Last Of The Migrating Turkey Vultures — Images by kenne (Three images in a slideshow format.)
Usually, by 1st of April, the last of the turkey vultures rousting overnight near the Tanque Verde has completed the spring migration north. This year we have counted upwards of 100 leaving each morning now well into April.
— kenne
Turkey Vulture in Flight Over the Tanque Verde Wash — Image by kenne
Late afternoon
Brings the big birds
Circling in for a landing
In the dead trees
By the Tanque Verde Wash.
Their stay will be brief
Before warming up
In the morning sun
Before liftoff, circling
Gaging the currents.
Each day for most of March
The turkey vultures return
In their journey north
To their northern home
Only to return next fall.
— kenne
“Liftoff ” (Turkey Vulture in Dead Tree Along Tanque Verde Wash) — Image by kenne
Another Sign Of Spring, Turkey Vultures Overnight by the Tanque Verde Wash
— Photo-Artistry by kenne
“In the time of the ancients,
the sun moved close to the earth
making life unsustainable.
Whereupon all animals gathered
to see what could be done,
deciding the sun had to be moved.
One by one, attempts were made
to move the sun.
Some, like the fox,
used his mouth
to pull the sun away,
but it was so hot
and he had to stop,
leaving his mouth black
still to this day.
Next, the opossum tried
moving the sun with his tail,
but he too had to stop,
for the sun was too hot,
leaving his tail bald
still to this day.
Seeing all this,
being the most powerful
and beautiful of birds,
the vulture feared the earth
would soon burn up.
So, she bravely placed her
head against the sun,
flying high into the heavens.
Even with her crown
of feathers burning,
she never stopped
until the sun was far away
and the earth was safe.
Now you know
how the vulture
saved the world
and lost her
magnificent feathers
still to this day.”
(My telling of a Native American myth.)
— kenne
Turkey Vultures In The Morning Sun — Images by kenne
The Morning Sun
Hope comes with the morning sun
Warming the body and the soul
Washing away yesterdays troubles
Providing a new beginning
To be lived as if it were your last —
Every minute being a gift.
kenne
We moved to Tanuri Ridge in June of 2010. In February Margarita Berg a resident of this neighborhood passed away. So we never met Margarita, but feel we got to know her through her husband, David.
David and Margarita would frequently walk their dogs on the trails down by the Tanque Verde Wash. Shortly after we moved here, I discovered the trails and the area designated initially by the Tanuri Ridge developer as a community park.
Anyone who has walked these trails is aware of Margarita’s memorial on a trail nearest the wash. Located at the base of a mesquite tree, approximately thirty feet from the washes edge.
During the winter of 2015, heavy rains in the mountains sent a current of water washing away some of the banks of the usually dry wash.
Then, last week heavy winter participation in the mountains overnight again sent a flash flood down the wash, rerouting the flow.
Noticing the flow of water from our patio that morning, I waited till the afternoon before going down to the wash.
As I walked the trail, I could see trail nearest the wash was gone, so too the mesquite tree with Margarita’s memorial.
The flow of the wash was now down about four feet from its early morning peak. The flooding had been so extensive, socking the land making it too dangerous to go looking for the tree.
I returned the next day to try walking west along the wash.
Looking across the wash, on the newly formed island a tree laid with large roots sticking up. Was this Margrete’s tree?
I wasn’t sure till I spotted a yellow plastic flower hanging in the debris.
Once I downloaded the images, I cropped the image of the downed tree. Over the years since 2011, the memorial has been maintained, adding plastic flowers and hanging trinkets from the tree.
In the early days of the memorial, David would visit the site, dropping rose petals on the memorial plaque.
— kenne
Desert Globemallow — Images by kenne
— kenne
