Hutton’s Vireo — Image by kenne
Hutton’s Vireo is a small songbird that bears an uncanny resemblance to a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. They can be
found in the Pacific coastal regions, where they tend to be richer green and yellow. However, in southeastern
Arizona, they are grayer like this one I photographed recently in the Cienega Creek Preserve.
— kenne
Verdin In Sabino Canyon Riparian Area — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— kenne
Sabino Canyon Fall Colors Along Sabino Creek Panoramas — Photo-Essay by kenne
Riparian Landscape, Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne
January In Sabino Canyon (View from the Bluff Trail, January 1, 2018) — Panorama by kenne
Wild Balsam Apple Seedpod — Computer Art by kenne
A spiny seed pod
Left hanging dry on the vine
Wild balsam apple.
The large cottonwoods, Arizona Sycomore, Ash, Willows common to riparian area along Sabino Creek share their color around the Holiday Season — nature’s gift to our beautiful canyon.
The trail leads through
the towering saguaros,
I search for yellows and reds
near the dry creek.
Leaves in sequence fall
fulfilling the plan
guarded by nature
in fragments of gold.
I stopped to wonder,
not knowing the random
planting in the entrails
of Sabino Canyon.
— kenne
Images by kenne
A Ladder-backed Woodpecker in the Riparian Zone of Sabino Canyon (March 10, 2016) — Image by kenne
— kenne
Being able to adapt is fundamental to all organisms to survive in their ecological niche or habitat. This ability is often more evident in harsh environments such as the desert. Plants need water and sunlight, some more or less than others.
Here in the Sonoran desert, plants that can adopt to a lot of sun and little water adopt well to the hot, dry conditions. While plants needing more water have adapted to conditions near water, i.e., riparian areas where annual foliage plants color the desert at this winter solstice time of year.
Plant Adaptation In The Desert — Image by kenne
Another example of plant adaptation can be found on rocky canyon wall facing the north in Sabino Canyon, just a few hundred feet from where the above photo was taken — there is no direct sunlight this time of year. Even in dry conditions, the wall can provide a perfect hitch for fern, moss and “resurrection” plants.
However, what really caught my attention was a small saguaro cactus that was growing out of the north canyon wall, which had fallen over and has continued to grow. Given the size of the plant and the fact that saguaros are very slow-growing plants, taking 6-7 years to grow an inch in the beginning of what can be a 200 year life, this still small cactus is probably about 20 years old — talk about plant adaption.
This guy is a real survivor!
kenne
P.S. Today we are getting much-needed rain in the desert with snow above 4,000 feet. The ferns, moss and resurrection plants will really green-up over the next days.
Saguaro Cactus — Image by kenne
Creekside — Image by kenne
— kenne
Cooper’s Hawk — Image by kenne
It is not unusual to see cooper’s hawks here in the Sonoran Desert, even in my neighborhood. The Tucson area has one of the most dense populations to be found anywhere. Usually nesting in riparian areas, they are not always that easy to photograph. Because of their amazing flying ability, I usually see them flying low to the ground, through and between trees. The water fountain under the olive tree on our patio sometimes attracts a Copper’s hawk, not because of the water, but because of the smaller birds attracted to the water — they are a deadly bird-predator. This time I happen to have my camera near the patio door, making this image possible.
kenne
Cooper’s Hawk (with apologies to Wordsworth)
by Michael Konik
Regal, as if touched by royalty, you light upon the wire,
Surveying the buffet of opportunity below, where we
Who cannot soar, cannot glide, forlornly aspire
To shed our earthly shackles and be free.
You cannot be called a kind and caring raptor,
A patient pedant, with heart o’erflowing with generosity.
Your icy mission is starkly clear: to be a heartless captor
That kills and disembowels without pause for ruminant philosophy.
Yet we who walk upon the land, prisoners of gravity
Observe your single-mindedness with grudging admiration.
We see not a murderer swimming in a sea of depravity
But a champion inspiring our solemn approbation.
