My World: Picacho Peak

Volcanic Rock and clear skys 4-14-09 by Kathiesbirds

It is a windy day the afternoon I pull into Picacho Peak State Park. Blue skys greet me as I present my State Parks Pass and drive in. It has been 3 years since I have been here and I am eager to be back. Last time I was here we still lived in Utah and Gus and I were down here visiting my son and his wife in their new home in Coolidge for Thanksgiving. It was that very trip that sparked our move to Arizona, and now I am driving back after a two day visit to see them and my new grandson.

Clouds roll in 4-14-09 by Kathiesbirds

Picacho Peak sits right along I-10 and is visible from both directions. It's unique shape has been a landmark long before motor vehicles were invented and long before their was even a road here. It was first recorded by the Anza expedition in the 1700's. Later the Morman Battalion constructed a road through Picacho Pass in 1848. This road was used by the Butterfield Overland Stage in the late 1950's. However, Picahco Peak is best known to non-native Americans as the site of the only Civil War Battle in Arizona. The Battle of Picacho Pass took place on April 15, 1862. Lasting only 1 1/2 hours, three union soldiers were killed before it was all over. A monument to the battle is located in the park and until recent budget cuts, a Civil war re-enactment was held here on a yearly basis.

High Peaks tower over me 4-14-09

Today I am here to watch birds, however. Last time I was here I was not eBirding. For my own personal pleasure, I kept a list of the species, but not a count of how many birds I had seen. I know Picacho Peak as the first place I saw a Black-throated Sparrow and a Verdin. Now I am wondering what birds I will see today.

Saguaro Slopes 4-14-09

The high gusty winds are blowing the clouds in like a thick blanket above me. The winds also seem to be keeping the birds down and the ones I see are few and far between.

Dust storm across the highway 4-14-09

Across the highway the high winds blow up a dust storm in gossamer gray clouds.

Prickly Pear Blossom 4-14-09

But I am soon distracted by the bright yellow blossom of a prickly pear cactus.

Looking back down the trail 4-14-09

I find a little .2 mile hike up the slope of the peak called the Children's Cave. Though I am not technically a child, my curiosity is piqued and I start up the winding path. The path crosses a little bridge, then follows a couple of switchbacks as it gains elevation. I turn back to see the view and my lone car parked in the parking lot.

View to the southeast 4-14-09

I look southeast towards Tucson and the Catalina Mountains. The new Visitor Center lies before me, as well as the edge of the peak.

View to the northeast 4-14-09

Though I have been allover the park in my car checking on spots to bird, I have seen the most birds along the main road at the Palo Verde Ramada. I see it across the street now with the Ramada looking like a giant picnic table. Beyond it a rock formation on the other side of the highway looks like a sleeping dragon. I wonder why the birds like this area so much. I am determined to find out.

So, after peaking in the little cave I head back down the trail. I drive the short distance to the Ramada because I want to sit in it out of the wind and record my bird counts. As soon as I park my car, however, I am off taking photos of a cactus wren.

The secret pool 4-14-09

Then the sounds of birds entices me across the street where earlier I had seen 12 chipping sparrows alongside the road. As I cross the road and look down the embankment I see the source of their interest. A little cement pool sits at the bottom of the wash with what I can only assume is the overflow of gray water from the restrooms above. In the desert water is a precious thing and the sustainer of life. I look on as a few mourning doves and House Finches gather at the edges. The mourning doves stay on the ground while the house finches cling to the desert broom that sways over the pool. I am always surprised when I find house finches in a wild place as I think of them as suburban birds. But here they are on the slopes of Picacho Peak, wild as any other bird that inhabits this dry land.

I turn from the pool to head to the Ramada once again when I spot a thrasher on a Saguaro. I creep closer to see if it is a Bendire's Thrasher, but that long curved bill reveals it to be the usual Curve-billed Thrasher. We have Bendire's Thrashers here in Arizona and I am on the hunt to see one. They are very similar to the Curve-billed with the only differences being subtle changes in the length and curve of the bill, a pale base to the bill, and arrowhead shaped spots instead of indistinct round spots on the breast. So far I have not been confident enough to know I have seen one, so I keep studying on it. While I am watching the curve-billed I hear a chattering in the creosote bushes beside me. I turn to look...

Who's in the bush? 4-14-09

Could it be? I start stalking the little gray bird as it flits about from twig to twig staying deep in the foliage. Everytime it reveals itself it flies aways before I can focus on it.

Patience pays off 4-14-09

Finally my patience pays off as the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher pops up on a branch just long enough for me to snap a photo. I see his black cap and his white eye-ring before it disappears again. I wait a little longer and then...

