Holbrook, AZ is near an outstanding National Park:  Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.  We’ve been here before, but thought it worth another stop.  250 Million years ago in the Triassic, it was a steamy jungle with huge trees near the equator which has since shifted!  Lots of different layes of minerals in the sand.

What looks like boulders here is actuallly pieces of petrified logs!

The bird of the day is:  Common Raven!  Actually the only bird we identified (saw another flit into a bush, but couldn’t find it!  There were pairs (they mate for life) sitting at many of the parking areas, talking to the people (begging).  A sad commentary on the state of man and beast.

The day we returned we actually found a small flock of House Finches at the south entrance Museum grounds, plus 2 Loggerhead Shrikes.  So added 2 more birds – but that was it!  Also walked the crystal path with some close-ups of the petrified logs.  They vary in color from white, to gray, black, purple, pink, deep red/rust, orange, yellow, green – an amazing color palette.

On to TX and hopefully, lots more birds.