Roswell Mescalero Sands Carlsbad Caverns National Park Rattlesnake Springs Sitting Bull Falls

Southern New Mexico elevations range from under 3000 feet to mountains higher than 10,000 feet and cover five life zones from the Upper Sonoran through the Hudsonian. This variety of topography affords homes to birds as dissimilar as sandhill cranes wintering in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and the year-round water ouzel dipping and scratching its underwater way along the bottom of Whitewater Canyon in the Gila National Forest. In the summer, the air around feeders flashes with iridescent purples, greens, blues, and reds as incoming hummingbirds congregate. Some tropical birds such as the elegant trogon breed in a remote canyon of Southern New Mexico, one of the few places they can be seen in the United States.

Roadrunners' speed and agility allows them to catch venomous tarantulas, scorpions and centipedes without harming themselves; they also eat insects, lizards, small birds, cactus fruit and seeds. They rarely fly, instead sprinting as fast as 15 miles per hour across the desert. The roadrunner that I watch often catches lizards in our garden, snatching them and, since it lacks teeth, swallowing them whole. What doesn't fit hangs out of its mouth (like a child eating spaghetti!), the excess swallowed as the first digests. It also plucks dog food from a dish in the neighbor's yard.

A “glittering fragment of the rainbow” is how Aububon described the hummingbird. Part of summer in New Mexico is being dazzled and entertained by the antics of these little feathered bits of airborne jewelry.