Tag: wildlife

Smell Flowers & Watch Wildlife While Mountain Biking

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Mountain biking requires me to truly focus on what I am doing while pedaling various trails. Some are smooth, others rocky. Some uphill, some downhill. Some steep and others even less enjoyable! But as seasons change I take notice of the wildlife, plants and animals. I actually find myself stopping to photograph the flowers that sprouted after a monsoon rain:

When especially lucky, I may see a squirrel or on this particular day, elk moving through an area! I know elk migrate here in northern Arizona, but rarely do I get this opportunity to see them. By the time I pulled my camera out, they were a distance away, but still seen:

What a great day!

Where’s My Camera, When I Want It!

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My camera was inside my home. Here was an hour I set aside to be tech-free and focused on pulling weeds from our front area! (Keeping my HOA happy!)

They are not really weeds, according to me; only wildflowers and grasses just wanting to sprout. And not many to be pulled. Suddenly my nose detects a rotten smell. I look up and see a good-sized, adult javelina looking at me. Could it really smell that bad? No time to think as I notice other javelinas behind him! 

No camera, so here is a sketch of a javelina looking at me!

I know javelinas have poor eyesight so all I could think about, after saying aloud “wow”, was giving this one and others some space! My movement was to back away and move eventually to behind a backyard gate. Nine javelinas walked across our front yard, across the neighbor’s driveway, through their side yard and on. 

I step out from behind our gate toward our front door when another javelina looks at me! Backing away again, 6 more javelinas walk by me! I’m glad we are all getting along so nicely!

Drew this sketch months ago and now it seems most appropriate here.

Fifteen javelinas! I bet at least one of you are chewing my irrigation lines, stomping on our rain gutter overflow spouts, and/or running over our bushes. Convinced I could get back to weeding, I return to the front yard. 

A grunt. A movement. And there is another javelina! I am in its path. Quickly I move away and see 2 javelina walk across our yard to our neighbor’s driveway, their yard and beyond. My neighbor was watching also as she had just opened her garage and was soon to pull her vehicle out. We know the javelina’s path so no surprise there.

Where was my camera! Darn, this number, 17 javelina, seen at one time would have broken my sighting record! Oh well… my weeding goes on and the rotten smell has left the yard!

Final Talks With My Best Friend … Life Will Go On …

Posted in Animals, Birds, blogging, wildlife, writingTagged , , , , , 7 Comments

More than 2.5 years ago my best friend was dying. We both knew death was inevitable. We just were not sure how long the dying would take. My friend had a challenging last couple of years. She fought cancer through rounds of chemo, found extra bursts of energy when spending time with family and friends, and never seemed to feel sorry about herself while talking with others. I, on the other hand, was angry, sad, and not ready to lose my best friend for any reason, especially for one as permanent as death.

She and I talked often and about everything through our 40 shared years. Her divorce and our friendship were misconstrued by some. Her belief was: if anyone truly knew her, they knew the truth. She moved on with her law school acceptance and graduation and me with my various administrative school positions; we celebrated it all. Our travel opportunities, hikes searching for loons, and time at my Adirondack cabin were enjoyed by us. We discovered some people never knew/understood a deep love could exist between friends. At those times, we wished we were family instead. Apparently it was more acceptable to say “I love you” to a family member than anyone outside of that circle.

We both knew we had things to talk about at as her energy and time dwindled. I think I was more heart-broken about this all than her. She seemed to be in a better place understanding the finality of life than me. It may have been her final two years that forced her to look at life through a different lens than mine. I was always wishing for the next moment we would share, and yet knew it would probably not be.

And so when I spent the last weeks of her life with her, I knew it was time to talk. I wanted to know her latest feelings about some of the things I had been wondering about and would no doubt continue to wonder beyond her death. Our discussions involved close looks at the environment, family, friends, religion and whatever else came to us as we talked. Who, what, why and where? Respect, trust, love, likes and dislikes. Life seemed so complicated and so did our end-of-life discussion. How appreciative I was of having time to talk with my best friend just before she died. 

