Tag: Coconino County

Madonna and child.

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), mother and duckling, at the Pumphouse Natural Area, Kachina Village, Arizona.

The Pumphouse pond is just a few miles from my summer residence, and I have visited several days in a row. Yesterday I counted nine ducklings. Today, only eight remained. Back home in Virginia I would have reflexively blamed the loss on a snapping turtle, or any of a dozen other familiar predators. There aren’t any snapping turtles here, but for every habitat and prey species there’s a hungry predator with red teeth and claws. 

Madonna and child.

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), mother and duckling, at the Pumphouse Natural Area, Kachina Village, Arizona.

The Pumphouse pond is just a few miles from my summer residence, and I have visited several days in a row. Yesterday I counted nine ducklings. Today, only eight remained. Back home in Virginia I would have reflexively blamed the loss on a snapping turtle, or any of a dozen other familiar predators. There aren’t any snapping turtles here, but for every habitat and prey species there’s a hungry predator with red teeth and claws. 

American coot (Fulica americana), at the Pumphouse Natural Area.

Note the lobed flaps on the bird’s feet – an adaptation for swimming in lieu of webbed toes. The fleshy lobes also provide some stability when the bird walks on spongy or muddy ground. Ain’t evolution grand?

American coot (Fulica americana), at the Pumphouse Natural Area.

Note the lobed flaps on the bird’s feet – an adaptation for swimming in lieu of webbed toes. The fleshy lobes also provide some stability when the bird walks on spongy or muddy ground. Ain’t evolution grand?

Yellow-headed blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus), at the Pumphouse Natural Area, Kachina Village, Arizona.

A male bird is shown in the top photo, female below. 

Click here for a sample of their song, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Petroglyphs at Keyhole Sink, in the Kaibab National Forest, Arizona.

The top photo shows a rock panel that has been subject to recent vandalism. In 2010, and again last year, someone hiked in with paint and brushes to tag the glyphs: Ace, T.J., Parker. Conservators have been able to successfully remove the graffiti, but the rock varnish is somewhat dulled by the process.

The illustration at bottom, adapted from signage at the Keyhole site, shows a petroglyph panel that I observed, but was unable to photograph. The Sinaguan people who lived and hunted here recorded how the sink was used as a corral for game. Deer and elk were driven into the confining space formed by the high walls of the keyhole-shaped canyon. 

The sink also served as a reliable water source for people and animals. During snow melt and during monsoon season water cascades over the eastern wall of the canyon, and pools form below. There was no standing water in the sink today, but plenty of evidence of recent pooling, and hundreds of jumbled animal tracks in the damp canyon floor. 

Petroglyphs at Keyhole Sink, in the Kaibab National Forest, Arizona.

The top photo shows a rock panel that has been subject to recent vandalism. In 2010, and again last year, someone hiked in with paint and brushes to tag the glyphs: Ace, T.J., Parker. Conservators have been able to successfully remove the graffiti, but the rock varnish is somewhat dulled by the process.

The illustration at bottom, adapted from signage at the Keyhole site, shows a petroglyph panel that I observed, but was unable to photograph. The Sinaguan people who lived and hunted here recorded how the sink was used as a corral for game. Deer and elk were driven into the confining space formed by the high walls of the keyhole-shaped canyon. 

The sink also served as a reliable water source for people and animals. During snow melt and during monsoon season water cascades over the eastern wall of the canyon, and pools form below. There was no standing water in the sink today, but plenty of evidence of recent pooling, and hundreds of jumbled animal tracks in the damp canyon floor.