I use the 100-400 lens to zoom-in on it --
Then pull out for a wider, taller view as it's now shooting up into the sky. Here it looks like a volcano eruption as it's perfectly positioned in the center of a mountain peak in the Peloncillos --
The contrail of a passing jet somewhat ruins the effect, but it's still impressive. Then it fades away as the sun rises over the horizon --
Wow. I'd never seen anything like this when I was living in San Pedro, but that could have been partly due to not being able to see the horizon during sunrise. And perhaps the right conditions that create a solar pillar never happened there, as it's formed by ice crystals in the air reflecting the light of the rising sun. But it's just one of the things that makes this place so special.
It's my second straight day manning the Cave Creek Canyon Visitor Information Center. Once again, there are visitors at the front porch before I open at 9am. (Part of the problem could be that there's a sign at the parking entrance saying we're open from 8am to 4pm, but in smaller letters says Friday, Saturday and Sunday.) I ask them what info they'd like to know; the woman said they'd like to get into Crystal Cave. I tell them the key is down in Douglas, and they can get it with a $100 deposit. Once again, as with the fellow the day before, she disagrees with me -- "That's not what they told me when I said I wanted to get into Crystal Cave." Sigh. She then said she'd prove it by showing me the paper saying the key was available here. She went out to the car, then came back a few minutes later with a sheepish grin on her face. "You were right -- the key is down at Douglas." DOH! I find out later that there may be another key at the Southwest Research Station, but you have to be escorted into the cave if you use that one. Besides that one incident, the people dropping by the VIC are friendly -- and the woman asking for the key actually was, too -- and appreciative of our knowledge of the Chiricahuas. I get quite a few visitors that day, considering it's the middle of the week -- 34. It will be interesting to see how one person handles all the people that may be coming in once the season really begins. One of the more interesting visitors was an older gentleman, looking a bit like a mountain man with a bushy, unkempt beard, who I found out was a resident. He lives alone at the end of a road that's at the foothills of the Chiricahuas. He says he's been out of water for a few weeks now, and that all of the nearby wells have dried up. He's been trying to collect rainwater -- but it hasn't rained here since January. Despite being older, I'd say he was spry, though living in REAL isolation by himself with no neighbors around. There are quite a few people here like him, living off the grid. They're not millennialists, or Ted Kozinsky types, living in a one-room shack and dreaming about bombs; they just like living by themselves. At the end of the day I lock up, knowing there are now a few more people who will now appreciate what there is to be offered here.
The next day, the 17th, I'm determined to see that Golden Eagle down on Highway 80 again. It's reliably seen in a certain area, so I scan the power poles lining the highway. Nothing. Then I look off the road to a power pole near a house -- and see a huge bird on top; it's "him". I pulled off to the side of road and put on my blinkers. (While I'm there, one fellow in a battered pickup truck slows down and asks if I'm all right; I tell him I'm just photographing a Golden Eagle.) I don't have anyplace to go that morning, so I wait him out, taking photos with the 500mm "Big Boy" lens with a 1.4x teleconverter attached. For once, he's facing south, with the sun to shining on his left side; I finally have a perfect angle. He is a beauty, and majestic --
And I'm also getting his attention. I know photographers in the southern California area who stick a big lens practically in a bird's face to get a full-resolution photo without thinking about stressing out the bird. For me, I have a 500mm-plus camera gear so I can take good-quality photos from a distance, and let the bird go about its business. I watch him while I'm by the side of the road for about a half hour, with the driver's door open and leaning the lens on the rear-view mirror to stabilize it and take pressure off my arms from holding it for long periods of time. I get closeups --
Woo-hoo! I've finally got the GE photos I've wanted. Now I just have to get the takeoff shots...But when he finally takes off, it's in the direction opposite me. Figures. But he goes to the ground and acts like he saw something. He comes up empty, but I get him flying off --
And he goes to another power pole further away. I yell out "thank you!", which I always do after a successful wildlife photo shoot as I'm imposing on him, then head back. But there's a place I want to check out before going back to Faranuf -- Willow Tank. It's one of the most important bodies of water here on the east side of the Chiricahuas, because it's one of the ONLY bodies of water. Birds, usually migrating ones, see it and stop for a brief visit. It's where we saw a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and a friend first saw a Dickcissel -- both birds that are from the other side of the Continental Divide, and are somewhat rare visitors here. Willow Tank is in the process of being rehabilitated as it is an important bird stop. Here it is; it's only about an acre in size --
This is one of the only places in the area where you can find waterfowl, and possibly shorebirds. The organization I belong to, Friends of Cave Creek Canyon, has donated money to build a solar collector so the "pond" remains filled with water, which was always a problem as it's privately owned. But it's now becoming a reliable water source for wildlife. Here are some of the birds I saw there when I visited --
Black-throated Sparrow
Killdeer
Ring-necked Duck
Vesper Sparrow
Green-winged Teal
It's going to be a place to watch in the future.. I drove back up Stateline Road, and saw a few Red-tails --
Back at Faranuf, I get ready for the installation of Discovery II's canopy tomorrow. I hitched her up to Tundra --
And find a more or less level spot , and that's out of the way, to leave her until the canopy is installed --
There's one last thing to do for the day -- place the "critter cam" I recently bought on eBay near the water feature to see what might come in at night. It's set for video and is activated by motion in front of the camera; the video only lasts for 30 seconds during the nighttime to conserve battery power. Here's the setup; the cam is strapped to the post --
So let's see what the water feature brings in during the night..
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