November 29 -- "New" Birds Visit Faranuf -- And I've Grown To Like Those Darned Deer

The day began clear and cold; I have no doubt it fell to freezing or below during the night. (A good way to tell is when I go out at around 6am to re-stock the feeders and water features -- and the water is frozen over). The sky was cloudless, so I didn't have to go running from the back to the front of the house  like a madman, trying to get the predawn and sunrise colors. As it started to get light to the east. I saw ground fog in the San Simon Valley. Portal is on the west edge of the valley, the San Simon being a classic "basin" as in Basin and Range. And as in most of those basins, it's high desert; the elevation of the town of Rodeo, on the east side of the valley, is 4100 feet; Portal is only 600 feet higher. But when the temperatures in the valley drop to freezing or below, and the conditions are just right, it's cloaked in ground fog. And when you're above it, with the peaks, in this case the Peloncillos, rising above the fog like islands in a sea, it can be quite a sight --

It was a bit unusual in that there was ground fog everywhere, seemingly covering everything below 4200 feet. 

I said to myself "Hah! It will never come this high." At this point it was clear and sunny, and there was lots of activity at the backyard feeders. It seems like my backyard  birds consist of mostly White-crowned Sparrows (they winter here below 5500 feet; all my bird stats are taken from Rick Taylor's "Birds of Southeastern Arizona" my Bird Bible) and Black-throated Sparrows, with the odd Chipping Sparrow thrown in for a little diversity. Also a Pyrrhuloxia or two and the resident Green-tailed Towhee makes an occasional appearance. And let's not forget the ubiquitous Canyon Towhee, Mourning and Eurasian Collared Dove, and the odd Gambel's Quail invasion, where they vacuum up every seed in sight. But this morning there are some VERY neat visitors. You usually see these fellows along the sides of the roads, perched on a fence or agave; I've never seen them in my back yard before this -- 

A Loggerhead Shrike, aka "Butcher Bird", as they have a tendency to impale their prey, usually large insects, but sometimes lizards and small birds, on fence posts and such. Thank goodness he was more interested in the early morning fluffup than snagging one of the small birds -- though he WAS looking, as you can tell in the photo. I managed to slowly open the sliding glass door and get a few shots before he took off. And I got another surprise visitor, though his particular type of food has been out there all this time -- 

A male (red on the crown) Ladder-backed Woodpecker. It's only about the 2nd time I've seen one here, even though I've had a suet block in its cage holder for the past 3 months. In spite of seeming interested in the suet, he took off shortly after this; you can tell by his backward glance that his interest is drawn elsewhere. Though later I heard a squeak like a squeeze toy and saw a female Ladder-backed in the mesquite "field" part of my property. I may (hopefully) see them again as they're common residents in the area. So -- nice visitors this morning!  And later in the day a friend gave me a small hummingbird feeder that I had been thinking for getting when I went back to the South Bay of Los Angeles for the holidays when I visited the Wild Birds store there. It's perfect for this fellow, Mr. Broad-billed, as I want him to have his own feeder out near his mesquite perch and not have to deal with the Anna's at the other one closer to the house  -- 

Along with the small feeder, my friend gave me what are called "Nectar Guard Tips" -- little rubbery tips that fit into the feeder ports. They have a flexible center that opens up when the hummingbird inserts its bill to feed, then closes back up. It's supposed to deter bees and wasps from trying to get inside as they're attracted to the sugar nectar; we'll see. It worked pretty well yesterday, hopefully being another way to encourage him to stay the winter...

