HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Burrowing Owl

(by Kathiesbirds 10-26-09

Acrylic on Bristolboard)

Burrowing owls live in underground burrows. While they can be seen during the day, they do most of their hunting at night. They have long legs and big eyes and make a barking sound. You will often find them standing in front of their burrows on one leg with their eyes half closed. Their spotted feathers are perfect camouflage for the mounds of soil they live in. Burrowing owls will often take over abandoned prairie dog dens and can sometimes be found in the middle of prairie dog towns.

I have to say that this is my favorite of all the paintings I did for this series. I love the way the owl came out and the birghtness and simplicity of the design. It has been a long time since I have painted and I had fun doing it.

A Pumpkin A Day

Lesser Long-nosed Bat

by Kathiesbirds 10-26-09

Lesser long-nosed bats are an endangered species. As one of the few nectar eating bats they migrate from Mexico every year following the saguaro blooms north and the agave blooms south on their long migration. They breed here in Arizona and return to Mexico for the winter. Lesser Long-nosed bats will often visit your hummingbird feeders in the fall when they are migrating south. It is quite a spectacle to see.

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A Pumpkin A Day

Gambel’s Quail

(by Kathiesbirds 10-26-09)

Gambel’s quail are chicken-like birds that live in the desert southwest. They travel in flocks called coveys. You can often see them walking along the top of a fence or scratching beneath your bird feeders for fallen seed. In the spring when the chicks hatch the family of quail will often travel together with the tiny chicks following the parents in a straight line. While they all have the feathered top-knots, only the male’s curves into a question mark shape and only the male has the cinnamon cap and black face mask.

Hummingbird Morning

Costa's and Anna's Hummingbirds 10-29-09

It was 38 degrees here in Sycamore Canyon when I awoke this morning. As soon as the sun rose the birds started to appear. The temperature dropped sharply yesterday driving the birds into my feeders. There was a feeding frenzy last night just before the last few rays faded from the sky. When the morning sun touched the earth once again the hummingbirds were back to refuel. Hummingbirds usually don't like to share the feeder, but when it is this cold and there are so many, they seem to give up and focus their energy on feeding instead of fighting. Most of these are Costa's hummingbirds, but the one hovering to the right with a central throat patch is actually a female Anna's Hummingbird. How great is it to live someplace where you get hummingbirds in autumn and winter?

Immature male Anna's Hummingbird 10-29-09

Don't mess with me!

This immature male Anna's isn't about ready to share his stash with anyone! He sits here on the hand of my ballerina sculpture and chases all the other hummingbirds away! Sometimes when he is busy chasing off one small intruder another slips in and gets a drink!

A Pumpkin A Day

Phainopepla by Kathiesbirds

(acrylic on Bristolboard)

Phainopeplas are insect and berry eating birds found in the Sonoran Desert. The males are black and the females are gray. Both have red eyes. They fly out from a perch to snag insects from the air, or they eat mistletoe berries from the parasitic plants that hang off of other trees. When the phainopeplas go to the bathroom, they excrete mistletoe seeds in their sticky waste onto the branches where they perch. In this way the mistletoe then takes hold and starts to grow on a new tree sending its roots into the new host and sharing the same sap and nutrients. Phainopeplas make a call that sounds like a soft “whoop, whoop.” They are in a family called the silky flycatchers.

My World is a World of Art

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Broad-billed hummingbirds are found in the streamside foothills, woods, and canyons of the desert southwest. With their beautiful blue and green bodies and broad red bill, they are one of the prettiest hummingbirds to be seen when you visit Arizona.

Gila monster

Gila monsters are lizards that live in the desert southwest. They are one of the only poisonous lizards in the world. However, it is not easy to get poisoned by one of these lizards since its venom sacks are in the back of its mouth and the lizard actually has to bite down and grind with its teeth to deliver the poison. Most Gila monsters will run away from you if they see you so, if you leave them alone there is relatively no danger from this beautiful creature.

