Cochise County – Page 5

J’accuse!

Violet-crowned hummingbird (Amazilia violiceps) at an Ash Canyon feeder.

I try not to anthropomorphize, but I definitely see something like contempt and derision in that expression.

Washout.

Today’s trail: Garden Wash at San Pedro House, San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.

Sunrise. Smoke.

Dawn view of Mule Mountain and Escabrosa Ridge, seen from San Pedro House, Cochise County, Arizona.

Please click photo for an enlarged view.

Transmogrification.

Lazuli bunting (Passerina amoena) cracking a millet seed. This is his late-season plumage—a little splotchy, but still beautiful—in colors that match the Arizona sky at sunset. At the Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary, Cochise County, Arizona.

Ox beetle (Strategus aloeus ♀) at Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary, Cochise County, Arizona.

Sunset, looking across the Ash Canyon ciénega to Miller Peak.

9,470 feet (2,886 m), Miller is one of five ultra-prominences in Arizona. The designation of “ultra-prominent peak” is given to mountains that rise 4,900 feet (1,500 m) above their surrounding topography and are topographically isolated from other summits with equal elevation. Miller barely makes the list of ultras in the United States, with a prominence of 5,011 feet (1,527 m) above the San Pedro lowlands.

Wooly butterfly bush (Buddleja marrubiifolia) at the Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary, Cochise County, Arizona.

Golden boy.

First-year male rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) at Ash Canyon. Rufous are late season visitors to southeastern Arizona. Their arrival signals the beginning of the southward migration, with hundreds of hummingbirds stopping over at the bird sanctuary each day. It is astonishing to see the air alive with so many hummers at once.