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher by Kathie Brown 4-14-09

Mouth-gaping surprise! The little bird poses for me. I hear the shutter clicking even faster than the beating of my own heart. And then...

Good-bye!

Birds Seen at Picacho Peak on April 14, 2009:

1. Turkey Vulture
2. Mourning Dove
3. Gila Woodpecker
4. Cactus Wren
5. Curve-billed Thrasher
6. Ash-throated Flycatcher
7. Verdin
8. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
9. Common Raven
10. White-crowned sparrow
11. Chipping Sparrow
12. House Finch

Blogger's Notes: all of today's Photography is by Kathie Brown with the Nikon D80 and the 70-300 mm lens. The historical information in today's post was gleaned from the Picacho Peak website and Wikipedia, as well as from my own experience of being there. To read more about Picacho Peak visit the Picacho Peak website as well as the Picacho Peak History Page. Wikipedia's Picacho Peak entry has an excellent photo of the Cival War re-enactment. I hope this post encourages you to stop and visit Picacho Peak if you are ever in the area!

Picking and Processing Prickly Pears

(Click on photos to enlarge for better view.)

On Tuesday, August 5, my friends Sherri, Liz, and Liz's granddaughter, Sarava, went prickly pear picking. We learned from last year that the weapon of choice for picking the fruit is a pair of tongs. These long-handle barbecue tongs work especially well. Just grab and twist.

Sherri smiles as she picks her first fruit. A hat is always wise to wear in the desert.

Liz joins the picking. Notice her gloves and dark sunglasses.

Some cactus bushes are quite large.

Sarava lends a hand with picking.

We filled 2 buckets and 2 plastic grocery bags with fruit. Here we are setting up to process. The large blue pot will be used to collect juice as it cools.

Tools needed: 3 large pots for boiling the fruit. One of ours was a spaghetti pot with a built in strainer. If you don't have one of these you will need a strainer instead.

One small sieve

1- 2 quart pitcher

1 package of cheese cloth

1 potato masher

We are doing this in a two step process, so today we just processed the juice. We will make the jelly next week. If you plan to do the same,you will need gallon jugs to store the juice in your refrigerator or freezer. The juice can be frozen and made into jelly at a much later date.

Bucket of pears. The blue bucket was also full.

Wash pears in water and place in pot. It is not necessary to try to remove the spines as they will be strained out later. Fill with enough water to come up to edges of top fruit. Do not leave extra fruit sitting in wash water as the juice will start to leach out.

Place on stove and boil for 30 minutes.

Halfway through boiling time mash with masher.

Strain pulp and juice through strainer. Let extra juice drip from pulp. It is okay to mash the fruit once again while it is dripping.

Filter juice minus pulp through cheesecloth covered sieve. This removes the spines that were present on the pears along with any remaining seeds. DO NOT squeeze the cheese cloth as this may force spines through into juice. We used the cheese cloth in 3 layers and cut off a section large enough to fit our sieve as it came out of the package.

Pulp after straining.

Steaming juice.

Here you can see the spines and seeds strained out by the cheese cloth. The strained juice is in the pitcher, the unstrained juice is still in the pot.

We would have 2 pots boiling at once and set the timer for 30 minutes once the water started to boil.

I poured hot juice over ice and mixed it with ginger ale, a refreshing treat! Look at this lovely color!

Three and a half gallons of juice ready to be made into Prickly Pear Jelly next week. We started picking prickly pears at 9:45 a.m. We were done picking by 10:30. We were done processing juice and we had the kitchen cleaned up by 2:30. For each batch of jelly we will need 2 1/2 cups of juice which will yield about 5-8ounce jars. You do the math. We could be at this for a long time!

One word of caution: If you use plastic bags to put your prickly pears in while picking,throw them out immediately when you get home. We did not get any spines in our hands while picking or even washing the fruit, but we did get spines in our hands from touching the plastic bags that some of the pears were in. We kept a pair of tweezers nearby as these tiny spines are very painful! Remove and wash all your clothing afterwards as they may have spines in them also.

Note: All of today's photography is by Kathie with the Nikon D80 using the 18-70mm lens and the 70 to 300mm lens.

Skywatch Friday: Pickly Pear Sky

(Prickly Pear Cactus and Fruit against a Monsoon Sky: Photo by kathie 7-23-08)

(Shooting data: Lens: 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5 G,Focal Length: 70mm, 1/200 sec - F/10)

Click on photos to enlarge for best view.

