Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Lizard Sunning on a Rock

Lizard Sunning on a Rock

I noticed this lizard sunning itself on one of the river rocks below the courtyard out front this morning. I went and got my Canon SL1 and the 300mm lens to get this picture. The little guy obliged me and sat tight while I went in to get the camera. This is another view of the same lizard.

Despite consulting a desert wildlife book and looking on the Lizards of Arizona webpage, I am unable to identify the common or taxonomic name of this variety. We see lizards all the time, now that the weather is warmer.

Maybe readers like Crotalus or Glenn B, being desert and reptile aficionados, can shed some of their wisdom on this one. Right now, I call it “Gray Lizard with two-tone brown pattern on its back.”

UPDATE: Thanks to Glenn B, the little critter has been almost positively identified as an ornate tree lizard. See Glenn’s comment below . . .

22 Feb 2016 by Arizona Critters Environment Photography

Fire Ants

Ant Hill with Amdro Pellets

We have several levels of pests in the desert (excluding the humanoid ones) to include several mammal species, a bunch of reptile species and, of course, insects. Damsel can’t abide having ants anywhere on the property, so, when she finds an anthill, she wants something done about it.

The fire ant nest in the image is located down by the roadway in front of our house. It’s an area where we walk the dogs and Damsel worries about the ants biting the dogs. She spotted this anthill a couple of days ago and yesterday, I sprinkled some Amdro fire ant bait pellets on and around it.

When we arrived in the desert homestead, we were relatively new at the game of coping with desert denizens. One of the locals suggested the Amdro product to me and I have to sat I’m glad he did. The little worker ants take the bait down to the royal chamber in their burrow and poison the queen ant with the pellet taken down. The hive is doomed thereafter.

I bought a one pound container of Amdro about five years ago, and I still have several ounces left in it since it only takes a few pellets scattered on and around the mound to do the trick. Nests are usually completely destroyed about a week after the application of the pellets.

The mound was still active when I took the image above. It should be inactive in a day or three. Click on the image to enlarge.

21 Feb 2016 by Arizona Critters Environment Home & Garden

Signs of Spring

Cactus Flower Buds

We have been home for a couple of days following our recent visit to the California Deserts in the Coachella Valley and the Colorado River. We were fortunate to have had wonderful, warm (for the season) weather the whole time we were gone. Better yet, the weather here at home is just as beautiful and warm.

We did a little yard work today; since the weeds are vigorously growing, it was time to spray weed killer wherever we see them growing out of the rocks or near the trees in the orchard and in the courtyard. We noticed several indications that spring is coming soon – the plum tree in the courtyard has a lot of new flowers and growth, plus the beavertail cactus in the photo above is showing several flower buds. It won’t be long until the vivid pink flowers on this cactus are catching our attention (and the attention of the pollinators as well).

Unfortunately for the cactus shown in the photo above, it is one of the rapid growing species that we have decided to move out of the front part of the yard and into the rock and cactus garden on the west side of the lot. We will let it do it’s spring thing and then it will either be moved to the R&C garden or some of the paddles will be transplanted to that part of the yard. There are some bare spots on the hill near the fence line to the west where these will suffice as barrier cactus to divert the javelina to the back wash rather than into our improved areas.

Click on the image to enlarge.

17 Feb 2016 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden

Another Beautiful Desert Sunset

Desert Sunset

We have had a couple of beautiful days camping here in the Coachella Valley. The temperatures and the weather in general have been very acceptable. This evening, we enjoyed this beautiful sunset. Tomorrow, we will be breaking up camp and headed to the Colorado River to visit with our friends who live there.

While we were here in Palm Desert, we enjoyed visiting with our six-month old grandson, his parents and his other grandpa was here, too. We had a cookout yesterday, when Bob grilled some steaks and I fixed the side dishes which we fed to everyone. It was our first mobile dinner party!

We are planning to prepare another steak dinner for our friends at the river tomorrow. After we spend the night there, we will be driving the Roadrunner RV back to Wickenburg.

14 Feb 2016 by California Photography Retirement Wanderlust

Camping in Palm Desert (Again)

Camping Setup

We left our Arizona home this morning at about eleven AM and arrived to check-in at the RV park at about two PM. That sounds like good travel time, but we gained an hour coming to the PST time zone, so the time was nominal as compared to our previous experience coming here. We had a good trip with one little slowdown where an eighteen wheeler rolled over in the median along I-10.

We got here and set up camp for our weekend visits with the kids and the grandson. We had been invited to the in-laws for dinner on previous trips here, but this time we’re inviting the kids and the other set of grandparents to the campground for a steak cookout on Saturday. With the big RV, we can prepare the sides and grill the steaks right here.

The RV Resort is packed today; we took a walk around and saw vehicle license plates from all over the US and Canada. There is an “Oh Canada” dinner and show here tonight (we will not be attending, eh? $40 USD per plate, hosers). Besides, we brought the food and beverages we need and are now settled in and quite comfortable.

We are using the Verizon Jetpack® MiFi wireless internet hot spot we recently obtained and thus far, it seems to work much better (and is more secure) than the often spotty performance of the unsecured WiFi offered by the RV park. We will probably report on our performance assessment of the new gadget after using it for a while.

12 Feb 2016 by Arizona Photography Technobabble Travel Wanderlust

Cardinal on the Block Feeder

CardinalDamsel is usually the one to get spectacular photos of scenery, classic objects and wildlife, but once in a while, I get a lucky shot. I took this photo of a cardinal visiting the seed block feeder up on the hill behind the RV drive.

I was in the shadow of the house crouching next to the patio with my Canon Rebel SL1 and the 75-300mm telephoto lens when this handsome fellow showed up. I positioned myself in anticipation that he would eventually approach the feeder after I first spotted him in a mesquite tree some thirty feet up the hill. It was only a matter of tens of seconds before he arrived on the top of the feeder. I took several frames of which this was the best, in my opinion.

This bird is the one that Damsel refers to as the “orange” cardinal because there is another one that comes around which is much brighter red than this guy. I read in Wikipedia that they get the feather colors from things in their diet and, possibly, this one did not get as many “red” food staples as the other one.

The details on the camera settings are as follows: Canon EOS Rebel SL1, F7.0, ISO 100, 1/500 sec shutter speed, focal length 180mm. The image was shot from a crouching position about ten yards from the subject. No tripod or other stabilizing utility used at the time. Click on the image to enlarge.

11 Feb 2016 by Arizona Critters Home & Garden Photography

First Plum Flower of (Early) Spring

Plum Flower

We were watching the last rays of the setting sun in the courtyard this evening when I noticed that there was a flower open on our flowering plum tree. The open flower surprised me since the tree is completely denuded of leaves after the recent freezing weather (well a few nights, at least).

The mature plum tree is a replacement for the original tree the landscapers planted in 2011. The old tree snapped off at the trunk (it was a smaller tree) during a 2014 microburst that took out a lot of the natural vegetation that summer.

Soon, this tree will be growing it’s new spring leaves, but not before we prune off a few of the very low branches and suckers to encourage the tree to grow vertically and not into the walkway or the courtyard wall. Click on the image to enlarge.

10 Feb 2016 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

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