Environment

Desert Cottontail

Desert Cottontail

There are literally dozens of these Sylvilagus audubonii on and around the property. I photographed this one as it was feeding up in the wash behind the RV drive. It paused feeding long enough to strike this pose as it became alert to my presence when I pointed the telephoto lens some 30 feet away. It resumed its feeding shortly thereafter.

From Wikipedia:

The desert cottontail is found throughout the western United States from eastern Montana to western Texas, and in northern and central Mexico. Westwards its range extends to central Nevada and southern California and Baja California. It is found at heights of up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It is particularly associated with the dry near-desert grasslands of the American southwest; though it is also found in less arid habitats such as pinyon-juniper forest.

The desert cottontail is quite similar in appearance to the European rabbit, though its ears are larger and are more often carried erect. It is also social among its peers, often gathering in small groups to feed. The desert cottontail uses burrows made by rodents rather than making its own. Like all cottontail rabbits, the desert cottontail has a rounded tail with white fur on the underside which is visible as it runs away. It is a light grayish-brown in color, with almost white fur on the belly. Adults are 33 to 43 cm (13 to 17 in) long and weigh up to 1.5 kg (3.3 lb). The ears are 8 to 10 cm (3.1 to 3.9 in) long, and the hind feet are large, about 7.5 cm (3.0 in) in length). There is little sexual dimorphism, but females tend to be larger than the males, but have much smaller home ranges, about 4,000 square metres (1 acre) compared with about 60,000 square metres (15 acres) for a male.

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel SL1, 1/400s, F5.6, ISO 200, 300mm focal length.

Spring in the Sonoran Desert


The above is a Flash® slideshow depicting some of the flowers and other things we see in our little corner of the desert during the spring months. All photos taken on or near our Wickenburg, Arizona homestead. Click on the image to advance (this is 1 of 6 frames).

Slideshow subject matter: Prickly Pear Flower, Ocotillo Flowers and buds, Tiny Mesquite Flower Clusters, Lemon Blossom, Cholla Flower and one Pituophis catenifer . . .

Nice Arizona Sunset!

Arizona Sundown

This evening, after having showers and clouds most of the day, turned out to be quite colorful, thanks to the weather in the area. Damsel and I went out into the courtyard this evening to watch as the sun illuminated the clouds with warm colors.

I took this photo from the courtyard which was one of several I might have posted, the colors and textures were so nice. Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit sunnier, but with clouds and potential showers to return on Sunday and Monday. “April showers bring May Flowers,” my Mom (and zillions of others, I’m sure) used to say in mid-spring to us kids when rains would happen in my native California. Click on the image to enlarge.

Bees in the Trees

Bee Swarm

Bee Keeper GaryWhile we were walking the dogs this afternoon, Damsel called me over by the mesquite tree across the road to show me a swarm of bees that were hanging from a branch. I already had my camera and long lens since I was going to take a photo of a project with the travel trailer. I took the photo of the bees in the top image.

I called one of our neighbors to see if he knew if there was a bee keeping service in town. He just happened to have a friend that kept bees and would be interested in harvesting this swarm.

Shortly after dusk, they showed up with all the equipment, bee suits and whatever and proceeded to knock the swarm, queen bee and all out of the tree and into a bucket with a lid (of course). The whole process took about half an hour, but the bees are gone, to our neighbors’ and our mutual relief. They have kids and we have dogs, neither that mix well with a beehive in the vicinity.

Click on either image to enlarge.

Scenic Saguaro Forest

Saguaro Forest

One of the more scenic highways in Arizona is State Route 74 which connects US 60 in Morristown (10 miles south of Wickenburg) and Interstate 17 at New River, near the north end of Phoenix. The highway runs through an area dense in growth of the iconic saguaro cactus. The road goes through some flat desert and then at the east end through gentle hills and across the Agua Fria River just below Waddell Dam at the south end of Lake Pleasant.

It was a beautiful day today with temperatures in the mid to upper 70’s and a little breezy with gusts to around 15-20 mph. High thin clouds and mostly blue skies. The image above is somewhere in the middle of the road but typical of the scenery you can enjoy when out here. Click on the image to enlarge.

Vernal Equinox

Vernal Equinox

I got this screen capture this morning over at Archaeoastronomy.com which has probably the best depiction of the orbital stations of the Earth relating to seasonal changes. The animated graphic nicely illustrates the concept of the Earth passing through the eight stations as it orbits the sun.

Coincidentally with the advent of spring, one of the hedgehog cacti I wrote about yesterday has two flowers open this morning. Damsel took this image of one of them. Click on the image to enlarge.

Hedgehog Cactus Flower

Wildflowers in Bloom

Arizona Poppy Desert Marigold Orange Mallow

Thanks to an El Niño shortened winter, spring wildflowers are already popping up everywhere in the desert. Last week, during our visit to the West Valley (Bob had a doctor appointment), we noticed a lot of wildflowers along the roadside and in the median on US 60 between Wickenburg and the outer loop (Loop 303) of the Phoenix Metro Area, which is where the desert ends and the urbs begin.

We took the dogs for a walk today after dinner and I remembered to bring my camera since we see wildflowers along our walk. All three of these photos above were taken within a quarter mile of our house and are completely uncultivated desert wildflowers.

From left to right above, we have an Arizona Poppy, a Desert Marigold and an Orange Mallow. I used my usual Canon Rebel T3 to capture all three images. Click on any of the images to enlarge.