November 2006 Archives

I cannot say what got the Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw all riled up this morning, but something - my best guess would be a coyote - certainly did. And while the experience lacked the spectacular sunrises usually associated with the Snow Geese flyouts at Bosque del Apache (New Mexico), those who have witnessed that no that it is not just the sight of all those geese taking flight as one but the sound is amazing as well. I can attest that that sound has nothing on a mass launch of Sandhill Cranes. At Bosque you often witness this only 100 feet or less from the geese; the cranes were at least 500 feet from where I stood and, though I can only work on memory regarding the geese, the sound of the cranes - both their calling and the rush of air over wings - easily matched that of the launching geese at Bosque. (To put in in perspective, I use a focal length of between 28-75 millimeters at Bosque for the geese, this was shot with a 500mm lens with a 1.4X converter or roughly 10 times more magnification to shoot the cranes today. They were not close and it was quite loud). It really was quite the spectacle.

I shot this image a few minutes later after they had all settled down again. I thought briefly about using this image for this week's quiz and having you count them until it dawned on me that I would have to count them too.Forget that. This is the middle of the pack and represents about 25-35 percent of the birds that were at that spot. There were more in other locations within the wildlife area as well as large flocks in the air flying to and from wherever it is they go during the day.

Since I was back at Whitewater Draw I bet you are wondering how I fared with the male Vermilion Flycatcher. The score is now Flycatcher 3 - Kevin nil. But I am only mildly disappointed that I didn't get that killer image of him as of yet since I still had a good morning while hunkered down beneath my camo. While I was waiting for the flycatcher that never came, I got a couple of new images of Black Phoebe, Spotted Sandpiper, Mourning Dove, a first female Ruddy Duck, and a sparrow that will be the subject of tomorrow's weekly quiz (which was the day's "new" species). And also this butterfly, a Checkered White.

I and the Bird, the Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is being hosted this week by Mary Ann at Five Wells. As always, this week's IATB is full of great stories about birds and birding so take a little time and enjoy.

The first thing that caught my attention, even above the din of my noisy diesel truck, was the sound. More often than not I have heard in the form of a duet or, sometimes, a solo. This morning it was a chorus of thousands - thousands of Sandhill Cranes.

I first learned of Whitewater Draw about 10 days ago while visiting a state wildlife area west of Phoenix, Robbins Butte, where I met the site's manager, Phil. We had been discussing my travels when I mentioned Bosque del Apache and he told me about Whitewater Draw and the fact it had more Sandhills than Bosque. In fact, this morning I learned (from some great folks with the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory) that this location had more of them than any other site in the country during the 2003 and 2004 Christmas Bird Counts with totals over 20,000(!).

This is the bird I was most concerned with during my visit this morning. This male Vermilion Flycatcher has taken it upon himself to be my next nemesis bird. No matter how "stealthy" I trie to be, this is a close as he would let me come (about 30 feet). I even went so far as to break out the camouflage setup for my camera and tripod - but he wasn't fooled. Will be going back Thursday - we will see who wins out.

If the adult male was less than cooperative, at least this 1st year male was a little more accommodating. Were it not for the Black Phoebe chasing him off from time to time, I probably could have spent the day shooting this bird as he really liked this particular perch.

Located about 25 miles southeast of Tombstone (yep, rode right past the O.K. Corral on the way thar', pardner), Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area is in an isolated spot surrounded by pastures and some groves (pecan?). In addition to the birds mentioned above I noted Eared Grebes, American Pipits, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, Spotted Sandpipers, and more White-crowned Sparrows than I have ever seen in one place. I could list a few more (ducks, coots, Yellow-rumps) but, well, I think you probably get the picture. It is also one of the listed sites (#35) on the Southeast Arizona Birding Trail.

Though things came to a complete halt when the wind began gusting and the birds started to lay low, it was a pretty good morning down at San Pedro Riparian N.C.A. The first of 3 new birds on the morning was this Gila Woodpecker who was enjoying suet. He would disappear into a huge cottonwood not far away once he pecked off a large chunk and would not show himself other than when coming to the feeder. Nice looking bird who constantly has something to yap about (not unlike his cousin the Red-bellied).

The Pyrrhuloxia's seem to be pretty shy and stay hidden in the bushes except when coming over to feed. A couple of times I saw a female down on the ground but with either gender they would fly away at even the slightest provocation - even a small gust of wind. It probably does not help that the Red-tail was still hanging around and that fact probably keeps all the birds a bit wary.

The third new species (and 4th in 2 days) for me this morning was House Finch (a male). "Old" birds that I added some new images of were White-winged Dove and House Sparrow. If these winds let up I will probably head back out this afternoon though will probably go out to the river instead of hanging around the feeders.

