April 12-17 -- Backyard Birds, And An Upcoming Trip To Texas' High Island

We had our last good chances for rain on Tuesday the 12th. I was working at the visitor info center and it really looked promising -- dark, threatening clouds to the west over the high Chiricahuas, and travelers coming in from the national monument on the other side were reporting sleet and hail up in the higher elevations. Down at the VIC, we had about 5 minutes of a nice rain -- and besides wind, that was it. The forecasted precipitation wimped out once again. As I mentioned previously. we had zero rain in February, zero in March -- and it looks like near-zero in April. And now probably nothing until the monsoons, starting in July. I have to admit the ground was wet at Faranuf in the morning, and there were wisps of mist wreathing some of Cave Creek Canyon's peaks -- 

My "commute" to the VIC is at most about 3 miles, and the clouds that day were promising -- 

I consider that vista THE iconic view of Cave Creek Canyon, and the one I recommend to all the VIC visitors. This was taken during the morning of the alleged rain. Looks beautiful and promising, but alas... 

But this looks VERY promising.. Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal are setting up house in  my back yard. There's even another male that's lurking around here. The Mr. and Mrs. and quite the cute couple; here's Mr. Cardinal, with his crest perfectly coiffed (actually, the wind was blowing from the left) --

And Mrs. Cardinal, not as striking as the male (as is the case with pretty much all female birds) but with a subtle beauty all her own --

Pyrrhuloxia, a name which always sounded like a gum disease to me (think pyorrhea), are also called "desert cardinal" and are related to Northern Cardinals. I have a Mr. and Mrs. in my back yard, and they do bear a resemblance to cardinals. Here's the male -- 

I also have two Harris's Antelope Squirrels. Though they're not endangered, their habitat is disappearing with the increase of human "development". They're interesting in that they're a squirrel that's adapted to desert temperatures; one thing they do is hold their tail over their bodies, which acts as an umbrella for protection from the sun. Here's one of them at my water feature --

I see signs of spring all around me -- the shrubs and mesquite are an intense green and the birds are pairing off -- Cardinals, Pyrrhuloxia, and Curve-billed Thrashers, just to name a few. While working at the Visitor Center on Tuesday and Thursday I saw Magnificent and Blue-throated hummingbirds (Blue-throateds are the largest hummingbirds in the United States; I call them "the Big Mack Trucks" of hummers), along with Scott's Orioles that were going for the sugar water in the feeders, just like this Acorn Woodpecker  --

There are 2 big trips with Discovery II, my travel trailer, that are coming up; the first will be to High Island, Texas, for the spring bird migration. High Island is world-famous in spring for the birds that fly across the Gulf of Mexico from their wintering grounds south of the US-Mexico border. After making the long, exhausting journey over the waters of the Gulf, they drop when they see the first land -- and that area is High Island and the SE Texas coast . Depending on the prevailing wind, birds can drop at that area -- or get blown over it. The first reports from friends who are there this week are that there is at least a minor "fallout"; they got 14 different warbler species, and many "life birds", i.e. species they've never seen before. It sounds very promising, but SE Texas is also experiencing some very bad flooding from heavy thunderstorms that are spinning around the area, trapped from moving on by high-pressure systems. So it should be interesting when I get down there; hopefully it will all have blown over by then. But the birds don't care about the bad weather; all they care about is they're back on land. I'll be meeting friends there who are originally from southern California, but like me now live elsewhere -- Mark and Lori, now my neighbors and friends here in Portal; Martin and Eileen, living near Austin, and Jose, the birding "wunderkid" who's been hitchhiking around the country and will be going to High Island with me in my trailer. Weather permitting, we should have a blast...

Here are a few more interesting birds I've seen these past few days here in my back yard, or seen in the air while on my property, which makes them "yard birds", such as this Zone-tailed hawk, a raptor that looks and acts like a Turkey Vulture, and sometimes flies with them, which makes their prey on the ground unaware that the hawks are sizing them up for a meal --

A Gambel's Quail male -- 

And my favorite of the hummingbirds that I have seen in my yard -- so far; a male Broad-billed, with its spectacular coloring -- 

I'll end this blog entry with a video from my "critter cam" set up by my water feature. I've had it on during the night and have seen 2 bobcats, both White-tailed and Mule deer, Gray Fox, coyote, raccoon, and a Striped Skunk that seems to think the water feature belongs to him as he's chased off the fox!  Aggressive little bugger...But I've decided to turn the cam on during the day, too, so enjoy this early morning in my back yard, and be sure you turn up the sound to hear the bird calls -- 