Last week when I decided to paint some Halloween cards for my grandchildren and a few other kids in my life I had no idea it would take me so long! I probably spent 4 to 5 days getting all of these done and yesterday I finally got them out in the mail! I can only hope they get to their destinations in time. In the meantime, I decided to share these paintings with all of you, so, the next 5 days there will be A PUMPKIN A DAY here at the Sycamore Canyon Blog. Each painting has a creature that can be found here in Arizona and I've included a little information blurb about each one. All are done in acrylic on Bristolboard. I hope you enjoy this Halloween fun!

To see more of our amazing world, click on the button above. And many thanks to our hosts, Klaus, Sandy, Louise, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia!

My World: Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve

In the southern Mountains of Arizona lies a small town called Patagonia. Known as a birding and art Mecca, I met TR Ryan there on Friday morning after his two night stay at my house.



The blue adobe walls of the Duquesne House greet me, the front porch strung with red pepper chandeliers,

I step through the front door of this room into a Mexican heritage museum. I walk out the back door into a court yard from the past with lovely shady places to sit and contemplate…

While TR wanders the garden, sipping the fragrances of the flowers, listening to the hum of hummingbirds, and the breeze dancing in the trees

We soon pack up and drive the two short miles to The Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve. We are greeted by Cassin’s Kingbirds, canyon towhees, and a lark sparrow, seeking food on the gravel trail.

The trail meanders along Sonoita Creek, one of the few perennial streams in Arizona. As such, it is a precious resource and the Nature Conservancy has purchased it to preserve this fragile habitat. It was the first project undertaken by the Nature Conservancy in Arizona.

I am surprise by how flat it is, with mountains rising in the distance. But here the golden fields reflect autumn sunlight and shadow, while cicadas buzz in the trees. T.R. tells me this look like Oklahoma in the summer.

We walk quietly down the soft dirt trail and enter the woods once again.

Where we find western wood pewees and other flycatchers flitting among the creek side trees.

This is a quiet place, ripe with sunlight, perfect for bugs and birds. I see a woodpecker fly into the thickest trees and disappear before I can identify which species it is. We find a female vermillion flycatcher and an ash-throated flycatcher in the willows and cottonwoods down by the creek.

And then to my surprise on a dead snag overhanging the riffled water, a cedar waxwing perches silently alongside a Says Phoebe! Though I am quite familiar with cedar waxwings, I have never seen one in Arizona. It seem to me a bird out of place, a mixture of north and south, east and west, with the Says’ Phoebe sitting next to it.

When we return to the visitor’s center and ask about the bird, we find out it is indeed a rare sighting to see a cedar waxwing here. As such, we are each awarded a free poster. While TR chooses the view of the mountains, I pick the gray hawk instead. Though we did not see one today, we did end up with a list of 26 species of birds, many of them life birds for TR, and for me an Arizona life bird with the cedar waxwing sighting.

If you would like to visit the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve you get there by taking highway 83 south off of I-10 through Davidson Canyon, an Arizona Scenic highway. In Sonoita turn right on Highway 82 and follow it into Patagonia. Turn right on 4th Avenue to a T intersection. Then turn left and follow the signs to the preserve, about 1 ½ miles down the road.

Info from the Nature Conservancy web site:

Planning Your Visit The elevation at the preserve is 4,000 feet. The best months for birding are March through September. Late April and May, and late August and September, offer the greatest diversity of species, including migrants and spring/summer residents. Winter is the season for sparrows and occasional southern vagrants such as the rufous-backed robin.
Visitors may learn about the preserve, its wild residents, viewing interpretive exhibits at the Visitor Center.

HoursApril-September: Wednesday-Sunday, 6:30 a.m.-4 p.m. October-March: Wednesday-Sunday, 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Closed: Mondays & Tuesdays all year & on Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year’s Days.

Fees$5 per person. Conservancy members $3. Patagonia residents and ages 16 & under free. Fees are valid for seven days from date of purchase. Annual passes are available.

And that's...MY WORLD Tuesday