Back to the ground fog... I was telling myself it would never come up this far -- then I looked out the window, the sun was gone and visibility had gone down to a hundred yards at most. It crept up and socked us in for about an hour, keeping the temperature down. "It will never happen here" -- I'll never say that again. After the fog lifted and the sun came back out I went to a friend's house where they gave me the small hummingbird feeder and the nectar tips as a housewarming present (they haven't come over to Faranuf yet and are now aking off for a few months; they used to own a Wild Birds Unlimited store in the San Francisco bay area.) They then sent me over to the Visitor Information Center at the entrance of Cave Creek Canyon to drop off papers and to meet Ron, the only paid staffer at the VIC. I'll be a volunteer staffer there next year, so he gave me a few items to help me with my "orientation" . When I came back out to the parking lot I saw and Ash tree still brilliant with its fall coloring -- 

That's Silver Peak to the left. And here's what I believe to be a Cottonwood tree backlit by the sun -- 

It's still a good time to come here for the fall colors. The Arizona sycamores may be way past peak, but their branches still have a surprising number of leaves that have now turned a rust-like shade. And there are of course the crunchy leaves underfoot. 

Around 4pm the 3 young male deer returned to Faranuf's back yard. I hadn't seen them for a few days, so I put bird seed out on a wood stump. The feeders with food were up out of reach of the deer, though they do smell it as they're looking at it and sniffing, but realize they can't reach it. The seed on the stump, on the other hand... 

Photographically caught in the act!  And you know what -- I don't care anymore. I've grown to like these young male deer and accept them as Faranuf backyard visitors. If I don't want them to eat the seed, then I just won't put it out on the stump; they can't get to the other seed in the higher feeders. So I may continue to put just a little bit out for them -- and if they don't visit that day, then the birds will eat it. These fellows are beautiful --

Though he does need a shave... And after he was finished licking up the seed, he drank from the water feature, then went out to nibble on what he usually eats --

So it was a bird and deer kinda day -- and that suits me just fine... 

November 28 -- The Return of Mr. Broad Billed, And A Drive Up The Mountain

I hadn't seen the adult male Broad-billed hummingbird for about 5 days; the last I saw of him, he was bring driven off the feeder by an Anna's male. However, this morning I saw I brilliant, glittery green in the mesquite, and knew it was him. And HE was driving the Anna's from the feeder. They really are single-minded in their quest for dominance of a hummingbird feeder. Well, beyond dominance -- NO one is allowed. I've had them whiz inches from my head, one chasing the other. Flying jewels? Yes, but they're pretty darned aggressive, too. Anyway, Mr. Broad-billed was in good light --

Look at that expression; I call it The Little Man Napoleonic Complex -- "Don't mess with me!" even though he's only 4 inches tall. He was also closely guarding the feeder on the agave, perching above it -- 

He looks much more friendly there...Most of the hummingbirds have migrated south. At the height of fall migration I had 5 feeders going and had emptied a 25-pound bag of sugar in about a month; now I've had another bag of sugar for around 2 months. The only ones that are left at Faranuf are Mr. Broad-billed (more BBs are staying later here in SE Arizona, even up in Tucson)  and a few Anna's, who are non-migratory, and I now have only one feeder up on the front porch and one in back. Rufous, Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, Broad-billed -- they've all left, at least my back yard. I never saw the variety of species that visited the feeders of other folks living nearby -- Magnificent, Blue-throated, even the rarely-seen Plain-capped Starthroat. Perhaps next year, when Faranuf earns a spot on the hummingbirds' map of Places to Visit...

I've been here over 3 months now and have only gone up to the high Chiricahuas once, with friends Mark and Lori and Bob, a friend visiting from the South Bay of Los Angeles. Now that it's nearly winter it's almost too late, but the weather lately has been warm for even up there, and there's been very little precipitation, even on the 10-day forecast. So a trip up top was long overdue. I packed up my 500 f/4 and landscape lens and headed up Cave Creek Canyon that turns into the unpaved trans-Chiricahua road that crosses over to the west side. 5 of the 9 life zones are found here, and all are within a driving distance of about 20 miles. The Chiricahuas are the range part of the "basin and range" system of mountains, and like most of the other mountains in that category have a steep elevation gain over very little distance. For example, Portal is at 4700 feet, and Chiricahua Peak, highest in the Chiricahuas, is at 9.759 feet at an air distance of approximately 15 miles. So the 5 life zones found here are relatively close to one another. Just beyond the Southwestern Research Station the road across the Chiricahuas is unpaved and closed during the winter -- "Limited Maintenance" during the rest of the year. Once you get out of the creek canyon you're treated to spectacular views looking east, and back south to Cave Creek Canyon and Silver Peak -- 

