Posts in Category: Arizona
Hepatic Tanager
Female Hapatic Tanager in molt, Santa Rita Lodge, Medera Canyon, AZ
We went to Santa Rita Lodge in Medera Canyon for the hummingbirds, of course…but the pair of Hepatic Tanagers hanging around the seed feeders at the Lodge are drawing just about as much attention from birders. The male made brief appearances, but the female was often visible. On one occasion she landed right at the foot of the wall where the observation benches are, just within my minimum focus distance of 16.5 feet. Up close! Due to molt, her features are a bit disheveled, but still a beautiful bird.
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 400 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Broadbilled Hummingbird
Broadbilled Hummingbird, Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon, AZ
On our last morning in Tucson, before our drive to Santa Fe, we spent a few hours in Madera Canyon, mostly sitting and watching the feeders at the Santa Rita Lodge. We did hike up to the Trogon nest on the Old Baldy trail, but we knew they had fledged the evening before, and, indeed, mom and pop apparently moved the chick up-canyon during the night. Still, there is always plenty of action at the Santa Rita Lodge. Besides the hummers, like this Broadbilled at the feeder, there is a pair of Hepatic Tanagers in the area and coming to the seed feeders.
I prefer my hummingbirds on natural perches, but this is just such a detailed and beautiful shot that I can not resist posting it. Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 320 @ f6.5. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom.
Frog of the morning
Chiricahua Leopard Frog, Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson AZ
I think this is a Chiricahua Leopard Frog. We found it at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson, AZ. The range is right. The habitat is right. And it matches the descriptions. So that is what I am calling it until someone who knows better corrects me. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 200 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Roseate Skimmer. Happy Sunday (again)
Roseate Skimmer, Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson AZ
Those of you were paying attention might have noticed that yesterday I was suffering under day-of-the-week confusion. My daughter Sarah and I are working the Tucson Birding Festival, and we have been up and out early to do workshops or just to get some birding and photography in while it is still only in the upper 80s, and for some reason I woke up yesterday convinced it was Sunday already. It was only after I had written and posted The Generous Eye post for the week, which is my Sunday morning routine, that I was divested of that illusion. Saturday! Oh well, too late now.
Therefore this is the rare week when I post two The Generous Eye posts. What a blessing! For you. And for me!
This is one of my favorite dragonflies, though I only see it when traveling to Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona…states within its range. We do not have them in New England. The color is just so unlikely in nature…so intense…so pink! I had seen them on, what turns out to have been Friday, while doing a workshop at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson, but they would not perch for a photo. On, what turns out to have been Saturday, we found two different specimens perched nicely. One was a tattered individual, with frayed wings, but the other was this relatively new dragon. Even it has a little wing tare…life at Sweetwater, with a host of predatory dragonflies competing within a relatively small area, must be rough.
The Roseate always makes me smile. There is, for me, a deep satisfying joy in seeing one, and especially in photographing one. What an outrageous bug! How extravagant…how unneedfully generous…of the creator to have lovingly intentioned such a creature in our world. I have to admire such extravagance. I have to love such a creator. And sharing an image of the dragonfly that might cause you to experience even a echo of that tangle of feelings is just plain fun! Happy Sunday.
Handsome is as handsome does. Happy Sunday!
Gambel’s Quail, Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson AZ
We spent the early morning yesterday at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson AZ. Sweetwater Wetlands was one of the first municipal water treatment plants developed with native vegetation and trails specifically for birding. The size of its parking lot testifies to its popularity with Tucson area birders, and with visitors from around the world. In the winter it draws a wide variety of wetland species that would otherwise be hard to see in Tucson’s desert environment, and even in August there are birds aplenty.
This covey of 8-10 Gambel’s Quail were along the edge of one of the berm paths, feeding. I have attempted to photograph Gambel’s Quail in both New Mexico and Arizona, never with much success. They are easily spooked, hard to approach, and fast when they decide to disappear. At Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, even with a sheet of glass between you and the birds (at the feeder blinds in the Visitor Center), it is hard to get them to sit long enough for a portrait. This is the “guard” quail…generally a male…who has the job of standing watch while the rest of the covey feeds. For some reason, instead of leading his covey off into the brush when I came around the corner of the trail close to them, he took the challenge head on, and approached me…strutting his best…his head plume raised…ready to fight me if I insisted! Of course, his covey obediently followed a yard behind…so they all clattered down the edge of the path toward me. He repeatedly struck his best pose on the brow of the trail and dared me to do my worst. My worst was to take a lot of pictures 🙂 The light, behind him and still warm with rising sun, along with his attitude, made him irresistible.
Nikon P900 at about 1600mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom.