This Curve-billed Thrasher was one of two new birds I saw on my short scouting trip to the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area this afternoon. Both male and female Pyrrhuloxia's were coming to the feeders located outside the visitor center ("San Pedro House"), though once the Red-tailed Hawk took up a position in the Cottonwood directly above the feeder the action slowed down and then the light went away. I will be hanging out around here for a week since there are several locations in the vicinity that are some of Southeastern Arizona's hotspots so I should have plenty of chances as long as the weather holds. The sightings log for the N.C.A. is even showing a Green Kingfisher at (appropriately) Kingfisher Pond along one of the area trails - a great bird if I can get it!

The other cool thing is my choice of RV parks for the week; Butterfield RV Park in Benson has an observatory on site which is open for public viewing each evening. Tonight was partly cloudy but they still opened up enough that, along with a couple of the other guests, I got to see some double stars, close-up looks at the moon, the Andromeda Galaxy, 3 or 4 star clusters, a planetary nebula, and even thethird largest planet in our Solar System. I think I might spend a few more nights there during the week; I was going to stay at a park a few miles closer to San Pedro but the telescope sealed the deal on this place . . .

As I was making my way from Yuma to Salton today my route along Interstate 8 took me past a place called Imperial Dunes Recreation Area. What I could see from along the interstate was just a small part of this particular state "park" and 3 of something like 21 total camping areas within the park's confines. In this area a few miles long there were easily over 500 motorhomes, trailers, or campers. Accompanying each of them, of course, was 1 or more ORV's (off road vehicles in the form of jeeps, ATV's, dune buggies, sand rails, and dirt bikes).

I knew that so many of those vehicles couldn't be a good thing but the real shocker came as I was driving back to Yuma along the same route this evening. Though the sun had already set, these 2 and 4-wheeled marauders were still going strong. So much so, in fact, that traffic on the interstate had to slow down to between 45 and 50 MPH because the dust cloud being raised by these vehicles racing through the desert made it seem like you were driving through a thick fog. It was unbelievable. Thinking about it now, I should have taken a few pictures.

There is just no way in hell that this can be good for the landscape (just speculating but what would it take, a century or more to regenerate itself?). I'm sure there are rules about staying on designated trails and such but can the state really employ enough people to police that? And when do we say "enough" and begin establishing strict limits on how many can participate on a given weekend? Sure everyone should be allowed their recreation, but when it is so damned destructive . . . it just makes me angry.

Update 11-25: I confess that I now have some doubt as to weather the poor visibility on the interstate was actually dust kicked up by the "off-roaders". As I was making my eastward this morning I did in fact encounter some ground fog in some of the agricultural areas east of Yuma. Having said that, the reason I am still doubtful is that, for one thing, the area in which I encountered the fog was not agricultural and, two, the ground fog would most likely (I believe) turn up after a night of flooding the fields. Not to mention the fact that this visibility problem began and ended in the immediate area of heavy ORV use. Regardless of whether or not the "limited visibility" was a direct result of the activities in question, the fact remains that some entity, federal or state, should begin to heavily regulate off road vehicle use. (At least in my opinion. I'll get off my soapbox now)

If you had been following along while I complained about being tauted by Cactus Wrens then last week's quiz must have been (or at least could have been) an easy one. Neat little bird, and earlier this week I shot another tucked up inside a Teddy Bear (or was it Chain-fruit?) Cholla (a type of cactus).

This bird for this week's round was photographed at Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge.

Have fun and good luck!

I would have chosen a different bird to post but I have yet to have one pose for me so I picked the next "best" thing. But then when I think about it, I know at least a couple of you out there who may be reading this that will be hovering around the dinner table like a pack of vultures later today (he says with tongue firmly planted in cheek), so it may actually be appropriate . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday we took a ride down to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to see what we could find. There have cactus there. Lots of it, too. This image is the namesake species for the monument. They don't really remind of organ pipes me all that much but hey, they give other forms of life odd names too. The monument is another to go on the list of places I would love to visit in the Spring, especially if they have had a wet winter. I have learned some things about the area here that will probably result in a little commentary regarding the borderlands - we have (if you are not already aware) some serious problems. I'll try to get to that topic sometime soon.

This little critter might possibly be a competitor for longest common name: Harris' Antelope Ground-squirrel (also called simply Harris' Antelope Squirrel). They seemed to be about the only thing moving other than a few birds (and one Side-blotched Lizard). Speaking of birds, I did manage to (finally!) get some images of my most recent nemesis bird while I was down there. The lofty position of Kevin's Nemesis du Jour
will likely be taken by those thrashers (Curve-billed??, didn't get a good enough look to say for certain) that kept ducking back into the brush.

