Category: Uncategorized

Acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona.

Center photo: Silverleaf oak acorns (Quercus hypoleucoides) in the canyon. 

I watched woodpeckers visiting silverleaf and Emory oaks at the lodge, though they seem to be partial to the rare peanuts found in the lodge’s feeder mix. All of the telephone poles on the grounds are used as ersatz cache trees.  

Northern pygmy-owl chick (Glaucidium gnoma) in a snug nest in an Arizona sycamore (Platanus wrightii). At Madera Canyon in Cornonado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona. These are tiny, sparrow-sized owls, and the opening to the nest cavity was only about 1½ inches in diameter (30 cm). Pygmy-owls are diurnally active, and the pygmy parents were still feeding their brood. I had miles and promises (etc.) and wasn’t able to stay to watch the chicks fledge. 

I was tagged by cowboy-outlaw to play the post-ten-animated-gifs-of-your-favorite-movies-game. How many do you recognize? The posting part seems relatively innocuous, but I am skipping the part where I tag ten folks to play along. Post and play as you wish.

I could not find a gif of my favorite western, William Wyler’s The Big Country from 1958, starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston, Carroll Baker, and Burl Ives, wrapped in one of the best movie scores ever conceived.  

Follow-up: This post was flagged by tumblr for adult content! I guess the sight of Ryan O’Neal dropping his pajamas was too much for the sensitivities of their feckless little algorithm. Philistines.