Skywatch Friday: Windshield Sky

Gus had fun with his camera under a Greenlee County Sky 8-1-10

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday: Morenci Mine Scenic View

Morenci Mine 8-1-10 by Gusto! w/Nikon D90 18-200mm lens

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday: Safford Sky

  Clouds and crops in Safford, AZ 8-1-10 by Gusto! w/Nikon D90

Before Gus left for Boston we had one last Hurrah and spent the day in Graham and Greenlee counties. I chose to go here because these are two of the least birded counties in all of Arizona. Armed with Cameras and binoculars, Gus took pictures with the D90 and the 18-200mm lens while I counted birds and took pictures with the D80 and the 70-300mm lens. Story and pictures to follow soon, including bird counts and lists.

Skywatch Friday

The Good-bye Chronicles Chapter 6. We Have an Answer

Skywatch Friday Sycamore Canyon Sunset 7-17-10

July 20, 2010

I awaken in the middle of the night hot and restless. The night is calling to me. Through the closed door I hear the soft dripping of recent rain from the downspouts. I slide my door open and step out onto the patio into air scented with the sweet ashy smell of creosote bush. It’s just before four a.m., but I hear birds twittering. Though it is almost pitch dark, I hear them singing somewhere, if they are birds at all. It sounds like the friendly chirping of purple martins, but do they fly at night? The lights of Tucson illuminate the undersides of the soft gray clouds above, but I do not see any bird silhouettes passing under them. Could it be toads or frogs? Could there be that many around here? Do they sound like birds? I realize that I have yet another desert mystery to solve.

I take the two steps up onto the terrace and gaze off to the north and west. The hum of air-conditioning units fills the air as one after another turns on. In the distance I hear what sounds like a loud motorcycle shifting through its gears, then it fades away. After another hot and steamy day here yesterday the rain cooled air caresses my skin softly. It lifts the night heat from me. I fold my arms across my chest. My nightgown flutters in the breeze. I stand here and think about what it will mean to leave this place. Today could be the day we know for sure. I stand here listening to the morning sounds, drinking in the scent and the feel of the night in this place. I want to preserve this memory. I may need it someday. Eventually I turn and head back inside. Chilled now, I crawl under the warm covers and Gus instinctively wraps his arm around me. Soon I drift off to sleep.

A bad dream awakens me 3 hours later. It’s one of those dreams where one of my children is in trouble and I can’t find them to help them. It’s one of those dreams where you feel all the emotions as if it were real as if it were happening. I resist waking up. I want to save my child. Finally consciousness frees me from my terror. I am here in my bedroom in Sycamore Canyon and everyone is safe.

Due to the rain of the previous night I do not have to water the flowers today. I filled all the bird feeders yesterday, so I am almost free. I visit Sherri in the morning, then return home to watch birds and blog away the day. It is afternoon when Gus calls me. He got an email with an offer from the company in Boston. Now I will know. Now it will be decided. Gus tells me that he will take the offer.

We are going to move.

The Good-bye Chronicles 

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday: Layers

Santa Rita Mountains 7-22-10

Santa Rita Mountains 7-22-10

Rainbow over Sycamore Canyon 7-22-10

With the monsoon in full swing I see storm clouds every day now and in the evening we have gorgeous sunsets. The billowy gray and white clouds brings out the layers in the sky and the mountains.  I so love the way the desert looks at this time of year, and though I did not get any rain at my house yesterday I did get to enjoy this gorgeous rainbow in the evening.

Skywatch Friday!

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Skywatch Friday: Finally it Rained!

Thunderstorm in Sycamore Canyon 7-14-10 2:09 PM MST

Drenched Costa’s hummingbird 7-14-10

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Skywatch Friday: Sunset

Sunset as seen from my backyard in Sycamore Canyon 7-1-10

See more amazing skies at Skywatch Friday!

