Skywatch Friday: Snow Day!

On Monday the High Country sparkles with the promise of impending snow...

Sycamore Canyon Neighborhood 7:03 AM

...which fell soft and silent in the wee hours of Tuesday morning...

Birds at feeder 7:12 AM

...bringing dozens of feathered pilgrims to the bird seed cafe...

Cooper's hawk 7:30 AM

...until this phantom appeared, dropping like a bullet from the misty sky, a ghost with talons looking for prey...

...but dinner was not served for him at the bird seed cafe...

Goldfinches 12:22 PM

...and as the morning sun grew stonger and the sounds of dripping filled the air the birds returned to feeding...

Birds at feeder 3:20 PM

...and all memory of the hunter melted with the snow.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more amazing skies!

(click on any image to enlarge for the best view)

Photography courtesty of Kathie Brown with the Nikon D80 and the 70 to 300 mm lens.

MY WORLD Tuesday: Snow!

My Patio at 4 a.m. MST by Kathiesbirds

This is My World at 4 a.m. this morning. The promised snow has arrived. You can bet there will be more photos later. My satellite is not coming in due to the weather so what is there to do but blog? Scroll down to see My original MY World Post.

(Now I just have to wait for the birds to start arriving!)

My World: Patagonia Lake State Park

Patogonia Lake State Park January 31, 2009 by Gusto!

In MY World today the air is chill and damp with the moisture from yesterday’s rain. A cold wind blows with the promise of snow in the desert later tonight and tomorrow. I fill my bird feeders in preparation for the promised snow which brings my first Pine Siskin of the year to my yard. What a change this is from last week when we had two days of temps in the 80’s. It was a week of warmth that started on January 31st when we were at Patagonia Lake State Park in search of the Elegant Trogon. There we saw the first blush of spring as new leaves burst forth from the swelling buds of a cottonwood tree.

Patagonia Lake State Park lies in the southeast corner of the Arizona just east of Rio Rico. The 265 acre manmade lake was formed by damming Sonoita Creek as it flows through Patagonia southward to join the Santa Cruz River. With camping, swimming, hiking, boating, bird watching, horseback riding, and fishing allowed the park can become crowded in the summer months, but at this time of year it is more peaceful as we pull up to the visitor center and park.

Gus climbs the high arched bridge that crosses the channel from the boat landing to the lake. The view from above is worth the steep climb.

A sailboat floats gently by in the calm blue water.

A female Ruddy duck paddles calmly in water that looks like burnished gold from the reflected winter-dried reeds. A pied-billed grebe dives into depths of blue, resurfacing again not far away. Coots cackle and squawk in the reeds and a moorhen crosses the channel below, only to turn and head back to the original side a few minutes later. Out on the water people are enjoying this sunny day in canoes and kayaks and low wake motorboats.

We return to our vehicle and drive to the east end of the lake where the birding trail begins. After parking the car we head down the well worn path. I am alert at all times for birds. We hike along the high rim overlooking the lake, then descend through the barbed wire gate to the bosque below. The trail wanders past the marshy east end of the lake. Coots call from the rushes and cattail. A black phoebe chirps from a twig.

Cow pies litter the ground, evidence of the bovine creatures that we later find wandering the trails. They look at us benignly and continue on their way.

Most of the trees are still naked, with the faintest blush of green just beginning on some. I feel the barrenness of promise in their stark naked limbs.

A few ground plants are ahead of the game with foliage already a foot or two high and yellow blossoms already attracting butterflies and other winged life.

While there is no sign of the Trogon, a bird I have yet to see, the bridled titmice and plumbeous vireos flutter about the treetops and hop from limb to limb. Ruby-crowned kinglets are numerous and busy gleaning insects from the twigs and in the calm waters of the east end of the lake a flock of 30 mallards naps lazily in the sun.

Our time is growing short. We do not stay very long. I only count 24 species of birds today. Last year when I was here in March with my friend Kathryn we counted over 50 species of birds in one day at this State Park. Though the park rangers told me the Trogon was spotted here just yesterday, we have not seen beak nor feather of it. As we head out of the birding trail. Gus encounters two men who tell him they spent 4 hours searching for the bird earlier this morning. They took a break for the afternoon, and are now on their way to try to find it once again. My search will have to wait until another day, but one day soon I hope to find one and capture my own picture of the Elegant Trogon.

I hoped you enjoyed a walk in MY World. Good-bye!

Today's Photography courtesty of Gusto!

Click on any photo to enlarge for the very best view.

Wild Dogs

Coyote eating rat by Gusto! 7-20-08

Come out to the desert you domestic dogs and,
See where wild creatures live,
Wander the cactus and creosote trail,
Find my den
And I will devour you.
You leave your scat trail along paved paths
A perimeter of domesticity,
But I howl a challenge in the night
Where my band of brothers runs by moonlight
In the untamed places
Where your man masters seldom tread,
In the quiet places
That so many humans dread
Come out to the desert you domestic dogs
And see what there is to find
Where the danger is as real as the beauty
On these unpaved paths of mine.

~Kathie Brown (1-21-09)

Coyote eating rat July 20, 2008 by Gusto!

Poet's Note: I wrote this poem recently after walking my dog in the morning and seeing all the dog scat alongside the sidewalk. It made me wonder what the coyotes think of this feeble attempt by the domestic dogs to mark their territory and suddenly these words came spilling into my head. I hurried home to write them down before they slipped away again. ~Kathie

Street Pigeons

Pigeons in Reid Park 1-5-09 by Kathie Brown

A hundred pigeons fly
A winged cloud rushing by
I stand here like a tree
As feathers fly by me
I could put out my hands
And snag them from the sky
But why?
I want them to fly.

~Kathie Brown (1-6-09)

Questions?

House Finches 2-6-09 by Kathiesbirds

I have a question to ask of you, my fellow bloggers and I would really like some input. I have been reading a lot about some online programs like Copyscape and MyFreeCopyright.com. What I want to know is, are these programs necessary? Do I need to register my copyright for all these blog pages I have published? I thought blogger did this for us?

Do I need to publish a copyright notice on my blog?

Tell me what you think! Please!

*February Yard Bird Update: 10. Gilded Flicker

Can You Count Birds?

Female House Finch in Mesquite Tree in my Backyard 2-6-09

All right already. I know I should stop, but I can't. I was already planning on participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count next weekend, but now I found out that the Northwest Nature Nut is challenging other birders and bloggers and nature lovers in general to count the species of birds seen in and from their own yards during the month of February. The only restriction is that the bird has to be seen, not heard, and it has to be seen from your own yard. It can be flying over or in your neighbor's yard, but you must be able to see it from your own yard. Many other birders have already signed up. Read more about it here.

So, join in, have fun, and if you want your count to count, consider eBirding and/or joining the GBBC next weekend where you can enter your counts into the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's data base and watch the dots grow as counts are entered from across the United States.

Try eBirding here.

If you are a teacher or homeschool your kids they even have extra info to help get you students involved. It makes a great science project and it's a wonderful way to get kids involved with birding and nature.

The GBBC for kids is here!

Male House Finch 2-6-09 Kathiesbirds' backyard.