Uncategorized Archives

Time With a Roadrunner

October 27, 2020October 4, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged birds, greater roadrunner2 Comments

Wildlife photography provides opportunities for one to observe something new and different and then with thoughts of capturing a photo. The typical photo of a greater roadrunner is like the one below:

Roadrunners are usually running off so to see this one for minutes was great fun! Greater roadrunners have a bushy crest capable of moving up and down, a long tail, and a blue skin patch behind their eye. While taking time to watch this bird more closely, I saw some behaviors new to me. With feathers spread out, the bird almost looked comical and I wondered what’s going on.

Was this bird trying to impress another bird? No other bird was obvious to me from the angle where I stood. I continued to watch with hopes I may capture the roadrunner preying on something, running off, or taking flight to a tree top. None of that happened, but I did see the bird’s bushy crest with an unusual look, something I had never seen before or at least not from the rear! Is that how it always looks when the bird puts the crest up?

Bushy crest looked funny from this angle!

It is wonderful to be in no rush while watching wildlife since otherwise I would not have seen this bird carrying on with this activity. Then I saw what looked like a piece of straw in its beak … was this bird courting? I still could not see another bird in the area.

I will never know what all that activity was about since the roadrunner ran away from me. It was an interesting number of minutes watching this bird. I was glad to have the time with no other people around to spook the bird. Moments like this are precious! It is easy to understand the value of the outdoors and taking time to be in it as often as one can. I wish everyone had this opportunity even if at a local park. I am fortunate!

Coyotes at Isabella Lee Natural Preserve

October 24, 2020September 28, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged coyotes6 Comments

Everyone is out here! I saw mountain biker, hiker, walkers with dogs, coyotes and birds. When I first started, 6:30am, a pack of coyotes outnumbered everyone; 8 coyotes ran through one section of this preserve! I saw one coyote and grabbed my camera. Then I watched one coyote wait for all in the pack to pass him and then he ran off too.

Birds were quiet this morning, but here were some I did see and photograph. I want to return here with my mountain bicycle when I know birding and photography are not my top priority.

Above, greater roadrunner, ash-throated flycatcher, Anna’s hummingbird, and Cooper’s hawk. Plenty of house finches, lesser goldfinches, mourning doves and some birds I have no idea what they are. Interesting place to spend some time!

Watching Wildlife

October 11, 2020October 9, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged birdsLeave a comment

The more time I spend with my photography the more I realize the time taken to watch wildlife pays off in also providing me time to think about my camera settings. At some point all may become second nature, but a recent outing did challenge me, photographically speaking.

My goal was to set my tripod in a waterway area where the elusive virginia rail may appear. I know from other bird reports, this shy bird is in the area and actually a resident, yet I have never seen it. While picking my hopeful spot I photographed the flame skimmer, a common dragonfly.

While still trying to locate the rail I moved along a trail listening to some birds scurrying around, and in, cattails and other reeds. I do not think I was bothering them, but no luck in seeing a rail, even after silently standing and waiting awhile. I understand the rail will hide in reeds if it feels disturbed.

I moved to a pond and watched a variety of birds preening their feathers. No doubt 4:00pm is time for personal care! I observed a pied-billed grebe for the longest amount of time because I usually see it as it dives for food and need to guess where it will re-emerge. This time it preened its feathers for at least 15 minutes. One thing I came to realize, it does eat some of the aquatic insects and food caught in its feathers while also preening. That makes sense since in its dive the feathers are capturing some of the water’s contents. I love the eyes of a pied-billed grebe so it was easy to stay watching this bird.

Others in the pond were American wigeons, green-winged teal, American coots, many mallards and blue-winged teal. All seemed content to preen.

With not the best quick changes of my camera settings, I did grab a photo of a ladder-backed woodpecker just above me, a black phoebe off to my left and a mallard flying overhead. I have so much to learn about bird photography, but thankfully I just love watching wildlife too.

Looking forward to another day outdoors and watching wildlife! I hope you too can enjoy the outdoors in a way that makes you happy.

What a Lovely Plant! Is It?

October 7, 2020September 19, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged poison ivyLeave a comment

For years I have been trying to learn the flora of the SW desert. I have pretty much given up unless it is the beautiful saguaro cactus or a few wildflowers. My energies to learn anything has been with the birds and about birds.

Recently I was in the “sky island” area of Mount Lemmon, north of Tucson. I purposely walked up a steep neighborhood road and when back down I decided to walk a path parallel to the main town road. All of a sudden I was saying to myself, what a lovely green healthy-looking plant, especially as it was among dried grasses.