Northeast

Southeast with Cave Creek Canyon in the distance (and the unpaved road in the right foreground)

Another view southeast

The mountain road winds up until you reach Onion Saddle, where the road down the west side begins; Onion Saddle is at 7600 feet -- 

It's windy -- and a bit cold -- on the spur road to Rustler and Barfoot Parks, and I come across a spot with snow from the winter storm nearly 2 weeks ago. Here's the intersection of the Rustler Park and Barfoot roads -- 

The barren trees you see in the background are from the Horseshoe 2 fire in June 2011, which burned quite a bit of the high Chiricahuas. But the high-mountain feel is still here. Small flocks of Yellow-eyed Juncos are here, along with Pink-sided Dark-eyed Juncos, which are common here from October to April --

The views along the road stretch for nearly a hundred miles to the east -- basin and range, basin and range -- 

Back down at the Turkey Creek crossing, where the road to Paradise intersects with the trans-Chiricahua road, I see a Ruby-crowned Kinglet flitting among the trees -- 

Raptors soaring and stooping in the wind, an American Robin on top of an agave, a Sapsucker flying between oak trees, Apache and Ponderosa pine stands -- it's truly another in a long list of amazing places here in the Chiricahuas. And heading back, it's a thrilling feeling to know my house lies on the other side of that mountain -- 

November 27 -- A Day Not Of Nothing, But Something

It's like the scenery around here, and especially in the San Simon Valley. I've mentioned before that people -- particularly the ones that come from the city -- say it's "empty", "nothing here" -- negative terms. And I tell them au contraire, there's a lot of "something" here, you just have to be able to SEE. Well, if I were to say my day consisted of nursing the remnants of my cold, drinking tea with honey, sitting in the rocker watching the birds in the back yard while reading the Sinatra biography, some would say I did nothing today. But even observing and reading is SOMEthing. And even if the sunrise to the east had no colors here, it was still something -- though the view to the west at the same time was more of something --

Silver Peak, with the rising sun creating shadows and light. 

I've actually seen a lot of birds here since moving in to Faranuf. I'm keeping a yard list, and while I haven't had anything spectacular like my friends Mark and Lori up the street, the variety hasn't been bad. And my friend Helen said she saw a Sandhill Crane fly over Faranuf -- and that it too can be considered a yard bird as it was over my property, and I could have seen it if I had been outside. (OK, maybe that's pushing things a bit, but Helen's the expert, so who am I to doubt her?) And yesterday I saw a female Northern Harrier flying low across Foothills Road -- another yard bird. But here are some of the ones I actually saw in my back yard -- 

Female (or juvenile) Rufous Hummingbird

Lincoln's Sparrow

Cooper's Hawk

Roadrunner

Black-headed Grosbeak

In the afternoon, I went to the post office to pick up a catalog of canopies for Discovery II, my travel trailer that I'll be bringing down from Overton, Nevada early next year. I want to keep Discovery on my property, and there's plenty of space on the north side of Faranuf to do it. The thing is, where do I find a place that will not only supply me with the canopy, but will install it, too? Such a company is hard to find in the city, much less a rural area like here. As it turns out, the owner of the Rodeo Tavern, 10 miles to the east of me in Rodeo, New Mexico, is a dealer for "Desert Steel Buildings, LLC" which builds and installs carports, garages, barns -- you name it. There are a couple of examples of canopies in Rodeo that I can check out. It's all steel, including the roof, and you can close up the sides, too, for more protection. There are standard ground anchors cemented to meet 90mph wind loads -- it's a requirement here in Arizona. It may cost a bit, but as I won't be replacing my roof -- I was thinking of getting a metal one -- or buying solar panels, I can afford to get a good quality canopy for Discovery. There are a few things I have to check out, though, like whether I have a building permit for my property...

