September Summary

Blue Passion Flower by Kathiesbirds

The summer ended quickly with so much going on. For me the days have flown like autumn leaves on the wind. My blue passion flower blossomed, then the blooms faded on the vine. Now the vine itself is whithering and fading like the year. Autumn is upon us, and with it cooler nights. Yet still the days are sunny and hot with dry winds that burnish the grasses brown and the seed heads flaxen. I see them blowing in this autumn wind outside my window, tossing like the mane of a golden palomino galloping at full speed. Autumn in Arizona is a wild thing!

Can it be only a month ago that Xavier came to play in the water in my backyard?

Can it be only a month ago that this gopher snake showed up on the same day and scared me for his safety until I was sure it wasn't a rattlesnake? I went to turn off the hose and found this creature coming out of the drainage pipe. I grabbed my grandson and quickly put him safely inside the house, then came back out to see if I needed to call the Fire Department to come relocate the snake. The slender head and mild temperment let me know I and the child were safe. The bulge in the snake's belly led me to believe it had crawled up the pipe and eaten some rodent who had taken refuge in the cool dark tunnel. Alas, not such a good idea for the rodent, but for me, this jeweled beauty did me a favor!


In this month of September a lark sparrow bashed into my picture window. It sat stunned on my patio table, but eventually flew off. I can only hope it lived.



On International Turkey Vulture Day this bird flew down to devour the carcass of a snake killed the night before by a vehicle as it crossed the road...




...and then, as if to drive home the point that I live in a truly wild place, this tarantula walked across the brick patio on evening, as casual as can be.

It has been a busy month here in Sycamore Canyon. The bird populations are changing. I have not seen a purple martin or a white-winged dove in awhile. I have spent all month monitoring the Lesserlong-nosed bats but I believe they have finally migrated south for the winter. The hummingbirds are still here, but most of the black-chins are gone. A few rufous hummingbirds still linger, while the population of Costa's is increasing.

Earlier this month Blossom got the all clear from the vet. Shortly before her last appointment the scabs fell off her rump and once they were gone her "happy tail" came back. She can now curl it completely over her back again. We are so glad to see it wagging once again.

I just returned today from spending 3 days and nights in Maricopa where I did birding presentations for six 7th grade classes. This was my first time doing this, and I ran out of time before I ran out of things to say! Of course, I went birding in my spare time and took lots of photos which I will post as soon as I unpack, clean house, rest, and upload them. I found quite a few new places to bird. I know it has been a long time since I have been around to see everybody. I hope to get to some of that this week. Until then,

Happy Autumn Everyone!

Now, lets bring on October and all the winter birds!

And that's...

MY WORLD Tuesday

What I Saw Today

After days of humidity and thunderstorms I awoke this morning to a cool, dry day. The wind was blowing steady from the east as the sun rose behind the mountain. I haven't been out to the desert in awhile and today seems like the perfect day. I eat my breakfast and put on my shoes, but just as I reach for my binoculars the phone rings. It is a friend I haven't heard from in awhile, and so I am on the phone for another 45 minutes. During that time, the sun rose higher and hotter in the sky. It is almost 10 a.m. when I finally make it out the door.

I head straight across the street and enter the desert between the block walls of the neighborhood. The desert is lush and green from all the rains right now. With the wind still blowing steady from the southeast, I have to hold my hat on my head to keep it from blowing to Tucson!

I glance around me at the mesquite and saguaros. Not a bird in sight. Mid-morning is probably one of the worst times to go birding, but I am enjoying the desert. Since it is a holiday I am able to enjoy the sounds of nature without the ringing of hammers and the rumble of machines as they tear up the desert to put in more roads and more houses.

I decide to head down the wash today as I have never gone that way before. It amazes me how the wash seems to meander through deep ravines then level out with the desert, only to cut back deeply into the earth once again. Ahead of me I see a red clay cliff rising 15 feet above me. The bottom of the wash is all gray sand and gravel, but the cliff bank is orange with iron. On top of the cliff sentinel saguaros stand guard. Near the edges I see mesquite with exposed roots as thick as their branches and longer. I read that mesquite roots can go 250 feet deep in search of water. It is hard to believe but seeing these roots today has convinced me. I am careful as I walk, always on the lookout for rattlesnakes, for I have been told this is their mating season, and they are most active now. However, it is not a rattlesnake that I see ahead of me in the gravel, but another creature that I have wanted to see ever since I moved here.

Lumbering over the gravel and rocks is a black and tangerine lizard. Its thick head and thick tail lead me to believe it is a Gila Monster. I am not afraid, but excited about this rare glimpse of wildlife. I regret I do not have my camera with me, but then I remember my cell phone. I pull it from my pocket to take a picture but as I open it I realize the sun is too bright for me to see if the lizard is in the frame. I'm following the brightly colored animal across the wash. He is hurrying as fast as his fat legs will take him. He is almost to some thick brush. I take my chances that he is in the frame and shoot the picture before he disappears. He does not reappear. That was my only chance. Later, at home, I find I was unsuccessful in capturing his picture. Now I wish I had spent more time enjoying this rare sighting, instead of wasting the opportunity in trying to capture its image for good.

I continue down the wash to where the new bridge is going in. On the way back home I walk on one of the trails. I did not see any birds while down in the wash other than a turkey vulture riding the thermals above. Here on the trail I finally spot a cactus wren as it scolds me before disappearing into its nest in a spiny cholla. Farther ahead a canyon towhee alights on a nearby branch. His brownish crest is ruffled at my disturbance to his morning nap. I see a couple of house finches and I hear the lone call of a Gambel's quail. Other than that the only bird I see is a lark sparrow as it flies past me to perch on a distant tree. My birding expedition was mostly unsuccessful, but I can't help but feel that if I wasn't delayed by that phone call I would never have seen the Gila monster.

Tonight is a different story, however. Gus and I are taking Blossom for her evening constitutional. As we head down the hill on the sidewalk we see a dark shape on the gray sidewalk before us. It crawls slowly across the pavement and even from a distance we know what we are seeing. Gus takes the dog off the sidewalk, while I pull my trusty camera phone from my pocket. I creep up slowly to the tarantula and snap its picture before it crawls off the sidewalk. It is a soft fuzzy brown with some black shading. Though it is about the size of a mouse, it makes no threatening gestures with any of its eight legs and I pass by unmolested as it crawls beneath a weed.

I use to be afraid of spiders, but no longer. Tarantulas are also nocturnal and they eat scorpions, so I am quite glad to see this one. I only wish I had someway to bring it home and release it in my yard! I would name it Scorpion Slayer and call it my friend.