As I moved closer to it, I realized this plant looked vaguely familiar! Oh yes, I believe this is western poison ivy, until one of my fellow naturalists tells me differently! So lush and and as a low-growing shrub at the side of this walking path, unlike the poison ivy I recognized in the east as a vine. I wondered how many people will identify and keep away from it since this plant does grow in this area.

In reading about western poison ivy, I learned with increased greenhouse gases this plant will grow faster. This is not good news for us humans since the plant would grow faster and produce more urushiol, the oily mixture which causes some of us an awful allergic skin rash. If our world does get warmer in the future, as predicted, more of this plant will be here. (Always a good idea to wear long pants when in the woods.)

I am providing a closer look at this plant so you can decide for yourself if it is western poison ivy. So far my apps are stating it is, but I will keep an eye on this plant next year and also look for its flowers, etc to know for sure since no doubt it will be there next year!

Tropical Kingbird …

September 28, 2020September 17, 2020Posted in UncategorizedLeave a comment

To view a variety of birds one must get outdoors in different environments. After being in a mountainous wooded area, I decided to check a park’s field in Tubac, AZ. Surprise, a tropical kingbird flies by and my camera was available to snap some photos!

Then the bird flew back to perch on the fence. I wondered what caught its attention …

Is that another insect for me to fly after and catch?

Five Acres to Roam

August 20, 2020July 28, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged Riparian areaLeave a comment

While physically distancing as we are right now during this pandemic, I look for various places to explore. Nearby is a 5 acre riparian-designated “do not build on” area I checked out. No trail is established, yet one pathway has been horse-ridden and walked upon by humans a few times. Today I decided to wander elsewhere.

I easily walked the wash, in both directions from where I began, and would love to see water in it someday! After a heavy rain I will come back and look.

Washes are the easiest places to walk in undeveloped areas.

Walking around the various types of cacti and mesquite trees, over ground squirrel holes, looking for snakes, and seeing lizards move away from me, I did see larger holes. I am unsure what is digging holes of this size, unless a javelina to get at roots. I did see some rabbits hopping around, birds in trees, and surprisingly a golf ball … with all the holes out here I am surprised it was not a hole in one! How did that ball get here!?!

Golfer missed the hole on left which is 10x larger than the golf ball!

Another surprise was a fire circle. I could only wonder why someone would char an entire chair?

No established trail from the chair; I suspect someone hid here for a night.

I am always looking for bird nests, but had no luck today. Instead I saw some huge pile of wood on the ground… maybe a … hmmm…. not sure or just a wood pile. I did sneak around to locate a cicada … yes, success … you may have read about it on my July 23 blog post.

Need to look closer at the wood pile; finally saw a cicada!

No doubt more exploring needs to happen in the back 5 … another day … and maybe after a monsoon rain!

Life in AZ Heat; Who’s Out?

August 13, 2020August 9, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged funny, jibberjabber, Sweetwater Wetlands, wildlifeLeave a comment

Few of us venture outdoors at 2pm in Arizona monsoon heat; humans are whom I am referring to. Humidity in the air with over 100 degree Fahrenheit temperature, yet wildlife are going about their day with varying degrees of activity, otherwise called survival. I am here at a local wetland to see what’s happening.

Birds sing from deep within the tree leaves, bullfrogs croak under the tall grasses, cicadas buzz from a place I never can see them, funny but all stop their sounds when I move to close to them. As a result, I saw no frogs, no cicadas, and few birds. But these were my observations before the monsoon rain started and I needed to leave.

Grasses, cattails, cooper’s hawk, pack rat, duckweed, flycatcher, mallard duck and roadrunner. Not bad for a quick stop at the wetland!

Statue at El Hoyo Barrio

August 10, 2020August 9, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged barrio, El Hoyo, jibberjabber, save, Tucson statue2 Comments

While at the firefighter’s statue last week near downtown Tucson, I also saw a plaza nearby with another statue I needed to check out. The City of Tucson Fire Department dedicated this plaza as a memorial to the Barrio El Hoyo which was displaced during the 1960’s downtown redevelopment.

People living in the barrio enjoyed social solidarity, ethnic pride, bonds of kinship and neighborliness. It was a poor neighborhood where people knew and helped each other. In 1921 on Meyer Street, there was a mixture of Jews, Syrians, naturally many Mexicans, Chinese, Lebanese and everyone spoke Spanish.