We are on the move again today and heading toward Yuma.

The plan was to go do some other things this morning but the temptation to hang around and shoot some more of the Anna's Hummingbirds was too much. I noticed they were coming even before sunrise so why not see if I could get a few silhouettes? The cool - though totally unexpected - aspect was that their wings would be translucent. It really only works when the wings are either full forward or back - quite blurry when moving because there was only a little light and the shutter speeds were down around 1/1000 of a second (fast, but not fast enough for hummingbird wings).

I had a few opportunities to catch forward flight but this is the only one that worked - they are sooo quick. This male was apparently the local tough guy - he would either perch in the tree where the feeder is hanging or in one on the opposite side of my trailer. Whenever another bird came around, he would promptly chase it away and then go back to his perch. Feisty little guy.

Now I am going off to do some other things . . .

More than one, actually.

When I checked in at the park here in Gila Bend (named "Augie's Quail Trail" - though I have yet to see any Quail) I was asking about birds. They happened to mention that there were hummingbirds around and, in addition, volunteered the information that if you put up a feeder they will come around in no time. After getting some sugar so I could mix up a batch of "nectar", I hung the feeder up in a tree on my site and left for the rest of the afternoon to look over things at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

I started checking the feeder for activity shortly after sunrise this morning and they were right. Throughout most of the morning both a male and a female Anna's Hummingbird (at least one of each) had been making regular visits to the feeder. As the day got warmer they were coming less frequently - which was okay with me since it was starting to get a bit hot (as I write this it is just below 90 shortly after 2 p.m.).

In addition to the Anna's - new to the species list - I added another image of a Say's Phoebe that stopped by the 'hood around mid-morning. Other birds around the RV park include House Finches, House Sparrows (ubiquitous), Horned Larks, and Mourning Doves. I have yet to see the quail, roadrunner, or ground-squirrels that are said to be resident on the property. I have put a seed feeder out, too, just in case something else happens by.

(The 2 posted images are males.)

“I saw a black woodpecker (or crow) today… it is a distinct species of woodpecker; it has a long tail and flys a good deal like the jay bird” - journal entry of Meriwether Lewis, July 2o, 1805.

And there we have the answer to last week's quiz (#21): Lewis's Woodpecker, named for the famed co-leader of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Before leaving Black Canyon City this morning I paid a visit to High Desert Park on the south end of town and made this image. (This one ought to be easy . . . )

I was kind of bummed that I had not had more success with the birds here in Central Arizona and, while driving home from another visit with my brother and his wife, realized that today marks 6 months since I set out on this little trek. With that in mind I decided to sit down and look at the big picture, where I have been, what have I learned, and what have I accomplished. It goes without saying for those who have followed along that I have been to some pretty amazing places. I have learned that it doesn't pay to hop around from place to place; that staying in a location and learning it ultimately results in achieving the main goal of making nature images. Which leads us to the question of "what have I accomplished in 6 months?". With that in mind I did a quick run through my catalog and this is what I found:

· Birds - some 35 new species totaling more than 200 new images (plus ~200 images of species I've shot before)
· Mammals = 32 new species and over 600 images (1/3 of which, in all honesty, are Alaskan Brown Bears)
· Landscapes - number of images has increased over 6 times (from ~50 to over 300)
· Plants & Wildflowers - a four-fold increase
· Insects - a 50% increase

It works out that I am adding an average of more than 5 new images per day so maybe I shouldn't be too disappointed (and many of those days have been travel days plus another chunk of rain days where I don't even pick up a camera).And as I make my way back to Florida through New Mexico and Texas there should be plenty of opportunities to add to the list of birds. For now I have to deal with a bit of unfinished business to deal with here in Arizona (starting with those pesky Cactus Wrens . . . )

There, I feel better already.

I have met more than a few people who say drippers are great for bringing in birds for photography or just bird watching. And most of them are in Florida where water is not an issue (actually it is but from an over development perspective - they will run out of water for human consumption). So you would think that out here in the northern reaches of the desert birds would come flocking to a dripper strategically placed near a dry wash just a few feet away from nice cover in which the birds - who were certainly all around - could land. Well, one kinglet came close in 3-1/2 hours but that was it. The woodpeckers, flickers, sparrows, wrens, thrashers, and others just stayed away. But I did get some photography in, including this flower that fails to show up on any online guides for Arizona.

And added another new butterfly with this Common Checkered Skipper (along with a couple of additional shots of Western Pygmy-blues).

Tomorrow is another moving day - as soon as I decide where I am going (Gila Bend or Yuma????).