April 9-11 -- A Monsoon-y Storm, First Results From My Canon 100-400 MK II Lens, And A Tucson Run

The weather pattern for Basin and Range topography seems to be rain on the west side of the mountains, dry on the east side. The Sierra Nevada is a good example of that, with a thickly-forested west slope, and a much drier eastern one. It seems like the Chiricahuas are no exception; rain has dropped on the west side recently, but at least in the Portal area it's been mostly some sound and no fury. In February and March we received about as close to zero percent precipitation as you can get without it actually being zero, and for the most part April has been shaping up the same way. Whatever happened to the massive El Nino that was supposed to have been one continuous soaking? Instead, we've had temperatures averaging in the mid-70s and sometimes accompanied by wind (hence my shingles coming off the roof). Take these last 2 days, for example. The days have begun with clouds, spectacular  ones; one would think "red sky in the morning, sailor take warning" -- if we weren't hundreds of miles away from the ocean -- 

That was taken with my new Canon 100-400 IS L f/4.5 MK II lens, but more on that in a moment. The cloud cover gained a pinkish hue, seen from my front yard looking northeast -- 

Evidence that SOMEthing was happening "up there" was in abundance, spectacularly so --

THAT was taken from Faranuf's back yard. (Sorry, I don't mean to sound like I'm rubbing it in, but I'm still blown away by the vistas from my property.).

I've had my Canon 100-400 f/5.6 lens for at least 3 years now (and had another 100-400 before that, but I won't go into what happened to THAT one). It's a fine lens, if you can get past the fact that anything feels like too short of a reach if you have a 500mm too. And that the image quality just isn't the same, either -- but that's because the Canon 500 f/4 lens is a prime, so the IQ is pretty much unbeatable. So I was pleasantly surprised to see how much of an improvement the 100-400 Mark II was over the Mark I, especially in terms of image quality --

Curve-billed Thrasher

It's just about as good as the 500. Here's Mrs. Northern Cardinal; it seems like the Mr and Mrs are taking up at least temporary residence on my property -- and there's also another male Cardinal who's an occasional visitor --

But there are those fleeting occasions when the action happens so fast that all you can do is watch...The backyard birds seem to have a signal among each other to fly to protection and cover every so often. One second they're at the feeders or on the ground, then the next second they fly off all at the same time and hide. "Practice" like that holds them in good stead when, say, Zone-tailed Hawk decides to see if he can get a bird-to-go, which is exactly what happened in my back yard the other day. I saw this bird on the ground, seeing if he could pick something up, and you usually don't see Zone-taileds unless they're way up in the air. So I can put that on my Yard Bird list -- or any other bird I can view from my property. But it just goes to show that there is a chance you can see anything here...

As mentioned above, the weather lately has been more sound than fury. In fact, the report came in that we had pretty much zero precipitation during the entire month of March. Same with February, too. But we have had some spectacular cloudscapes --

And on Sunday evening a partial rainbow formed into a immense one, and even a bit of a double which you can barely make out on the left in the photo below. And I just read that someone saw a  rare triple rainbow around the same time. The rainbow was so long that I decided to try taking 2 overlapping photos and turn them into a panorama. It's a challenge, with the constantly shifting clouds and light which changes the rainbow's intensity, but it worked -- 

Taken from my front yard..Again, I'm blown away by my views... 

On Monday the 11th it was time to do a run to Tucson, a drive of about 160 miles to the west. I had a new set of tires to pick up. The way I ordered them was another example of how the Internet has made it so much easier to live out here, where conveniences are limited. I went online, ordered the tires on tirerack.com, selected where I wanted them delivered and installed, called to make an appointment -- and voila, I have 5 (4 plus the spare) new Michelin tires for the trips to High Island and up to Alaska beginning in July. Except I have to make the long drive to Tucson to get them, but that's ok as I can do other errands while I'm there. The early start to my travel day began with ground fog from a little spritzing we received overnight, and a nice predawn scene, taken with my new 100-400 MK II -- 

If you want to stick to paved roads, the drive to get to Interstate 10 is 7 miles to the east into New Mexico on Portal Road,  then 30 miles north to the I-10, when you head back into Arizona heading west. The scenery was high-desert spectacle on the way up to the interstate --