An encounter like this is always wonderful…in the literal sense of the word. It fills me with wonder…with a sense of the greatness of the creator God. And, of course, with an appreciation of God’s love in all creatures. How can I not feel blessed? It is way more than good luck. I can not believe there is not a loving intention behind an unlikely encounter like this, and it gives me great joy to share it with you. That is what the Generous Eye is all about. Happy Sunday!
Eastern Collared Lizard
Eastern Collared Lizard, Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson AZ
Who says lizards can’t be beautiful? Did someone say that? I hope not! The Eastern Collard Lizard has all kinds of beauty going on. Not to mention attitude. This is one bea-ute-a-ful lizard…and don’t he know it! 🙂 This specimen was at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum near Tucson Arizona yesterday on a hot day…but he was still sunning. Getting his beauty rays.
Sony HX90V at around 1000mm equivalent field of view (using a little Clear Image Zoom beyond the optical). 1/320th @ ISO 80 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
The Blue Beyond. Happy Sunday!
A week ago today in was still in Tucson for the Tucson Birding Festival and, since it was the last day of the festival and we were both tired out, my colleague and I made no plans to go out before the show hours. Still I walked along the river behind the hotel and, when the chance occurred, borrowed the car for a short drive to a city park that one of the locals had recommend. There was nothing much happening at the park…it was nice as parks go, but the promised birds were simply not there. There were of course Mallards, tamed by the daily proximity to the park patrons, and as I walked by one (you practically had to shoo them out of the path) I looked down into this amazing window of blue on the wing. Zoom. Snap.
Sony HX400V at about 900mm equivalent field of view. ISO 200 @ 1/250th @ f5.6. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
And for the Sunday Thought. For me the patterns of color in bird plumage, and the structure of the feathers themselves, will always be testimony to the actions of a loving creator. I simply can not believe that any sequence of random mutations could have resulted in anything as intricate and beautiful as the feathers on a Mallard duck. I can not conceive of any evolutionary advantage to the contrasting patch of blue fire that flashes when the wings are held just so…that glimpse of the pure blue beyond. Personally I find it that I am forced to consider the possibility of an intelligence behind the design…a loving intent expressing itself in feather and color…in the living being of the duck under foot. I take our ability to see and appreciate such pattern and such intent as central to who we are and to the nature of the universe we live in. It was exactly at the moment when I came to that conclusion I my life, that the Creator broke in in Jesus Christ and demanded that I consider his claims to be that intelligence, that person…the one who spoke the love in the blue beyond the structure of the universe. Honestly I resisted the idea, but when he offered me, in the simple act of opening myself to belief, whatever proof I might want, I surrendered, and he has been proving the truth of a life of faith ever since…one day at a time…speaking in every second in every circumstance…in every encounter…in the blue beyond the beautiful feathers of an apparently random semi-tame duck on a pond in Tucson AZ on a Sunday morning in August. And I have every reason to believe he will prove himself again today. And I an confident he will do the same for you if you can open yourself to believe. His love is always there, speaking in the blue beyond. Happy Sunday!
Stare of the Cat
One of the highlights of the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson AZ is the Mountain Lion enclosure, which, if I remember right, was among the first natural enclosures built in any Zoo in the US. It combines cliffs and ledges with a small pool and native plantings and provides the big cats with relatively familiar (if very restricted) habitat. I have mixed feelings about Zoos of any kind…and captive animals in general…but I understand the roll they play in research, preservation, and education, and approve of any effort to make the captives lives as normal as possible. And the natural enclosure at the SDM certainly provides an opportunity to photograph the Mountain Lion that would be very hard to come by in the cat’s own territory. For me a zoo is always going to be a guilty pleasure.
This Mountain Lion has certainly maintained its dignity in captivity, and I am thankful for that as much a short the image.
Sony HX400V at about 500mm equivalent field of view. ISO 1000 @ 1/250th @ f5.6. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Rock Squirrels Everywhere
I suspect that the animal with the highest biomass in the Tucson area must be the Rock Squirrel. They are everywhere…from the basin beside the Santa Cruz River Channel, up through the whole Sonoran Desert layer and into the Pinion-Juniper-Oak forest. We did not get that high but I suspect they also inhabit the pine forest at the tops of the mountains surrounding the basin as well. This specimen was half way up Sabino Canyon, just enjoying a snack on its rock couch in the shade.
Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. ISO 80 @ 1/320th @ f6.3. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.
Cardinal Encounter 2
You may remember this cooperative Cardinal from my post a few days ago. Because he spent so much time with us while we waited for the Sabino Canyon shuttle, I had time to frame him at just about every focal length. This is 2400mm equivalent field of view from about 8 feet. (1200mm optical, plus 2x Pure Image Zoom.) One of the highlights of the trip to Tucson 🙂
Sony HX400V. ISO 80 @ 1/400th @ f6.3. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.