“Window To The Sky”
Images by kenne
The Eye Of The Beholder
IF, as they tell in stories old,
The waters of Pactolus roll’d
Over a sand of shifting gold;
If ever there were fairies, such
As those that charm the child so much,
With jewels growing ’neath their touch;
If, in the wine-cup’s sweet deceit,
There lies a secret pleasant cheat,
That turns to beauty all we meet;
The stream, the fairy, and the wine,
In the first love of youth combine
To make its object seem divine.
No golden sand of fabl’d river,
No jewel glittering for ever,
No wine-born vision’s melting quiver,
In vivid glory can compare
With that which we ourselves prepare
To throw round that we fancy fair.
Never such beauty glittered yet,
In golden beams of suns that set
On cupola and minaret.
Never such beauty met men’s eyes
In silver light of moons that rise
O’er lonely lakes ’neath tropic skies.
The world holds nothing of such worth,
There ’s nothing half so fair on earth,
As that to which the heart gives birth:
External beauties pall and fade;
But that which my own soul hath made,
To my conception, knows no shade.
To every ark there comes a dove,
To every heart from heaven above
Is sent a beauty born of love.
The moonlit lake, the waving trees,
It is the eye which looks on these
That makes the loveliness it sees.
Out of myself the beauty grows,
Out of myself the beauty flows
That decks the petals of the rose.
So, when at Ada’s feet I lay,
And saw her glorious as the day,
’Twas my own heart that lent the ray.
James Lionel Michael
Little Lemonhead — Image by kenne
Winter brings its own beauty, but flowers are not usually part of the picture. In the Santa Catalina foothills of the Sonoran Desert there exist a plant with small yellow heads with narrow yellow rays. The above image was taken yesterday in the Sabino Canyon riparian area near the Sabino Canyon Dam.
Another image of this plant, by Ned Harris, can be viewed on Ann Green’s blog, Sabino Canyon.
kenne
Maribeth’s iPhone Photo
Now a little over a week ago, we received rain in southern Arizona for the first time in months. The creek in Sabino Canyon had been dry for some time. Yes, there were a few pools here and there with a few gila chub, the native fish found in the creek, but no running water. For weeks I’ve had elementary school kids stand above the dam telling them they were “walking on water”, only that it was a few feet below the sand. It’s amazing how the desert begins to transform from the site of water running through the canyon — a site for dry eyes!
Then, there is the sound of water causing one to rush down to the water-side, like a magical sound of the piper.
Yesterday, some of us were hiking through the Sabino Canyon riparian area enjoying the winter solstice colors along the creek — tis the season to be merry!
kenne
Images by kenne
Ned Harris is my Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist (SCVN) mentor. He is also a super photographer. So, one might ask, why am I posting one of my photos with one of his photos? Yes, it does seem crazy! But, there is a “method to my madness.”
First, I want to share an example Ned’s photo skills and urge you to visit his Flickr site (Ned Harris’ Photostream) to see more of the Gray Hawk pictured below and many other excellent raptors photos — he’s one of the best!
Second, as Ned knows, wildlife photography is all about being at the right place at the right time, and that’s not all luck. You have to help make things happen.
Yesterday we both were out trying to be in the “right place at the right time” — I in Sabino Canyon, Ned in Aravaipa Canyon. As I walked in the riparian area above the Sabino Canyon Dam, I saw a Copper’s Hawk above me. I quickly readied my camera to capture the moment — in a split second, I took the shot the hawk dove back and down away from me. But, to be correct, I wasn’t as ready as I should have been, which you can tell from the image below.
Ned, however, is driving down the road and sees a gray hawk on a telephone cable. As he slows down to pull over, he turns off the SUV engine to reduce noise, coming to a stop. Then, sliding over from the driver’s seat, he takes some stunning images with the camera in hand.
Talk about “right place, right time,” but more importantly, he has the camera instinct to create those moments we all hope for when we put a camera in our hands.
— kenne
Copper’s Hawk In Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne
Gray Hawk with Desert Spiny Lizard — Image by Ned Harris
Becoming is Superior to Being 