Skywatch Friday: Desert Willow Blossoms

Desert Willows are some of the only flowers still blossoming in this 100 plus degree heat while The Desert Waits for rain. Taken 6-3-10.

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday: Roosevelt Bridge

Thunderheads building behind the mountains as seen through wires of the Roosevelt Bridge in Arizona 6-6-10 Photo taken by Gus with the Nikon D90 and the 18-200mm lens.

Roosevelt Bridge 6-6-10 by Gus with the Nikon D90, 18-200mm lens.

We stopped by Inspiration Point near the Roosevelt Dam on our way home from our anniversary weekend in Payson, AZ. It was 108 degrees F and very windy when Gus took these pictures. Please click on the pictures to enlarge for the best view.

Skywatch Friday

Fire in the Chiricahuas!

Smoke rolling over the Chiricahua Mountains from the Horseshoe Fire 5-26-10 

These are the scenes Donna and I saw as we left Rustler Park in the Coronado National forest Wednesday afternoon. We spent a blissful morning in the mountains at 8500’ in elevation searching for Mexican chickadees, Red-faced and Olive Warblers and others.  We got the Mexican chickadee, a Life Bird for us both, but were totally unaware that a forest fire had broken out southeast of us. As we headed down the mountain so I could go home, we stopped to take photos of some of the beautiful scenery.  Suddenly we noticed the smoke off in the distance.  The smoke plume started to build and build until it filled most of the sky. From my perspective it looked like the fire was moving towards or even into Cave Creek Canyon and Portal.  As I did not want to spent the night on the mountain or have to drive across the mountain to Wilcox and back around, I urged Donna, who was driving, to head down the mountain as fast as we could.  While it was only 15 miles to Portal, it took us 45 minutes to drive down the steep, winding dirt road.  Of course, we did stop one more time to get photos.  Who could resist! All of the following pictures were taken at a hairpin turn on the road down from Rustler Park, except for the last shot which was taken from the small town of Rodeo in New Mexico.

The above shots are taken from the side of the Chiricahua mountains looking SE to Cave creek Canyon. When we got to the canyon it was full of smoke. I heard on the news that the fire was 300 acres in size as of 10 PM last night. I left to drive home, but Donna was spending another night in Portal. She is one determined birder and after saying our good-byes she was off again to do more birding despite the smoke.  She was out of the parking lot before I was!  I do not know how she is since there is absolutely no cell phone reception in Portal. If you are going birding there this weekend, you might want to check ahead!

On my way home I took a 2 mile detour to the town of Rodeo, NM to see the fire from that perspective (and to count birds)! This is a view of the fire from the main street of Rodeo looking west into Arizona.

I made it home about 7 p.m. last night, unpacked, took a soak in our new hot tub and went to bed.  I was up by 4:45 a.m. to join my team of volunteers to do our Important Bird Area Survey of Sabino Canyon. I’ve taken a nap and off-loaded my photos.  I hope to have the rest of the story and the birding stats posted soon!

Happy Skywatch Friday Everyone!

Sycamore Canyon Sky

Sycamore Canyon Sky 1-21-10

With views like this it isn’t hard to love living here! 

Skywatch Friday!

Poetry is happening on

Kathie’s Poet Tree

Birding from Dawn ‘till Done, Kathryn’s last Day in Sycamore Canyon

Can a day start out any better than with a red-tailed hawk soaring in a bright blue sky?

Skywatch Friday!

Since Kathryn's plane did not leave until late afternoon we spent our last morning going for a hike in Sycamore Canyon. in 30 seconds we were in the Big Wash or the main Canyon and seeing birds. An unfamiliar song led me to this familiar bird, a canyon towhee.

Farther up the canyon we were startled when a red-tailed hawk flew screaming out of this nest high over our heads in a saguaro.  We had not seen the nest nor taken notice of the cactus until the bird flew out. since we did not want to disturb the bird or the nestlings we hurried away from that location.

