Zion Park Big Horn and Hummingbirds

Desert Big Horn Sheep sunning themselves

We head from 45 degree temperatures on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to the 80s in Zion National Park, passing the Vermillion cliffs marking the edge of the Colorado plateau once again. In Zion, we take the Zion-Carmel Highway, toward the eastern boundary of the park. This road is under construction, so we have to wait about 10 minutes before entering the 1 mile long tunnel. On the other side is the slick rock section of the park, which looks a lot like grey or red piles from either cows or more likely elephants. The most famous rock formation here is the Checkerboard mesa which is criss-crossed with cracks on its white face. Our most unusual site, however, is a herd of about 20 desert bighorn sheep sunning themselves on the rocks. There are 3 large rams, several younger males with spike horns as well as lots females. They nicely pose on the rocks while we and many others are taking photos. Unfortunately, one woman decides to get closer to the sheep and they decide to head down the valley to avoid her and begin feeding.

View on Canyon Overlook hike

Mary and I try to hike the ½ mile trail to the Canyon Overlook. It must be over 200 stairs, which Mary manages, but then just before the viewpoint, it becomes a trail along the side of a cliff and the railings disappear. I hike the final 200 yards to the viewpoint and its fabulous view of the Zion valley with red and white rock formations towering over it. The thunder and lightning start and we manage to head down in about ½ the time it took to climb.
We had a hot Mexican meal in town at Café Oscar on the outdoor patio, followed that evening by a great ranger talk on hummingbirds. Did you know that hummingbirds have to eat 10 calories a day, that’s equivalent to us eating 125,000 a day? She has great pictures of several species of hummingbirds. Most interesting were some of their nests made of plant fiber (like the cotton from cottonwood trees or cattails) and held together with 1200 feet of spider web. The nests are camouflaged to fit the environment around them. The female lays 2 eggs about 1/3 the size of a dime, but this is equivalent to a woman having a 25 pound baby. She then feeds the two young birds with a mixture of nectar and insect parts for several weeks. The spider web allows the nest to expand as the fledglings grow bigger until they finally fly off.