The ground fog lifting over the Peloncillos -- 

Looking to the west with one of my favorite views, Hwy 80 seemingly heading straight into Cave Creek Canyon -- 

It seems like there is constant road work being done on the stretch of interstate between Benson and Tucson, but thankfully it's a breeze, and I get to Tucson around 9am. When you make a long drive such as this, you want to take advantage of the conveniences of a big city, so I drop off a package at the UPS store (my first shipment of a 100-400 MK II from Amazon; seems like they tried to give me a replacement instead of a new one, as there was no instruction manual or tripod collar included), pick up bikes that my friends Mark and Lori had ordered, go to Costco to get supplies for myself and other Portalites (you ask folks back home if they need anything from the big city), then get the tires that I'd ordered online. (Interestingly, at the Goodyear tire place I chat with the employee helping me; he said he spent some time in Palmer, Alaska which "has a population of 100,000 but that's including the vast surrounding area "-- the actual town is infinitesimally smaller. I told him the population of Portal is 60, and if you throw in the surrounding area it's 300. Let's see Palmer, AK beat THAT!) The result is I leave the tire store with 5 spanking-new Michelins, an ice chest full of refrigerated supplies, and 2 bikes in the back. And as a treat for a job well done, I spy an In-and-Out on the way back to the I-10, and suddenly get a craving for a Double Double with cheese and a chocolate shake. (Well, it's not as if I can have that every day living out where I do.) I head back, stop off at a feed store in Wilcox, 75 road miles from Portal, to get some bird seed (again, for a friend), get some bananas at the Willcox Safeway (again, for a friend), see some spectacular scenery at Granite Gap on the final homebound section of road -- 

And I'm back at Faranuf, about 10 hours after I've started. Such is living out in a rural area, but I don't consider it to be an inconvenience at all. OK, if the gas prices weren't $2.09 and cheaper, then it might be, but until then -- it's fun, and no, I'm not a macochist... :o) 

April 7-8 -- A Trip To Sierra Vista, And A Singing Mr. Cardinal

April 7 started off as an iffy day weatherize -- and I was heading over to Sierra Vista, about 100 miles to the west, to take Tundra II in for servicing and maintenance. I'll be heading to Texas' High Island, 1,000 miles to the east, week after next, and there's the grand excursion up north to Alaska starting in July, so Tundra has to be in good shape and dependable. I have a symbiotic relationship with "him" (and with Discovery II, which is a "her"), and when I start out on a drive I always pat the dashboard and say "good morning!" I know it's silly, but I take care of Tundra, and he takes me where I have to go with with a high degree of dependability. Seems to have worked so far; even the deer-smooshing episode with Tundra I ended up with my buying Faranuf, so the most disastrous of situations has had a silver lining. But I digress...The day started off cloudy, with a chance of rain in the afternoon; sunrise time sent a mixed message, though still beautiful --

