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 --
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