Getting a Cactus Wren photo is turning out to be a little troublesome, but if nothing else, I am persistent. Now things are really starting to get just a bit out of control with the wrens here at the RV park I mentioned in the last entry. I have mainly seen them flitting about on the ground or up in a tree between my site and the neighbor. But this afternoon, as I was getting ready to visit a location I have been staking out at Agua Fria National Monument, things reached the breaking point. I had opened the passenger side door on the truck to put some things on the front seat, then went inside the trailer to gather up my camera gear (and the dog). When I came back out there was a Cactus Wren in the truck. In hindsight a picture of it would have been great but, with Roxie already trying to jump in, I didn't even think of getting a pic - I was concerned with getting the bird out as quickly as possible and, naturally, it was trying to escape through the rolled up driver's side window. Pushing Roxie back I quickly went around to the other side and, just as I opened the door the wren flew out the open doors on the passenger side. Crisis averted, now enough of the taunting a let me have my photograph! Rotten birds.

The afternoon's Agua Fria adventure did not produce any avian images but I did stumble across three new butterflies. At left is a Variegated Fritillary, by far the largest of the 3 species with a wingspan of about 2-1/2 - 3 inches. There were a couple of them there feeding on the same plant though, to be honest, it seemed as if they were expending an awful lot of energy chasing each other around in between breaks for feeding (though not unusual behavior for butterflies).

The Acmon Blue is a common butterfly of the Western states and are said to be one of the only species of butterfly found on Mt. Saint Helens prior to the eruption. They have a wingspan of 3/4" - 1". There were a couple of them around this same plant and, like their bigger "cousins", chased each other around quite a bit, too. One was definitely a female as I could see that the upper wings were primarily brown (though she usually kept them folded while feeding).

Though just a tiny little thing (wingspan 1/2 - 3/4"), I was actually able to get closer to this Western Pygmy-blue than I could to the Acmon Blue - nice when the cooperate that way. With the larger butterflies I can often get away using a long telephoto lens by adding extension tubes to reduce the lens' minimum focus and, in turn, I can shoot from about 10 feet away. With these little guys the only answer is to use a macro lens and shoot from just a few inches distance. A little harder because they tend to be skittish though rewarding when it all works.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll have similar luck with the birds; I'm going to try using a dripper to bring them out of the bushes. Surely they must be thirsty out here in the desert . . .

Yesterday (Sunday) was a day to spend an afternoon with family (my oldest brother lives in Phoenix) and with a little time to kill in the morning I went out to do a little scouting. I was kicking myself for taking along the "big" lens when I happened upon a Phainopepla perched in a shrub along the side of the road. No problem, I figure, birds are creatures of habit and, with luck, he'll be here again tomorrow when I have more time - and he was. I had actually made an attempt yesterday using the 70-200 with a 2X converter but the bird flushed before I even got a shot off - he was much more accommodating today. There was another positive in returning today because, on the way out to the Phainopepla, I stumbled upon a small group of Gambel's Quails and made images of them, too (cool, 2 new avian species in one morning!).

Now if I could do something about those 2 Cactus Wrens that have been hanging around the trailer and taunting me. . .

On my last morning here in Williams I decided to make one final attempt to find an Abert's Squirrel (the "other" tassel-eared squirrel). Kaibab Lake is just a few miles from the RV park and, though I hadn't had any luck getting a photo, I had at least seen them there. I first scouted the campground to no avail then headed over to the picnic area. No sooner had I shut off the truck when one came running by and up into a nearby Ponderosa Pine. I ripped off a few frames before I realized what he had in his mouth: pizza! Not exactly what I was looking for but hey, at least I finally got a shot of this species (What's that Pizza Hut? You want it for an ad?).

Not sure if my little rodent friend actually got to eat its pizza since the squirrel was getting mobbed by ravens and crows who must have wanted a piece of that action so I set about working the Steller's Jays that were around. While that was going on my squirrel came back and turned out to be quite the tame subject as you can see.

Now I can head south toward the Sonora Desert (and maybe some nights above freezing).

I have invested a lot of time chasing this bird in the past few days so you could tell me what it is (I do actually know and that is part iof the reason for my obsession - I jwasn't leaving Northern Arizona without it). I figured since they were out there they would be good for the quiz - I remember seeing them in the field guides and thinking what a cool looking bird - interesting colors. Last week's soaring raptor was a Red-tailed Hawk and, to be even more specific, a light juvenile Western Red-tailed Hawk.

I and the Bird, the Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is being hosted this week by Roger at Words and Pictures - fly on over for a visit and some great blogging about birds!