Today I am out picking prickly pears to turn into yet another batch of Prickly Pear Jelly. Liz and I did this last year and, though it was hot, it was so much fun to eat The Fruit of the Land. Here in Sycamore Canyon the cactus fruit is ripening and the birds are eating it, turning their normally white droppings raspberry and garnet. Not something you want to think about when you are eating jelly!

(Prickly Pear Jelly; Photo by kathie 7-24-08)

Shooting data Lens: 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5 G,Focal Length: 60mm,1/60 sec - F/4.5

Casa Grande Ruins

(This photo was taken by Kathie last September with the Nikon Coolpix. All other photos on today's post were taken by Gus today with the Nikon D80)

Gus and I drove to Coolidge today under dusty blue skies that veiled the distant mountains. We visited the Casa Grande Ruins at the north end of the main street in town. A yellow sun burned brightly on us raising the temperature 7 degrees in less than an hour. While I have been here before, it is Gus’ first time. We wander among the ruins of another time. Low mud walls outline the homes that made up the settlement, and towering over all of them is the Casa Grande. The Casa Grande or “Great House” is a four story building 60 feet long that was built with its four walls facing the cardinal points of a compass. During the summer solstice a circular opening in the west wall aligns with the setting sun. Other openings in other walls align with the moon and sun at various times of the year. It is speculated that the great house was used to contemplate the heavens and perhaps as a calendar to determine planting times.

The Hohokam lived in villages with huts made from the caliche beneath their feet. A mixture of sand, clay and limestone, caliche forms a cement like compound that is very sturdy. The great house took 300 tons of caliche to build it, with other mud huts and a fortress–like wall surrounding the whole village. The Hohokam lived along the Gila and Salt rivers and used a series of irrigation canals to bring water to their crops. On the grounds of the Casa Grande ruins is an oval “ball” court where some sort of game was played.

While Hohokam culture dates back to 300 A.D. The great house was constructed prior to 1350 in what is known as the classic period of Hohokam culture. In 1694 Father Eusebio Kino was the first European to see the crumbling structure and document its existence. In the late 19th century it was a well known landmark for those who crossed the desert heading west and travelers collected artifacts for souvenirs and scratched their initials in the crumbling walls. In 1892 the Casa Grande was put under federal protection and became the first archeological preserve in the nation.

Standing here today under this heated sky I seek shelter in the shade of the Casa Grande. The doors are all barred to prevent vandalism and a steel canopy towers over the ruin to protect it from sun and rain. The caliche walls are home to several birds. I have seen great horned owls in the rafters here before, but today I hear the squawking of starlings coming from the interior rooms. A swallow flies swiftly past and disappears before I can determine the species. A kestrel alights on one of the steel girders that support the roof. Another flies over and lands nearby. The two birds exchange something and the second kestrel flies off with a lizard-like shape dangling from its talons. Meanwhile the first kestrel stares down at us while Gus snaps off a few shots.

Since it is getting warm we don’t stay long and we wander back out towards the parking lot. Here a lizard in a tree catches my eye and I call Gus over. He captures a few shots of mister lizard while I search the mesquite trees for more birds. I see a female hummingbird and an orange-crowned warbler. Gus finds a mourning dove in a nest staring down at him as if she were a hawk about to rip his eyes out. Her flimsy nest is built in the low branches of another mesquite tree. I wander over to the elevated sidewalk that overlooks the ball court where I discover a bullock’s oriole feeding on the nectar of ocotillo blossoms.

I call to Gus and he is able to walk over without scaring the bird away. I watch the bird through my binocs while Gus captures the beauty of this tangerine, black and white male on the fiery orange blossoms set against the dusty blue sky.

The prickly pears are already in bloom here in Coolidge, which tends to be warmer than Tucson, so they are about 2 weeks ahead of us in the growing season (I would guess). The blossoms are buzzing with insect life giving off a steady hum if you get anywhere near the plant. I notice that some prickly pears are blossoming yellow, while others have a flaming orange bloom. The saguaros are putting forth their buds also, looking for all the world like a giant pin cushion with Brussel sprouts stuck to the pins! When the blossoms finally open their similarity to Brussels sprouts will quickly give way to a creamy white- rimmed goblet shape with a yellow pollen center that attracts birds, bees and bats. This fierce desert is alive with color and wildlife in these pre-summer days before the 100 degrees plus temperature will drive man and beast into the shade. Even now the rising temperature is making me know that it is time for us to get into the coolness of our vehicle and head home.

(Some of the information in todays post came from the National Park Service Brochure of the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument)