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Canyon towhee (Melozone fusca) at the

San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.

I love little brown birds, and this is quickly becoming a favorite. The Cornell Lab says to look for a bird “the same color as the dirt,” but I think they are beautifully colored, especially their butterscotch undertail feathers. 

The tent caterpillar mass emergence on the riverbank seems to have slowed. I’m distressed by the amount of defoliation I see, with cottonwoods and willows that looked so full and lush just a few days ago stripped of most of their leaves. Now the caterpillars are on the move, falling from bare branches, crossing the trails. I don’t love these guys, but I still don’t want to crush them underfoot. I’m vaguely anxious about the karmic consequences of treading on so many living things. 

But yesterday, almost an hour after I returned home from my walk, I felt something crawling on my collar—a fuzzy hitchhiker. I tossed him outside, but I’m still shuddering a bit thinking about it tickling my neck.

Western tent caterpillars (Malacosoma californicum) and silk trails on cottonwood, at the

San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.

G. B. H. tending her nest.

This great blue heron (Ardea herodias) is nesting high in a cottonwood on the riverbank, but near Kingfisher Pond, where the hunting is probably better. This is a solitary nest. I suspect that supportive habitat is too sparse

in the desert for a large rookery.

For half an hour I waited on ma heron for a better shot, thinking that sooner or later she would have to stand and stretch, maybe grab a snack, but she stayed put. Anyone who has ever watched a heron stalking prey knows how patient and still they can be. Maybe I’ll try again when her chicks have hatched. 

Bedazzled: Male ornate tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus) in mating colors, at San Pedro House, Cochise County, Arizona. In addition to his striking turquoise scales, this lizard put on a nice territorial push-up display for me—or maybe there was a watching female or competitor nearby that I couldn’t see. There is some suggestion that these calisthenics are ritualized, that the lizards’ strength displays occur at regular intervals regardless of who’s watching. In any case, the push-ups let females see what good shape he’s in—just look at those thighs!—and warn off other males without having to engage in actual physical confrontation.