As I move on without my friend, I must realize how fortunate I was to have such a wonderful friend in my life … and that will always bring a smile to my face, a warmth in my heart, and tears in my eyes. I tell myself: life goes on … as she said it should. Remembering her birthday this month with fond memories, such as our pursuit of loons!

Four mile Adirondack hike brought us to a lake’s edge seeing some loons!:)

Battle: Tarantula Spider vs Tarantula Hawk Wasp

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Spiders and wasps are seen where I live in southwestern USA. The tarantula spider kills many common pests around our home, yet it is often thought dangerous. It is not! They are not aggressive or deadly. Any human harassing a tarantula spider can get bit although its venom seems to not be toxic to humans. I observed an unlucky tarantula spider on a hike last month. It is fascinating to see in action things one reads about in nature articles. More about the observation during my hike in a minute. Here is a sketch of a tarantula spider:

Tarantula spider

Let me introduce you to a tarantula hawk wasp. If you live in the desert regions of southwest USA, you may have seen this wasp. In my backyard it feeds on our milkweeds. This insect does have a powerful sting and if a human provokes it, you’ll be stung and it causes great pain. I read about their hunting style and life cycle, yet even more amazing is to see it in action. Here is a sketch of a tarantula hawk wasp:

Tarantula hawk wasp

A female tarantula hawk wasp mates with a male. Then it is time for the female to lay an egg, which she’ll do about 13 times in her approximately 13 month lifetime. The female wasp needs to capture a tarantula spider each time. (Males however only live 2 – 3 months.)

Once the female captures a tarantula, it will sting it, then inject venom and paralyze the spider. The female tarantula hawk wasp will drag the spider’s body to a burrow or nest. A wasp can drag spiders 8x their size! Amazing! I had never seen this until this hike. Also fascinating was observing the fact the tarantula hawk wasp walks backwards dragging the upside-down tarantula spider here! A photo I took trying to capture the wasp dragging the spider along:

Tarantula hawk wasp dragging a paralyzed tarantula spider

Tarantula hawk wasps can fly 20 mph, but even on the ground this female was dragging the spider along quickly. Once in a burrow, the female wasp lays an egg on the paralyzed, still living, tarantula’s abdomen. When the larvae hatches, it will feed on the fluids and internal organs of the tarantula. It avoids the vital organs so the spider, its host, is alive longer. Eventually the larva pupates inside the tarantula spider’s carcass and emerges as an adult. The life cycle will continue.

I was unable to stay longer to see where the wasp’s burrow or nest was since my fellow hikers were ready to move on. However, it was a great observation for us to make while we were on our birding outing.

Reading about animal behavior is one thing, but seeing it in action is amazing! What have you observed? Wish to share? Please do.



Red-eared Slider … Tracked!

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I recently learned observations of mine with the iNaturalist app can be tracked. With past input of red-eared slider observations, I discover I have seen this animal at the following times and locations: July 2020 in Tucson, Arizona. April 2021 in Marana, Arizona. April 2023 in San Antonio, Texas. July 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. That is so cool! I love this app allowing me to be a “citizen scientist”. Join, for free, if you are out in nature, have a smart phone, and wish to add to the observations. Download iNaturalist app.

Red-eared slider

Are You a Citizen Scientist?

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The natural world is one step beyond your front door. Do you notice any living thing within your first footsteps? Is there a flower, an insect or something else living that you notice?

If you snap a photo, share it at the iNaturalist app, you have just joined the other citizen scientists around the world. What does this mean?

With the minute you took to observe the natural world, photograph a living thing and share it within the iNaturalist app, you are providing information where others note your observation. Once it has been accepted, through their very easy process, other people, especially scientists see the entry. What’s interesting about this? Some people around the world have actually photographed, unknowingly, rare plants and/or animals! Or maybe it is a plant or animal not observed in decades at your location.

