Panorama of the Santa Catalina Mountains from the Sweetwater Trail in the Tucson Mountains (March 15, 2019) — Images by kenne
SCVN members and guests hiked the Sweetwater Trail
Friday, March 15, 2019, on a beautiful spring day.
As has been the case for a couple of weeks,
wildflowers are blooming everywhere
with a background of wispy white clouds
on a canvas of blue.
Returning from a morning walk my eye caught a Cooper’s Hawk flying into a nearby Mesquite tree. After closer observation, I could see the hawk had captured a mourning dove. Since the tree was near my house, I quickly grabbed my camera and began shooting.
Predator and prey Each seeking to win the chase A daily event.
Hummingbird On Nest Near Sabino Canyon Creek — Images by kenne (Click on any of the images to see a larger view.)
Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists (SCVN) have found several hummingbird nests in the canyon riparian area. This one is a real architectural work of art.
Nearby this nest is an active Cooper’s Hawk’s nest, which provides an exciting and educational bird-nest contrast for the students in our elementary nature program.
Using twigs and leaves Spider webs shaping her nest Swelling as needed.
This time of year Picacho Peak State Park is an excellent example of the biodiversity of the Sonoran Desert.
Plants are at the greenest and wildflowers provide dots of color on the desert canvass.
The canvass of the desert may appear to have no order. Yet it is orderly,
but we don’t know why.
A poet has said; If you want to know where the flowers came from, not even the spring goddess knows.
Lichens on rocks along the Wasson Peak trail. — Image by kenne
“Lichen is a composite organism consisting of a fungus (the mycobiont) and a photosynthetic partner (the photobiont or phycobiont) growing together in a symbiotic relationship. The photobiont is usually either a green alga (commonly Trebouxia) or cyanobacterium (commonly Nostoc).”
When teaching children about lichen, Sabino Canyon Volunteer Nationalists (SCVN) share this short poem:
“Alice Algae took
a lichen
to Freddie Fungus, but now
their relationship
is on the rocks.”
View of Kitt Peak from Gould Hill Mine Trail In the Tucson Mountains. — Images by kenne
The Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O’odham Nation, 55 miles west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona.
Panorama of the Santa Catalina Mountains from the Sweetwater Trail in the Tucson Mountains (March 15, 2019) 
Cooper’s Hawk and Prey — Image by kenne
Saguaro Scars — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Lichens on rocks along the Wasson Peak trail. — Image by kenne
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