Basin and Range, mountains and valleys, as far as the eye can see, with little sign of human habitation. My kind of landscape... I headed out early, taking the southern route through Douglas and Bisbee. I've only gone through Bisbee about 3 times, once when I had to get the building permit for Discovery's canopy, and it really does deserve its own blog post as it has a fascinating history and is quite picturesque.But I had to do a lot of things lined up to do in Sierra Vista. My brother, a lawyer working at Fort Huachuca, lives there, along with his wife and daughter, so I dropped by for a quick visit, chatting with my sister-in-law mainly about my lack of a suit for my nephew's wedding in June. I haven't worn a suit since, well, I attended the American College of Switzerland -- it doesn't exist any more -- in 1988, so I suppose it's time I get one. Barbara, my sis-in-law, suggested I could borrow one of Richard's (my brother) but he's taller than me and the sleeves would go below my hands, so knowing me I'd walk around at the wedding looking as if I was sans hands, so that was a non-starter. I'll figure something out. (Buy a suit at Amazon? They have pretty much everything.) I bought groceries for dinners next week at Faranuf with friends, then went to the Toyota dealership. I of course went the wrong way to the service entrance (hey, I've never been there before) but I got there in time for my appointment, pretty good considering the long distance I have to go. The service rep said it would take about 3 hours for servicing and getting my rear brakes done, so I headed to a Denny's across the street for lunch, ending up with a lava cake with ice cream (there's no place in Portal or environs that has such a thing -- and a good thing there isn't) then head back to Toyota to while away the time. The service guy came in and suggested a few more things needed to be done, so I gave the go-ahead and settled in for a longer wait. (A friend said there is someone in Rodeo who works on cars and trucks, but you have to buy the parts then bring them to him; as you have to go into the city anyway to get the parts, I figure you may as well stay there to get the work done.) There was a TV with Fox news on (of course) so I was trying to tune it out while checking Facebook and my e-mail on my iPad Mini. I got into a conversation with a woman who also was waiting for her car to be serviced. It turned out she was living in Bisbee and had a business doing travel insurance. Her husband had bought an old service station, put up an old Texaco gas station sign, fixed up the place, and  put a 60's Ford Ranchero in the front; that was where they ran their business. I told her about my being a member of Facebook's Cochise County page where besides the usual scenics we look for unusual and historic businesses in the county, so I got her work brochure and said I might drop on by one of these days. All during this time a woman was wandering about, chatting with the staff and visitors. I figured she was something like a "meet and greet" person for Toyota, or someone along the lines of Walmart's "Can I Help You?" seniors who used to be at the entrance of the stores. So I asked her "What do you do here?" She replied "I own the place." What do you mean, the place? "I'm the owner of the Toyota dealership". Whoops. Talk about misjudging and stereotypes!  It turns out her name is Elsie -- later I got her business card --, she'd previously owned dealerships in New Jersey, then around the early 2000s made the move to Sierra Vista and has had the Toyota dealership there since that time. We went into her office and she showed me an aerial photo from 2004 showing the property before Toyota rebuilt and expanded the business. I asked her questions about the Prius and Tundras (all of the Tundras are manufactured in San Antonio, Texas) and she said that most young people nowadays do all of their car investigating on the Internet before coming in and know what they want, unlike before where the buyer was at the "mercy" of the sales rep. She said all of her workers are low-pressure and treat the customers with respect -- and I can vouch that they do,  because that's how they treated me throughout my time there. I eventually got out around 5:30, but in the meantime I'd met some nice and interesting people, and decided that Sierra Vista Toyota was where I'd take Tundra in for servicing in the future as they're thorough, friendly, and treat you with respect. And I now know the owner. There aren't many major dealerships around where you can say that. And I told Elsie I'd put a mention of her in my blog...I headed back to Portal and had a great evening ride through sparsely populated country , playing Bach organ solos on the truck's CD player. It somehow seemed a good fit for the lonely (yet not empty, as the scenery is anything but that) landscape. I arrived back at Faranuf, with Tundra now in good shape both inside and out (they washed him at Toyota; now I don't have to do it) and the feeling of having had a day full of accomplishment. 

The next day began with a bang. It just goes to show that I don't need a "critter cam" to get the visitors that come to the water feature. Surprisingly, Mr. Wile E. Coyote took a drink early in the morning -- 

I lucked out in seeing him as he was coming from the front yard into the back, heading right to the water. He's a bit on the scrawny guy, but that's the way it is with the coyotes of the west.  Then I finally had solid evidence that Mr. and Mrs. Northern Cardinal have finally set up shop in my back yard, after months of deliberation. First Mr. Cardinal sang --

Then he took a bath in the water feature; it was the first time I've seen him do that, and it seems like he's getting more comfortable back there. It was a day full of "Steve do's", so the only interesting thing to report was my getting the new Canon 100-400 f/5.6 MK II lens. I've had the MK I version for over 5 years, and while it was good it just didn't have the "oomph" that the 500mm prime lens has (well, no lens does). The MK II is much sharper, and has upgraded features that makes it much more user-friendly. So I ordered it online from Amazon (natch) and received it in 4 days. The thing is, the first lens I got was missing a few things, like the tripod mount -- and the instruction manual. Looking back on it, it seems like I'd received a return. So I got online and chatted with an Amazon rep, who really didn't understand what a tripod mount was, but she sent out another lens with 1-day shipping, I received it yesterday (Friday) and it had the missing items. I suppose I should be peeved at the very least with Amazon for trying to unload a return on me, but things were resolved to my satisfaction, and that's the main thing. The new lens will come in handy for the upcoming trip to High Island, especially when the 500 lens is too much reach. And the image quality of the MK II is head and shoulders above the MK I, which was my main beef with it.  So all's well that ends well... The day ended up with a thunderstorm; I call it "a monsoon T-storm without the humidity -- or bugs". It was quite impressive for awhile --

The just before sunset, the skies cleared and the remaining clouds reminded one that you have to look up to the skies here as well as the ground --

Those were taken from my front porch...

