Archive for the ‘Birds’ Tag
Another Sign Of Spring, Turkey Vultures Overnight by the Tanque Verde Wash — Computer Painting 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,
or 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.”
This is my telling of a native American myth.
— kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Verdin In Mesquite Tree — Image by kenne 
Verdin’s Nest — Image by kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Cactus Wren Atop A Crested Saguaro Cactus — Image by kenne
Photography is a system of visual editing.
At bottom, it is a matter of surrounding
with a frame a portion of one’s cone of vision,
while standing in the right place at the right time.
Like chess, or writing, it is a matter of choosing from
among given possibilities, but in the case of photography
the number possibilities is not finite, but infinite.
— John Szarkowki
Like this:
Like Loading...
A Birder’s View Of A Cooper’s Hawk — Image by kenne
Something’s going on
Standing Guard Above the nest,
It is family time.
— kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Harris Hawk on a power pole along the Sabino Canyon south border. — Image by kenne
Gray caps placed over wires to protect rafters from electrocution. — Image by kenne
Raptors are often injured or killed on electric power poles in urban areas like Tucson. The poles make attractive perches for the big birds
Last December a Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist found a dead Peregrine Falcon below a utility pole on the border of Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. The Tucson Electric Power (TEP) was contacted, responding quickly with representatives from the University of Arizona to evaluate the area. To reduce the possible electrocution of rafters, TEP designed caps to be placed on the power poles (gray caps in the third image above).
Harris’s hawks occur in the United States only in the southern portions of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, with the largest concentration is between Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. Electrical power poles are like a magnet to raptors looking for the highest point they can find to perch, creating the largest single cause of mortality facing raptors.
Tucson Electric Power (TEP) has stated that due to the hawks’ nesting and hunting habits, they are at greater risk of electrocution than other raptors. “Harris’ hawks are unique in that they breed, nest, and hunt communally, they are vulnerable to multiple deaths at once.”
kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Desert Spring II — Image by kenne
Bird 6 (Cactus Wren)
I make my nests among the desert cactus.
Several I will build.
One for my lady to lay her eggs in.
Others to confuse our predators.
I’m not shy, like others of my family.
My lady and I will both sing songs.
Though my Lady is the one who sits upon the eggs.
I will help feed the young just like any daddy should.
I am seven to eights inches long.
My head is brown, and I sport a white eye stripe.
My bill is slightly curved for digging for those bugs.
I’ll flash my spotted tail feathers and flap barred wings.
I hardly ever drink water, even when it there.
I get what I need from the things I eat.
I really love those ants, beetles and grasshoppers.
I will occasionally eat some seeds and fruits.
So if you travel to the deserts
down in the southwestern USA
Look among the cactus for a football nest.
There you might see us flying or at rest.
— wildfiredreamer
Cactus Wrens and Cactus Wren Nests Images by kenne (Click on any image to see slideshow.)
Like this:
Like Loading...
Beep! Beep!
Beep! Beep! — Images by kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Cactus Computer Painting by kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Computer Painting by kenne
Once a Zen master stood up before his students
and was about to deliver a sermon.
And just as he was about to open his mouth,
a bird sang. And he said,
“The sermon has been delivered.”
— Joseph Campbell
Like this:
Like Loading...
Luke, The Leucistic Male Phaninopepla — Computer Painting by kenne
People who visit Sabino Canyon and go on “Ned and Friends Nature Walks” know about “Luke,” (Click here to see Ned’s photo of Luke) the leucistic male phaninopepla with it white crest gracing his shiny black body.
Image by Marty Horowitz
Luke
He’s a striking bird,
Looking like a black cardinal,
“A bird black as the sun.”
What did you say he’s called?
Luke the phaninopepla!
This bird an’t no fable.
With his red eyes
and slender white crest
courting her with berries.
Protecting his territory
alone the trail of hearts
birders sing his song.
— kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Female Phainopepla — Image by kenne
There She Was
There she was,
Gazing at me
Wondering why
I look so funny.
There she was,
On her perch
An ocotillo branch
Sharing the gray.
There she was
A little red
In her eye
Continuing to gaze.
There she was
As I wonder why
The ocotillo
Not mesquite.
There she was
Flycatcher by name
Preferring the berries
Of desert mistletoe.
There she was
Not gazing at me
Turning her eye
To mistletoe berries.
There she was
In the desert winter
No insects
For this flycatcher.
There she was
Where there are
Berries abundant
For a misnamed bird.
There she was
Until the days
Grew hot
In the desert sun.
Now she’s gone
To the mountains
In search of a
New berry source.
— kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
Anna’s Hummingbird — Images by kenne
Humming-Bird
by D.H. Lawrence
I can imagine, in some other world
Primeval-dumb, far back
In that most awful stillness,
That only gasped and hummed,
Humming-birds raced down the avenues.
Before anything had a soul,
While life was a heave of matter, half inanimate,
This little bit chipped off in brilliance
And went whizzing through the slow, vast, succulent stems.
I believe there were no flowers then,
In the world where the humming-bird flashed ahead of creation.
I believe he pierced the slow vegetable veins with his long beak.
Probably he was big
As mosses, and little lizards, they say, were once big.
Probably he was a jabbing, terrifying monster.
We look at him through the wrong end of the telescope of
Time,
Luckily for us.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Verdin Nest In a Palo Verde Tree, Sonoran Desert — Image by kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
An American Robin On Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
Today we walked the trail,
listening,
looking,
we who come and go.
Look!
Where?
Over there!
Field glasses
to eyes,
a bird
free of strings
singing —
time to move on.
Now,
close your eyes
gather answers
the same as the
questions,
now forget the
answers.
kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
. . . birds get creative. Images by kenne
Like this:
Like Loading...