Meanwhile mama (or papa) bird continued to scream at us from across the canyon in a mesquite tree on the opposite rim.

We were seeing so many birds in the sycamore Canyon, a reminder to me that I need to come out here more often!  while I am chasing birds all over SE Arizona, once again I am discovering that there is a treasure trove right in my own backyard! We found this little bird and I took several photos of it.  I’ve studied and studied it and finally come to the conclusion…

…that it is a Western (Pacific/Cordilleran) Flycatcher due to the lack dusky smudges on its undertail coverts, the short primary projection, the slight crest and the eye ring pointed at the back.  If you have a different opinion please tell me and tell me why!

However, the male Phainopepla presents no such problem in identification with his silky black crest and red eyes.

We saw so many birds out in the wash and the whole time I kept saying to Kathryn that I was so surprised we had not seen a black-headed grosbeak out there. We barely got back home and I was dressing after taking a shower when Kathryn called out to me that there was a black-headed grosbeak in the acacia tree in the front yard!

While I saw it there I was unable to get its picture, but then the bird obliged me by flying to the backyard and landing in the mesquite tree which made photographing it a bit easier as I could gently slide the sliding glass door open and poke out my lens.

  What a great way to end her birding trip.  To top it all off, as we left for the airport we saw a Swainson's Hawk soaring at the bottom of the road in my neighborhood, her final species for this trip and a new addition to her AZ Life list! Sycamore Canyon is a great place to live!

Location: Sycamore Canyon Wash
Observation date: 4/13/10
Notes: Birding with Kathryn.
Number of species: 28
Turkey Vulture 5
Red-tailed Hawk (Western) 3 one hawk on nest in saguaro.
White-winged Dove 5
Mourning Dove 22
Greater Roadrunner 1
Costa's Hummingbird 2
hummingbird sp. 1
Gila Woodpecker 6
Gilded Flicker 4
Gray Flycatcher 1
Cordilleran/Pacific Slope flycatcher 1
Bell's Vireo 3
Gray Vireo 1
Common Raven 2
Verdin 7
Cactus Wren 6
House Wren 1
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher 1
Northern Mockingbird 5
Curve-billed Thrasher (Western) 6
Phainopepla 6
Lucy's Warbler 2 pair building a nest.
Green-tailed Towhee 1
Canyon Towhee 1
Rufous-winged Sparrow 1
Pyrrhuloxia 2
House Finch 10
Lesser Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Location: 17 S. Vermillion Sunset Dr.
Observation date: 4/13/10
Notes: Birding with Kathryn. Her last day here.
Number of species: 17
Gambel's Quail 6
White-winged Dove 2
Mourning Dove 15
Gila Woodpecker 8
Gilded Flicker 3
Say's Phoebe 2
Chihuahuan Raven 1
Cactus Wren 3
Curve-billed Thrasher (Western) 6
European Starling 3
Rufous-winged Sparrow 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
House Finch 9
Lesser Goldfinch 6
House Sparrow 9
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Skywatch Friday: From Gray to Blue

Gray sky over Burnsville, MS Boat Landing 3-17-10

We left Arizona on March 11 on a road trip to Kentucky and back. On March 12 the skies turned gray and they have stayed that way for the past 5 days.  It is no different when we leave Alabama and travel across Mississippi where I convince Gus to stop at this boat landing so I can have at least one decent bird count for the state.  The trouble is the birds have more sense than me and I see only a few birds here though I looked for 25 minutes.

Blue sky over Pig Out Palace Near Henryetta, OK 3-18-10

Finally the sun comes out as we cross into Tennessee and then back into Arkansas. We spend the night in Ft. Smith, then get back on the road and head for Oklahoma city where we will spend the night with TR Ryan.  I can’t wait! On our way across Oklahoma we stop to get gas at the Pig Out Palace. No we didn’t eat here but I did count birds!  Look at those gorgeous blue skies!

 

Skywatch Friday

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