Guadalupe Mountains National Park flora and fauna · Flora and fauna in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
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Flora and fauna in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Flora and fauna in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
The park is largely covered with the usual flora of the Chihuahuan desert (prickly-pear cactus, ocotillo, various yuccas, etc.), but one of its more startling features is a significant stand of native maple trees, quite an outlier in this ecosystem. The maple leaves turn a brilliant red in late fall and can be seen to good advantage from McKittrick Canyon and vicinity. Higher up in the mountains significant remnant forests of ponderosa, pinon and spruce exist, most notably in the area known as "the bowl".
Top predators of the park ecosystem are mountain lion and black bear, but neither are frequently seen. Encounters with coyotes, gray fox, raccoon, and ringtail cat (one of the characteristic species of the park) are more common. Mule deer and elk are the largest herbivores and mostly stay in the mountains, but javelinas are more typical of the desert floor. While bat populations are not as concentrated or as famous as in the "Bat Cave" section of nearby Carlsbad Caverns, there are still 15 or so species of bats that take refuge in the smaller caves of the park.
Over 300 bird species are known from the Guadalupes, although many of them are rare visitors. Large birds include golden eagle, various species of hawk, turkey vulture and sandhill crane. Many species of finch and warbler are present. There are few waterfowl except for accidental visitors during migration season. The largest venomous snake of the park is the western diamondback rattlesnake, but other rattlesnake species are also present. (Not to worry; your chances of a rattler encounter aren't high, although some caution is indicated when out on the trails around sunrise or sunset.)
The park is also home to three different species of the unusual horned lizard.
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.