I started on the Say's Phoebe nest box. I Googled it online, and found instructions for constructing one. I bought the wood board for it, and now all I have to do is size the pieces, then saw them. I cut the bottom part already, and should have it up by next week. After disappearing for about a month, the Say's Phoebe is back, and when I first saw "him" he was with another one, so perhaps I can encourage them to nest here. I just have to find a place to put the completed nest box; usually it's under the eaves of the house. 

The sunset was spectacular. It started out as golden -- 

then proceeded to get darker -- 

And ended up a dark red -- 

So even "nothing" days can, in their own way, be special and productive...

November 26 -- A Rainbow Over Faranuf, And A Thanksgiving Dinner

On Wednesday the Weather Channel's online site said Thanksgiving day would be partly cloudy and temps in the 60s -- and they stuck with the story until that evening. So of course it made sense when it started raining at 5am. (WHY do I keep on using them for weather reports?)  The rain provided a nice change as I knew I wouldn't have to scramble around outside the house to check out the sunrise looking east and west as I usually do, and feel obliged to be outside taking advantage of the great weather and remaining fall color. I wish I could catch up on sleep, but that's asking too much. The rain didn't last long, perhaps until 9, then it was sporadic, raining in one spot then dry and "sunshiny" in another. I was reading my Kindle (the Frank Sinatra bio), looking out the back sliding glass door to see if any deer would visit,when some color off to the right caught my eye. Dang if it wasn't a rainbow -- and a very vivid one at that. Though it was sprinkling in spots, and a bit windy, I HAD to get shots for another example of the weird and wonderful weather here --

On the north side of Faranuf (and it's a double rainbow)

Over Faranuf

The rainbow lasted at least an hour. I took shots from different angles and also zoom-ins -- 

A friend asked me if these were "Photoshopped". I told him the only thing I used was my circular polarizer filter attached to the landscape lens, which when you turn it either makes the rainbow invisible, or makes it "pop" . The CP never comes off my lens as it cuts down on the glare, particularly that of the sun. So this is pretty much what I saw, except a little more intense. 

The remnants of the storm were blowing through, so it was pretty windy most of the day. The Coues deer eventually came to visit the water feature. They get spooked if they see me in the  house, moving past the sliding glass door, so I stay out of sight until they've left. Alas, I haven't seen the colorful adult male Broad-billed hummingbird for the last 5 days, even though I put a feeder for him close to the mesquite where he perches. (He used to get chased off by the resident Anna's male, though, so perhaps he gave up and left.)  As Faranuf is all-electric, the energy bills can be a bit high -- last month's was nearly $100. I've done a few energy-saving things like close the doors and shut off the floor vents to rooms I don't use, like the 2 bedrooms, and unplugged the standalone freezer as the one in my refrigerator is big enough for my purposes,  but I obviously need to do more...So for starters I'll be bringing my oscillating floor heater that I use in my trailer, which should be good to heat, say, the kitchen or computer area, and if that isn't enough, then I'll look into other types of floor heaters. (Amazon Prime, anyone?) And my friend Helen suggested drying my clothes on a clothesline instead of using the electric dryer, which is one of the biggest energy guzzlers. I'll probably do that when the weather starts getting predictably warmer, say in March... 

I headed over to my friends' house for Thanksgiving dinner at 5. It was quite a spread -- turkey from a day in the smoker, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, 2 types of stuffing, 2 types of sweet potato, various alcoholic drinks (thank goodness I only have to drive 3 miles at most, and there is of course no traffic here) and key lime pie and brownies (my contribution) for dessert. The friends whose house I went to were owners of a Wild Birds Unlimited store in the San Francisco Bay area and retired to Portal, building their own house. There were two other people invited besides me -- a local artist who has some of her work up at the Chiricahua Gallery in Rodeo, and the gal whose "Carrie" getup, complete with blood (fake of course)  won the Best Costume at the Halloween party. The owner of the house is president of Friends of Cave Creek Canyon and was asking for volunteers to be trained to man the Visitor Information Center, the former ranger station where folks now go to get info on the area, so I signed up for a "class" to learn how to be on the VIC staff beginning next year. With being in charge of the FOCCC bulletin board at the post office, helping out on the website, and hiking, photography, and taking care of Faranuf, that's enough for me, as I'm RETIRED... 

