Geococcyx californianus
 

Doña Ana County

Doña Ana County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico.  Its county seat is Las Cruces, also the largest city in the county and second-largest in New Mexico. Smaller towns in the county include Mesilla, Doña Ana, Hatch, and Organ. The county has a total area of 3,815 square miles. The county contains a number of prominent geographical features, most notably the Mesilla Valley (the flood plain of the Rio Grande river) going north to south through the center and the Organ Mountains along the county's eastern edge. Other mountain ranges in the county are the Robledo Mountains, Doña Ana Mountains, Sierra de las Uvas, the southern end of the San Andres Mountains, East Potrillo Mountains, and West Potrillo Mountains, as well as two small, isolated mountains, Tortugas (or A) Mountain on the east and Picacho Peak on the west side of Las Cruces. The county also includes one of New Mexico's four large lava fields, the Aden Malpais, and one of the world's largest maare volcanoes, Kilbourne Hole. A huge bubble of steam was produced which blew out a large crater.  It was not necessary for the lava and magma to build up a mountainous deposit. The crater is thought to be 80,000 years old.

Yucca Flower