Scientists cannot travel the world, year after year as they do their research. Instead, they can comb through what others are sharing, such as through this app, iNaturalist, along with their first-hand observations.

I submitted this photo on the app:

Recorded the date, location and looked at the suggestions listed. Then chose what I thought was what this lizard would be identified as. Submitted it all easily through the app. Once a couple of other people agreed with my assessment or I changed to agree with them, then research grade allows my information to be used by anyone in the world! (I think it is a desert spiny lizard. Awaiting others to agree or not so I can go from there.)

So, you have the iNaturalist app and use it? Kudos to you! Keep at it! If you do not have the app, and wish to, then download it on your smart phone at the app store, for free, iNaturalist. Or, check out the website for iNaturalist. Either way, get involved and become a citizen scientist.

Walking a Wash/Riparian Area for Birds

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A wash is more obviously a riparian area when water is in it. However, in the desert that doesn’t happen often enough! Actually when the monsoon is truly heavy with rain water, the wash overflows and floods the local road. I love when that happens. The desert needs the rain. But on this day, we are walking in a very dry, sandy wash! It’s an early morning birding adventure. Our goal is to observe birds before the air temperatures climb to a triple digit! Let’s get out of the wash before then!

I love birding with other people and a guide who almost always knows more than the rest of the group. So many human eyeballs looking for birds! The birds were smartly hiding within the tree leaves as the crazy humans looked for them while standing in sun or shade, yeah, when available.

Where are the birds?

When you first look at a wash, such as the one we were at, one can wonder if we will see any bird. Yet we did see! Twenty-eight different species of birds were seen, 106 individual birds! I was fortunate too to have observed a bird new to me, a rufous-winged sparrow! A new bird for my life list!

I loved having access to our guide’s viewing scope to get a great look at a blue grosbeak, lark sparrow and bullock’s oriole. While I have very good binoculars, these observations went to the next level. Plus having the guide’s expertise in knowing exactly what the bird was that we were viewing in the scope.

We had a productive 2 hour morning and then on our way to air-conditioning and cool drinks! Heat exhaustion and dehydration are real concerns with our latest hot weather, so 2 hours was plenty for us. The birds seem to find places to escape the heat and enjoy water features since our monsoon has not provided rain for wildlife. Hope it rains soon!

Final note: we don’t only observe birds. Some of us check out plants. Often we’ll see lizards and on this day there was a king snake crawling across the trail:

King snake crawling along!

Hot at Honey Bee Canyon Park in AZ

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Honeybee Canyon Park was only explored halfway today in our Arizona heat despite starting at 6:30am. I joined birders attending the Southeast Arizona Bird Festival on this hike. We did see many different bird species.

You really do walk in the wash of a canyon at Honey Bee Canyon Park. Shaded by the canyon walls, saguaro and mesquite trees we could spot various birds. They too were deep within some branches or on the ground scratching around.

Honey Bee Canyon Park

We identified most birds with the help of our guide and also used iNaturalist app for the lizards we observed. Merlin Bird ID helped with bird songs we heard, when we could not see the bird. Some of us took photos of the habitat, specific plants and animals so we include them on the desktop version of eBird. There are new categories in the media section per checklist. I will be curious if they accept the downy feather of a great horned owl we found trailside. Our guide said great horned owls are definitely here, despite us not seeing one now.

Downy feather from great horned owl

This canyon had a few dams built around 1890. Ranchers wanted to hold some water. One remaining dam now has a walkway through it so we could walk more of the wash. I can imagine the importance of water then, just as it continues to be a concern in the 21st century!

A remaining dam with walkway through.

We observed an uncapped pipe which can be a death trap for animals. The location was forwarded to an individual we know who caps pipes such as this.

Pipe in front needs a cap!
Ways to close death pipes.

