Desert grassland whiptail lizard (Aspidoscelis uniparens) in an unnamed arroyo,
San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.
Category: Uncategorized
Damsel.
This is a case of photographing one thing, and discovering later that I had photographed another. The cottonwood leaf the damsel is resting on has a deeply scalloped edge, from the chomping mandibles of the western tent caterpillars that chewed on it before it fell to the ground.
Santa Rita prickly pear (Opuntia gosseliniana).
At San Pedro House, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.
Black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri
♀) at a San Pedro House Feeder.
Please click through for a full view, showing her remarkable feathers in detail.
For an excellent primer on feathers—their anatomy, function, development, and evolution—check out “Everything You Need To Know About Feathers” from the Cornell Lab’s online Bird Academy.
At one point during my walk along the riverbank yesterday I paused, thinking momentarily that I heard the sound of rain. It was the sound of the frass from a million tent caterpillars falling from the treetops on leaves and grass below.
It’s an old habit. I immediately started imagining a graduate thesis (or maybe a poster session) on Vernal Nutrient Cycling in Riparian Cottonwood Forests Coincidental to Western Tent Caterpillar Infestation or something along those lines—my mental contribution to the rain of excrement falling all around me. I brushed off my hat and moved on.
Western tent caterpillars (Malacosoma californicum), at the
San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.
Sleepyhead stifles a yawn.
Western screech owl (Megascops kennicottii) napping in his favorite knothole, at San Pedro House.
Untitled.
Riverbank.
Recent birds.
Northern rough-winged swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis).
Broad-billed hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris). This female has been banded. I love her subtle aquamarine feathers.
Yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia), who refused to leave the tops of the willows for a better photo.
Bewick’s wren (Thryomanes bewickii). The wren was named by Audubon in honor of his friend, wood engraver Thomas Bewick.
All photographed at San Pedro House, Cochise County, Arizona.
Untitled.
Dithyramb 