Mrs. Solana M. Sosa was born in the Leopoldo Carrillo house where she raised her daughter and died in the house after living 111 years, 1795-1906. The 8 acres of land known as the Carrillo Gardens had trees, flowers, different roses from around the world, huge cottonwood trees, a little zoo, small lake and pavilion for dancing.

The barrio was named El Hoyo, which means “The Hole”. In the 1940/50’s hard rain flooded homes by 2 – 3 feet since this barrio was on land lower than the surrounding area. Drainage pipes and culverts were eventually put in to divert the water, but eventually houses were torn down. The northern 2/3 of the barrio is where we find the Tucson Convention Center and the Central Station Fire Department. It was heartbreaking for many people as they built these homes with their own hands, but downtown was to be redeveloped.

Information for this post is from plaques at the plaza where this statue is, along with my own research. We should feel fortunate the history of this area is saved for others to learn about and understand the sense of community once here.

Bungalow Relocation in Tucson?

August 6, 2020July 8, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged Sunshine Mile, TucsonLeave a comment

Few times do I drive Broadway Boulevard to downtown Tucson; however, recently I did, noticed construction equipment and a “Historic Bungalow Relocation” sign. I stopped to take some photos, talked with a couple of people in the area, and returned home to research the project.

According to the sign, “moving seven Rincon Heights historic district contributing structures ahead of the Broadway widening project”. The homes were moved off their current foundation and onto concrete slabs to be part of a future retail center.

These buildings date back to the 1930’s and other demolished buildings are from WWII till 1975. Much money has gone into buying and demolishing buildings for this project. City planners first discussed Broadway in the 1980’s with a possible 8 lanes, but the project was not approved till the 2006 voters decided four lanes would become 6 lanes. The project’s goal is to take buildings viewed as assets and convert them to community value. Future merchants and planners are in those discussion stages.

I wondered about “The Sunshine Mile”. In 1953 there was a contest to name the strip between Campbell Road and Country Club Road. Of the 5,000 entries, the winner to name the strip was “The Sunshine Mile”. In 2012, added on was Euclid Road to Country Club Road and all on the list of endangered historic places.

May 26, 2020, the Sunshine Mile District is officially on the National Register of Historic Places. I look forward to seeing what happens in this area in the upcoming years.

Monday Memories: Morocco

July 20, 2020June 16, 2020Posted in adventure travel, blogging, photography, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

In my last “Monday Memories” post I mentioned Morocco, so I caught myself thinking about my 2019 trip. I am so glad I did not put that trip off to now, 2020. I would not have been able to travel to Morocco at the rate this pandemic is affecting our planet.

After three weeks of travel in the Kingdom of Morocco, I realized what a learning experience it was for me. In Casablanca, the Hassan II Mosque, second largest mosque in Africa, was simply incredible to see. I could not imagine 25,000 people inside it and 80,000 on its outdoor grounds. The mosque is huge, beautifully situated by the oceanside, ornate, and with a 210 meter minaret. Specific rules were followed to allow non-Muslim visitors inside the mosque.

I loved Moroccan food. Each day I had freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh bread and olives of all kinds, and hot, sweet, mint tea. Meats, vegetables and couscous were cooked in tajines and a Berber omelet were my most delicious meals.

We visited many cities around the country. The tannery in Fez was fascinating as we saw early stages of the product that would become a leather jacket. Every visitor to Morocco speaks of the blue city, Chefchaouen, so we visited there too. Four years earlier I visited Tangier’s old medina and thought the winding pathways and various markets chaotic. Its new town did not seem to be so crazy, but I am sure you can still buy just about everything there. Whenever we were in the countryside or the mountain villages, it was more relaxing and enjoyable to me.

Tannery at Fez. “Blue-washed” Chefchaouen.

Most relaxing was our time in the Sahara Desert. To be honest, it was not very relaxing riding the camel to our campsite. But once there, climbing and then sitting on the ridge of a sand dune with a glass of wine, it was relaxing! Even better, the night came with shining stars and silence. I loved it!

I will remember many things about Morocco: our fantastic guide, people who allowed me to photograph them as I asked permission to do so, the women cooperatives we visited, the cats seen everywhere in so many cities and the goats in the trees!

When I return to Morocco some day, I wish to spend more time in the desert and to photograph it day and night. That would be an amazing accomplishment for me to be able to do such photography, and to enjoy the desert!