April 3-6 -- Hawks, Snakes -- And Bees

I have many favorite spots here for photographing birds, but THE place for reliable raptor sightings is down in the San Simon Valley, about 7 miles east of Faranuf. First, theres's a 4-mile or so drive along the unpaved Stateline Road (called that because it runs on the Arizona/New Mexico border), then on Highway 80, which is where I saw the Golden Eagle. So it's always a thrill driving down the road, because you never know what you might see -- or not see, as in the days when you get "skunked". But this day was a good one, especially for birds-in-flight, and somewhat rare views of the upper part of the bird, not the usual underneath looks. Here's a Swainson's hawk; an interesting fact is that they fly all the way to Argentina to spend the winter -- 

 And as a comparison, a Red-tailed hawk taken just after the Swainson's --

You can see the obvious differences between the two. Here's the standard shot of the Red-tail as seen from below, though it's executing a nice banking movement --

And earlier, the RT on a perch --

And the Swainson's for comparison -- 

A few days later, I was in the same area and got a perched shot of another Swainson's. The breast feather pattern threw me off, but my friend and raptor expert Helen said the long folded wings are a good indicator for a Swainson's  -- after all, they have to fly to Argentina!

Willow Tank, the 1-acre water impoundment that is being rehabilitated for bird watching, is in the same area. As more ground cover is added, and more holes in the blinds are cut for viewing and photographing without disturbing the wildlife, it can only get better. Here's a resident (or at least a frequent visitor) of Willow Tank, a male Pyrrhuloxia. I caught him nibbling on some greenery -- 

The sunrises are starting to become more of a "colorfest" again.

On Tuesday I was back manning the desk at the Cave Creek Canyon Visitor Information Center. Work? No --- fun. We have a new exhibit there, thanks to a local herpetologist. I really haven't encountered a snake "in the field" as it were, except for the Patchnose snake in the back yard. Hikers and others are increasingly reporting seeing snakes along the trails, so it's just a matter of time before I see one, too. So to prepare myself for the eventual "confrontation", I'm sharing the VIC with displays of snakes -- and a Gila Monster. And of course they're all alive.  There are over 30 species of snakes in the Chiricahuas; snake lovers and herpetologists from all over the world come here to study snakes and other reptiles. The Chiricahua Desert Museum, just across the border in New Mexico, is acknowledged as one of the best places to see exhibits of reptiles in the Southwest. The VIC's display is much smaller, but impressive enough -- 

What do we have to see? Well, theres a Black-tailed Rattlesnake, which has the widest range of any rattlesnake in the Chiricahuas; you can see them all the way to the tops of the Chiricahuas --

And no, I'm not feeding these fellas; Barney, the "snake whisperer" who sets up these displays every year, is in charge of that. Next up is a Mohave, the most venomous snake to be found in North America. They're found further down in the San Simon Valley, so for the most part I don't have to worry about coming across these around Faranuf --

But I DO have to watch out for these -- the Western Diamondback rattlesnake. They're the most numerous, and are the cause of most rattlesnake bites. Most people, understandably, have an aversion to snakes. But most are beneficial, keeping the rodent population down. And believe it or not, they are just as afraid of humans as we are of them. They'd rather not come across us on the trail, too, and would rather turn,  er, tail and slither away. Still, if you surprise one, then there's no telling how it may react. What would YOU do if you came across this while on a hike? --

On April 6 I headed once again over to Willow Tank, and got this shot of Portal Peak and the Chiricahuas south of Portal, as seen from Portal Road -- 

At Willow Tank, I caused a flock of Mexican Ducks (similar to Mallards) to take wing, with the Chiricahuas in the background - -

There was a meeting of Friends of Cave Creek Canyon that day. One of the items on the agenda was the bee problem at Willow Tank. And they aren't just bees -- they're "Africanized" bees. Mean, nasty, and willing to pursue you if they're so inclined. And Willow Tank is on private property, with public access, so it's in everyone's best interest to get this taken care of ASAP. So a "bee guy" was invited to the meeting. And not just any bee guy, but Reed Booth, killer bee wrangler "as seen on Fox, National Geographic, Discovery and The Food Network (huh?). He's from Bisbee, and has his own website (click here). He's quite the showman, and soon had us all convinced that he was the one to take care of them -- and even threw in free jars of his honey and honey mustard; I got the honey. What does a "bee wrangler" look like? Well, here's the 21st century version, complete with video recorder and sound boom, along with industrial/sci-fi - looking outfits -- 