In the winter, I’ll visit this park again to see petroglyphs and wildlife that time of year. I’m sure to have memories of this hot morning with a nice group of birders.

Honey Bee Canyon Park… stay in shade!

Nature Journal Your Backyard!

Posted in Animals, Artwork, blogging, environment, wildlife, writingTagged , , , 4 Comments

Nature is happening just on the other side of your window. Why not take note of the life happening out there? Your journal could be a written list of your observations. Or a sketch, a painting, an audio file …however you wish to record your observations. Next year you may compare this year’s observations with that. I suspect some people have numerous years of observations recorded in some fashion and compare a year to another for a location or another.

Or you could step outside! Whether it is your backyard, your front yard, or a favorite local area, you could journal what you observe there. It need not be every day. Maybe once a month. Possibly when you notice plenty of activity at a time. Or a compilation of what you had seen during the month. It’s your decision: when, how, where … I encourage you to enjoy the activity, whatever you choose.

Our backyard has busy days with birds and other wildlife running through. So I simply try to capture the various animals beyond our usual birds. If I was real ambitious I would be sketching some of the plants finally blooming! But, my goal is to combine some personal relaxation time with sketching time and enjoy what critters are in our backyard. Here’s a bit of what happened in July in our backyard:

I thought of adding watercolor paint, but I really don’t want to complicate my goal … especially my relaxed state. This is also my usual tea time … 10:30am … and it’s all for fun! I hope I do look back on this page next July … that would be very cool! Are you taking time for yourself to enjoy moments in nature?

Grand Canyon North Rim Memories

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Walk among the ponderosa pine trees. Look toward the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Enjoy a beer at the saloon. A meal or ranger presentation at the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim. Drive the Cape Royal Road to Point Imperial or to the end of the road. All now memories, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon will never be as it was! It was with great sadness I learned of the initial July 4 wildfire jumping the “control and contain” lines. This had been the practice of handling wildfires. A week later though, a place I was to visit in 2 months, was destroyed. Yes, the plants will grow and the animals will return in time. But the historic structures, the main lodge and cabins built by Mary Colter, are part too of the catastrophic loss.

Lightning strikes happened on the north rim many times and some were allowed to continue to burn. However, with a drop in the Arizona humidity and wind the fire spread so fast. Iconic and historic buildings are gone. Hopefully the animals could seek shelter someplace. No human lives were lost. There was another wildfire further up the road that prompted evacuation from the rim. There is only one road in and out from the rim so fortunately people were evacuated then. The Dragon Bravo fire caused the devastation at the north rim. The park will be closed for the 2025 season. So many people have been displaced or lost their homes and/or jobs with the park now closed.

Ways to donate: there are a couple GoFundMe fundraisers. Grand Canyon Conservancy set up fundraiser called Grand Canyon Disaster Recovery Fund. The money collected by the official non-profit partner of the Grand Canyon National Park cannot provide monies to individuals. It will help with the rebuilding and restoration of the north rim. Loaner equipment and temporary housing may be the first efforts once the wildfire is contained. There will be years of work ahead. Donate what you can, if you can. Thanks. Grand Canyon Disaster Recovery Fund

Here are some photos from our last visit to the north rim of the Grand Canyon:

Lightning strikes happen other years, but not always with conditions to create a wildfire.
Loved looking into the canyon!
Unfortunately the “pioneer cabins” are destroyed in the wildfire.
Wildlife on our last hike on the north rim … hopefully they could move to safety during the fire.
Finding fossils, observing lichen, and walking in areas where few people visit was fun!
Looking into the canyon from Cape Royal.

Only a fraction of the number of people visiting Grand Canyon National Park travel to the north rim. It is a 4 – 5 hour drive from the south rim to the north rim. If you have been lucky enough to visit the north rim, share your memories here. I would love to hear what you enjoyed while at the north rim. Someday the north rim will be open again and I will be there!