October 30 -- First Snow Of The Season, Cloud Iridescence, and A Request for A Photo...

Though I didn't "do" much as the weather was iffy, a lot happened...It got cold during the night; it was about 62 inside Faranuf as I hadn't turned on the heat pump, and the weather change occurred nearly overnight. It was in the middle 40's around 6am down here at 4700 feet, so just around sunrise I took a look up canyon to the high Chiricahuas, around 8000 feet. And I saw --

Just a light dusting -- but snow nevertheless. And it didn't last very long, a few hours at most as the storm system was already breaking up -- so I was lucky to get this photo. But once again, I got this view from my back deck, using my 100-400 lens with a teleconverter; an amazing view, especially for me as I've never lived in an area where snow could fall on my house -- or 15 miles away. As I'd mentioned, the storm was breaking up -- 

And I wanted to get one more photo of the snow-dusted high Chiricahuas, this time using the 500mm lens, so -- 

Phenomenal. I'm just lucky I bought these lenses before I came here, and have had them for around 6 years now. I could never have afforded them today as they're now "Mark II" models and cost thousands of dollars more than what I paid for the "Mark I"s. 

As the sun rose and broke through the cloud layer, I looked over to Portal Peak, which I've taken photos of previously; sunlight was hitting a cloud above it, and low clouds were swirling around the peaks --  

As the sun rose higher in the sky, the clouds lifted, and Cave Creek Canyon's rock formations were bathed in light ---

A little later, I went out on the front deck to check out the cloud formations during the breakup of the storm (which really wimped out in our area, meteorological prognosticators notwithstanding). I noticed something in the sky; it seemed to come more into focus depending on where I was standing. so I took a photo of it -- 

When I posted the photo, some called it a "Sun Dog" -- but it's not. Sun Dogs are near the sun, usually on either side of it, and this was quite a ways away. I checked online -- what would be do without its immediate access to information? -- and discovered it's called "cloud iridescence". When clouds are thin and have similar size water droplets, diffraction from the sun can make them shine with colors like a corona -- and in fact, the colors ARE corona fragments. "Cloud iridescence" is usually seen when a cloud is forming and the water droplets at the beginning are all the same size. So the next time you see this, remember that it's not a Sun Dog, but rather "cloud iridescence". Cumulonimbus clouds, solar pillars, not cloud iridescence -- amazing weather here on the east side of the Chiricahuas; it's certainly never boring.. 

OK,  on to the story of my "photo request". A few days ago I received an e-mail from a friend who used to work for BirdNote, a radio and online program dealing with -- you guessed it -- birds. I've given BirdNote some of my photos to use, so was not too surprised when someone there said there was a person who wanted to get in contact with me, and could I please give them my e-mail to forward to this person. Nothing unusual in that...So a few days later I get an e-mail saying he saw a photo of mine -- a Cactus Wren -- used on BirdNote and wanted to do a painting of it. He included samples of his work, comparing them to the original photos -- and he was GOOD. He even mentioned that he'd done a painting from a photo in National Geographic. He ended the e-mail with "Sincerely, Bobby Goldsboro." A small voice went off in my head, saying "Hmmmm..." (I fortunately don't get those small voices very often.) I checked his name on Wikipedia -- and he was BOBBY GOLDSBORO, the singer/songwriter of hits from the 60s and 70s. I further read that he was now known for his paintings -- and he was asking l'il old me to do one of mine!  I sent him an e-mail back, asking him which Cactus Wren photo he'd like to paint, and it was this one --- 

I have to admit it's one of my favorites, too. I said that I'd find the original so he could have a hi-resolution copy to paint by -- but unfortunately I didn't have the original anymore, only this one from the Web. As of this morning of October 31, I'm still waiting to hear back from him...

Dinner was at my friends Mark and Lori's place, Casa Conrad. White bean chili -- de-LISH!  Then watching videos of their birding adventures in Trinidad.. and another adventure-filled, full of surprises day was done. 

Where was I last year on October 30? Why, doing a great hike up at eastern Sierra's Convict Lake --