The New Store

We’ve got a new store.

Like the Blue Grouse – soon to be the Dusky Blue Grouse and the Sooty Blue Grouse – the Fat Finch is a short-distance migrant, so we only moved a short distance south of the old place. In fact, the new habitat is exactly one minute south of the old one. And on the other side of the street.

And we did move in late autumn, just like Blue Grouses, but unlike them, we have no intention of returning north next spring. We like the new habitat and intend on living there year round. No reason to expend precious resources and calories migrating when there is no need. We’re confident that we’ll find adequate food and shelter at the new store.

Assuming, of course, that our customers continue to enjoy shopping with us and find the things they need and want. Capitalism, for small businesses, is a competitive ecology and only the fit survive to pass along their genes. We know that our customers are at the top of the food chain and we treat them accordingly.

The new store is a bit smaller and much cozier, but we still carry a full range of birding supplies, gifts, cards, and books. And, if you’d like to know more about the Blue Grouse, we’ve put a comfortable chair right next to the bookcase and don’t mind a bit if you want to come by and read for a while.

You can eat too. There is a nice restaurant, The Calico Cafe,  thirty paces across the parking lot. And a secretive steak house too. We have yet to eat our way through the restaurant’s menu, but so far everything is good. (We always start a restaurant off with its green chile. After all, if it doesn’t have green chile on it, what good is it?)

Of course, the on-line store had no need to migrate so it remains where it has always been.

If you find yourself in New Mexico, come see us. You’ll like the new habitat. The address is 6855 Fourth St NW, Suite D, Los Ranchos, NM 87107 and the phone number remains the same, 505-898-8900.

 

 

 

 

Early Morning

There were four of them and they came at dawn.  The sun had just crested the rim far to the east and our coffee was gone. The male was domineering; discontented with his women who were dithering along behind him, vaguely flirting with two males of an alien species.  The night had been clear and cold, punctuated by Orion and his loyal hunting dog Sirius, silently stalking across the night sky. A small ravine behind us plunged off a cliff into a 4000-foot abyss and before us a small group of baby Aspen trees stood before an old, majestic Ponderosa Pine like kindergarten kids in front of a beloved teacher.  We were all there together in a house made of dawn.

But the male was not a poet and didn’t care about the beauty of the time. Skulking in the grass, he began making mild threats.  When that didn’t work, he flared his tail.  But even that wasn’t enough, so he marched out, right out into the open, demanding that they come.  And so, without a backward glance, they left us.

Grouchy Blue Grouse Male