I gleaned that photo from the Internet... So that about covers it -- Hawks, Snakes, and Bees. And I leave you with a jar of Killer Bee Honey,  made of "pure wildflower and mesquite honey" --  

March 25-April 2 -- Owls And Other Critters

Gee,  I'd better get caught up with events of the past week before I forget them...I've been back a few times to find the White-tailed Kites (rare for here, though much more common in my old stomping grounds of Los Angeles) and the Barn Owl living in the abandoned Pullman car, but for the most part have been skunked by both. But if the birds are a no-show, there's always the scenery to make up for it. Here's Portal Peak, along with a 3/4ths waning moon, seen from along Highway 80 in the San Simon Valley --

and a ranch along Portal Road --

The hummingbirds are starting to come back to Faranuf. Lately I've seen Broad-billed, Rufous and Black-chinned. I like using the 500mm lens for hummingbirds -- well, for all birds if possible -- so I can get good closeups for IDing them as some of them are harder to distinguish from others. For instance, what makes the photo below of a female Broad-billed is, among others things, the "bandito" mask below the eye, and the red-colored underside at the base of the bill. Getting to know the difference between hummingbird species is a challenge, particularly when there's the possibility of seeing so many of them, including rare visitors from across the border --

One of the newest critters I've seen in my back yard is Harris's Antelope Squirrel. This species of squirrel has adapted quite well to hot desert weather; for instance, their tail is often held over their head like an umbrella, shading their bodies. They're not particularly rare, but their habitat is declining due to development. I have 2 in my back yard, and though they go after the bird seed I don't mind -- at least for now --

The sunrises and sunsets have been pretty uneventful, with cloudless skies for the most part. There was a beautiful sunrise the other day, though --

A friend from Boulder, Colorado came to visit Portal, so I invited him to stay at Faranuf. As there are 3 bedroom and 2 full baths, there's plenty of space for visitors here, though I have to keep my 1:30 wakeups in check -- and I actually "slept in" during the week of my friend's stay, but now that he's left I'm back at the early wakeup call. I took him to a few birding places here, including Willow Tank, an impoundment owned by a local rancher who has opened it to birdwatchers. As it's one of the few spots in the San Simon Valley that has water, it attracts birds both local and migrant. When we were there, we spotted a female Vermilion Flycatcher; she was pretty far away and is a small bird, so once again the 500mm lens came in handy --

Dave and I also went to check out the White-tailed Kites and Barn Owl. Once again there was no sign of the WTKs, but the Barn Owl proved to finally be more cooperative. We knew where he was; there were small bones of mice and other prey in front of the abandoned railcar's entrance, along with "castings" that contain indigestible material that birds cough up. We anticipated when he was going to come out, but it still caught us by surprise --

We did a hike up South Fork on Dave's last day. We just carried the cameras we use for wildlife as we were out to "shoot" birds. But the weather during his stay has been unpredictable at best -- a windstorm one day,  cold and threatening rain the next -- so of course it was colder than expected in the canyon. And surprisingly there weren't many birds, either. But we'd really come to photographed Painted Redstarts, a bird that looks like it's been shot with a paint gun. South Fork, with its perennial water an forest of oak and sycamores, is the perfect habitat for Redstarts, so we eventually saw a few. And though they're constantly moving, one was quite cooperative, sitting out on a branch for about 30 seconds. Though he was about 100 feet away, I was able to get a good photo with the 500mm lens --

Portal and the Chiricahuas is one of the best areas in all of North America to see owls. And some of them are quite easily seen. For instance, this Western Screech Owl is only less than 2 miles from Faranuf --

Western Screech are small owls, only about the size of binoculars, so it's always nice to know where one can be consistently seen. The male and female Ladder-backed Woodpeckers have also returned to Faranuf's back yard, so they just might be nesting nearby -- 

And I've seen the male and female Northern Cardinal in the yard, too, though they're still a little skittish when they go to the feeders. 

My friend Dave left on the 2nd, heading to Sierra Vista then eventually to Phoenix where he'll be meeting up with his wife Callie. Before leaving, he posed for a photograph on Faranuf's front porch -- 

And so I'm caught up. I'll leave you with this video of a "new" visitor to Faranuf; now I have two of them --