Staying Put for a Few Days

 May 2, 2019

Thursday: We like this New Mexico campground so much that we decided to park here for several days to get organized and catch up on our books that we’re both working on.

We got up fairly early and walked around the campsite to look for birds. It’s very windy and chilly, so we didn’t have high hopes, but we did see some birds that we haven’t seen before on this trip. We found several Gambel’s quail, including a male/female pair, hanging out in the dry creekbed that borders the campground, and got a good look at them. These are large quail, about the size of the big white-winged doves that are everywhere in these western states—much bigger than our Virginia quail. The male has a large curly plume on its head. We also see a Bullock’s oriole, with an orange-yellow belly, very flashy. We’re still trying to get a better look at the bird that we think is a curve-billed thrasher, to get a positive ID, but no luck on that so far. According to my reading, the painted bunting COULD be here, but it’s probably still a little bit early for it.

It’s remarkably cold and windy here, down in the 40s at night, and it only got up to the mid-60s today. After our morning birdwatching expedition, we hunkered down in the van to work and catch up on bill paying and correspondence. Nice and comfy inside. Our propane furnace works great to heat it up quickly in the mornings and then the sun keeps it warm during the day.

After lunch we walked over to the park museum, a nice collection that documents the raid of Pancho Villa’s troops into this town of Columbus, NM in March of 1916. About 350 of his men came over the border into the US at 3 am and attacked the small garrison of soldiers (here as border guards) and the town itself. 

Pancho and some of his men

They burned a number of buildings and killed 10 U.S. civilians and 8 U.S. soldiers. The U.S. soldiers finally managed to get their automatic rifles 

engaged and killed quite a few of the Mexicans in a crossfire and drove them back over the border. This raid absolutely enraged the entire U.S., judging by the newspaper articles and posters preserved in the museum. 

It was seen similarly to the 9/11 attack in our time. Pancho Villa was then Public Enemy #1, just like Osama bin Laden became. We were trying to maintain neutrality in the Mexican Revolution, so it was seen as a sneak attack by supposed friends.

In response President Woodrow Wilson ordered a punitive expedition into Mexico, under Gen. John Pershing, which ended up being an army of 10,000 infantry and cavalry invading Mexico, looking for Villa and his men. 

Pershing and his 10,000 man army of infantry and cavalry.

This sleepy little town turned into a massive army base of operations. 

 

The way our park looked back in 1916

Our troops were in Mexico for a year, chasing around after Villa and his “Villistas.” Pershing never caught Villa, but he fought several battles and captured and hung a number of Mexican soldiers. The whole operation is noteworthy from a military standpoint because it really marked a transition from a “horse-and-wagon” based army into a semblance of what modern warfare has become. Pershing changed during this time from riding a horse into battle to riding in a staff-driven automobile, 

 

Pershing's Dodge staff car.

and even airplanes were used for the first time, for reconnaissance and resupplying.

 (Remember, airplanes as practical machines had only been invented 13 years prior to this by the Wright brothers.) Some vehicles resembling armored tanks were used in this expedition too. 

Even though you could say the expedition was a failure because Pancho Villa wasn’t caught, it gave our army a headstart on being well prepared for World War I, which we entered just a year later, in 1917. In fact, Pershing was sent straight from Mexico into World War I and made a big name for himself.

 After our tour, we came back to the van and did a little more birding without too much success—too windy and cold. We worked, ate supper, and watched a DVD before turning in.

Bird species count: Vermilion flycatcher, turkey vulture, Bell’s vireo, *golden-fronted woodpecker, Say’s phoebe, northern cardinal, greater roadrunner, house finch, common raven, *northern rough-winged swallow, *summer tanager, *prothonotary warbler, *yellow-breasted chat, *yellow-rumped warbler, northern mockingbird, mourning dove, cliff swallow, Mexican jay, black-headed grosbeak, black-chinned  hummingbird, Wilson’s warbler, *Scott’s oriole, chipping sparrow, house sparrow, lesser goldfinch, black-crested titmouse, acorn woodpecker, scrub jay, *western kingbird, white-winged dove, *canyon towhee, *Grace’s warbler, *zone-tailed hawk, possible *curvebilled thrasher, Bullock’s oriole, Gambel’s quail.

State count: 9 [Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico]

Odometer count:

Surber, VA: 107,435

Columbus, NM: 111,332

Accommodations avg cost: 27 nights @ $15.63/night