“Lovebirds” Photo by Carla DeMarco
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Last spring, our second in Southern New Mexico, my wife and I discovered that this part of the country has the most shameless bunch of birds we have ever seen. I mean, it’s disgraceful!
They sing all day, sometimes even into the night, and they want us to think they are a charming delight, but we know what they’re really up to. It’s caboodling. That’s what they’re really up to. Birds can’t outsmart us!
I don’t know which species is the most disgraceful.
The white wing dove, old "Johnny one note," may be the most persistent. All day long, these birds perch on power lines, fences, roofs and tree branches, and they call out to each other, over and over and over. Occasionally, they pair up and fly away together, right out in the open, where anyone can see them, with the "C" word on their minds.
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Las Cruces, NM. Photo courtesy Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau
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Tucked into the southern Rio Grande Valley, with the jagged Organ Mountains rising to the east, Las Cruces is the second largest city in New Mexico, the seat of Doña Ana County, and home to the nation’s only Chile Institute. This clean, modern metropolis with a population of 72,000 bears many architectural reminders of its rich Spanish heritage.
Las Cruces first saw Spanish explorers around 1535. Four hundred years ago, members of the Juan de Oñate expedition refreshed themselves in its verdant valleys before embarking on a shortcut to northern New Mexico so treacherous it became known as the Journey of Death, or Jornada del Muerto. The name Las Cruces means "The Crosses" and refers to the graves of travelers who met with the wrath of Apaches.
The westward frontier expansion from 1850 – 1875 wrought destruction on Native Americans living in the new outposts of civilization. As Apache tribes diminished and the railroad was constructed, Las Cruces’ population began to flourish.
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