What was I doing a year ago today? I was up doing a day hike in Nevada's Valley of Fire, and came encountered a few of the residents there -- 

November 25 -- From Predawn To Sunrise, Changing Fall Colors, A Laminator, And Plants

It was quite a memorable predawn here, both to the east and west --

A cloud with wisps of virga -- 

Fire in the sky as the sun was rising over the Peloncillos -- 

The clouds were given a soft pinkish hue over Cave Creek Canyon -- 

And the sun finally comes over the horizon and lights up the high Chiricahuas, still with patches of snow from the winter storm over a week ago -- 

I've mentioned I am a member of Friends of Cave Creek Canyon. I've taken on a few duties, and one of them is to put items such as photos on the FOCCC bulletin board outside of our post office. Though the fall color show here has pretty much run its course, I printed out and laminated a few 8.5 x 11 pics of the autumn display,  with Cave Creek Canyon landmarks as a background. Here is   Cathedral Peak, taken November 9 -- 

And here is nearly the same scene 4 days later, showing that you really have to jump on it to get the autumnal brilliance -- 

So I put up the first photo on the bulletin board, along with another fall photo from a friend, and a view from the McCord Trail that I took during a hike a few weeks ago. But Postmistress Joan said this was her favorite photo, from November 12  -- 

And about a week later -- 

Having lived in southern California all my life, with its one season, seeing the changing of the colors comes as a visual revelation... I mentioned laminating the photos. FOCCC bought me one, along with pouches to place the photos in that then get run through the laminator. It's pretty cool!  And we got it from Amazon, of course. But I'm thinking of expanding on its uses. I checked on the Web and discovered that you can laminate leaves. Ever since the cottonwood/ash ID controversy mentioned in an earlier post, I've done some reading up on IDing trees, shrubs and plants through their leaves. I collected leaves during my hike up South Fork the day before, carefully placing them in a folded paper towel (I should have been more prepared and brought, say, a Zip-loc along) and gingerly put them in my fanny pack, hoping they wouldn't fall apart before I got back home. (They didn't.) Once at Faranuf I put the leaves between the pages of a book -- FOCCC's Cave Creek Canyon book, appropriately enough. I wanted to keep them flattened until I could run them through the laminator. I looked at leaf photos on the Web, found what I thought was a match (still not definitive yet), wrote down  both their common and Latin names on matte heavyweight paper -- less chance of it being caught in the laminator --, arranged the leaves on it, then ran it through. It sorta/kinda worked, as the leaves aren't totally flat, especially the stems. But it's a test page anyway; here's how it turned out --

It doesn't have to be perfect as they'll be displayed outside,  and as time goes along I'll refine my technique -- but not bad for starters, and it's a great way to spread the knowledge around to those folks, like me, who don't have a clue as to what type of flowers, plants, trees and shrubs they're seeing. 

I also bought some plants to be put temporarily on the back deck. 

It's a pretty spacious, protected area as you can see. The birds perch in the mesquite behind me in this photo -- but the area where the feeders are is totally out in the open. I know that at least some of the birds are residents, meaning they'll winter here, so I bought two plants, for the moment in their original pots, and put them on the deck. Here's a Pyracantha -- 

And Artemisia -- 

I'll keep them on the back deck during winter so the birds can have a bit more protection from the weather, and the Pyracantha berries, which grow during winter, can provide some of the bird species with food. which will provide a nice change from the ol' bird seed. (I'm sure the birds don't care what they eat, but what the hey.) Then come spring, I'll plant them in the back yard. So as you can see, modifying the back yard is a continuing process. And another project is a Say's Phoebe bird box for nesting; more on that coming in future blogs as I build it... 

And I end this blog post with a view from this morning of Cave Creek Canyon taken from my back yard --