The first portion of my week here was spent first at the Grand Canyon and then learning my way around the area looking for certain birds as well as other creatures. One of my quests is to find the "other" tassel-eared squirrel and, while I have yet to get that completed, I did "capture" another species of chipmunk in the form of this Gray-collared Chipmunk. That makes the fourth species of chipmunk I have photographed since setting out in May - I did not realize there were so many kinds and I have several yet to go for a complete set.

I have not posted much this week is because I have begun preparing images for the new version of Beautiful Nature (a presentation of my photography set to Beethoven). I have added additional music which will bring the program to just under 500 images (from approx. 330) and I intend to replace all but a few images that were in the original version. I automate as much of the image processing as I can but it is still a time consuming endeavor. And as soon as I finish that it will be time to prep about 400 images for the updated version of Beautiful Birds. Yikes.

The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors. As Benjamin Franklin wrote, "In free governments the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." The ultimate powers in a society, therefore, rest in the people themselves, and they should exercise those powers, either directly or through representatives, in every way they are competent and that is practicable. - Thomas Jefferson

I sent in my absentee ballot last week.

And (again) I voted for change.

My sincere hope is that you did, too.

We haven't done one of these in a while so, why not, eh? If I remember correctly, when we last had a look at my observations while driving around the continent we were in Alberta so we'll pick things up with some of the things I've noticed in the last 5 weeks.

As we were coming through the mountains in Montana I came upon a house on some acreage out in the forest. What caught my attention was that this place was Tudor style. Excuse me but when you build a house out in the woods isn't it supposed to be log, or at the very least, rustic??? I thought the only Tudor style homes were built in Beverly Hills in the 50's.

Another curious thing I kept seeing in Montana were "No Services" signs at offramps along the interstate. The reason I say "curious" is that they were always after the beginning of the offramp. "Gee honey, I think I'll get off here and top of the gas tank . . . er, well, maybe I won't," he says as he cuts off the semi that was following close behind. You would think they would, like most states, put them before the exit.

Proof That Some People Simply Do Not Belong In Society Dept.: U.S. Highway 191 makes its way from Bozeman, MT to West Yellowstone and a portion of the highway - around 20 miles or so - passes through Yellowstone National Park. Along the way there are a few pullouts which are used mostly by folks intent on doing a little fly fishing or wildlife viewing. As we were passing through my passenger had been whining a bit so I decided to pull into one in order that she might take care of a little doggy business. As we were walking along we came upon a rather large mound of "scat". My initial though was that it must have been a pretty large animal but knew it hadn't come from a bear, deer, elk, or moose. Then I noticed the toilet paper. Some slimeball, poor excuse for a human had actually taken a crap right there on the pavement in a National Park roadside pullout. Whoever you are you were either brought up wrong or, more likely,you obviously did not get a full set of genes in the transaction that took place between your parents. You are a disgusting pig. F.O.A.D. scumbag.

Grand Canyon National Park

Wednesday was originally going to be a shooting today but while I was getting my morning dose of caffeine I began a project that ended up burning most of the daylight. i had quite a backlog of images to sort and file away in the proper place and the day ended up a fruitful day with a lot getting accomplished. Just no new images. Thursday morning I drove back out to Zion National Park to visit the main canyon; this image being of the Court of the Patriarchs with a little fall color still hanging on.

We have discussed previously how I like twisted and mangled trees, this was one I noticed on the way in to the park. I made a mental note of the location so that I could stop on the way out knowing that it would, by late morning, have a little sun to light it up.The stop was timed perfectly because it wasn't much later and there were few large areas of blue sky to be found.

After shooting the tree it was back to the trailer for a little lunch then head east to try and get that Toadstool shot with the near-full Moon I was hoping to get Thursday afternoon. For the entire drive out to the trailhead I had one eye on the sky - hoping against hope that it would clear off. After arriving at the trail I delayed the beginning of the hike in until the last possible moment but never hit trail; if anything the clouds were getting thicker. Today was the fall back day but, once again, the clouds go a little too heavy so that plan will just have to go on the backburner until I can get back this way again. Shortly after arriving back in Kanab I took a look outside to see how the sunset was shaping up and decided to drive out to a spot just in case. It turned out to be a pretty colorful one.

With this the second day of thick afternoon clouds, the total photographic output for the day was one photo - and it is this week's quiz. Tomorrow we will be packing up and heading south to Williams, Arizona where I have a day planned to visit the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (and with luck find some Condors) and several days of bird shooting in the national forest.

Ah, another Friday upon us and time for the Friday Quiz. For those of you who said "White-breasted Nuthatch" for last week's quiz, you were absolutely correct!

Good luck on this week's flying raptor from Utah!