My Condor Walks

One of the things a docent does at Tohono Chul Park is rove, which I do on Monday mornings. I like to get an idea what birds might be in the Park on weeks when I’m leading a bird walk, and I also just like to look around and see what’s new or different or interesting.

I try to cover all the main trails, including the Saguaro Discovery Trail, which is seldom used by visitors on very hot or very cold days. Whenever I head out for that part of my rove, I always say I’m going on a Condor Walk.

A hill on the Saguaro Discovery Trail.

A Condor Walk? Yes, I say, you never know what might appear on the trails. I could even see an Andean Condor. This majestic bird, which has a wing span of up to 10 1/2 feet, is found only in western South America, but so what? My position is that anything can happen out in nature, and if an Andean Condor should decide to visit Arizona and alight on top of a saguaro, I don’t want to miss seeing it.

Andean Condor, photo from Wikipedia

Among the wonderful things I have seen on my Condor Walks are jackrabbits, road runners, Lucy’s warblers, and other fairly common denizens of the Park. More than once I’ve also come across the beautiful but seldom-seen longnosed snake…

Longnosed snake

…and the supposedly nocturnal nightsnake, eating a zebra-tail lizard. This last event was so unusual that I was asked to write it up as a nature note for the Sonoran Herpetologist, a scientific publication.

I’ll write more about some of the unusual behaviors I’ve witnessed in birds, reptiles, and mammals.. I wouldn’t have seen any of these things, though, if I didn’t go out looking for Andean condors on a regular basis.

Technorati Tags: docenting,Tohono Chul Park,snakes of the southwest

Nine reasons to love the desert in the summer

In honor of the present unprecedented heat wave, I offer this edited version of a post from several years ago that demonstrates there ARE reasons to love the Sonoran Desert even in the summer. [Please note that #7 and #8 have font issues that I cannot figure out how to fix.]

1. The pace of life is slower. Starting as early as May some years, the temperatures around here often soar well above 100. Any remaining winter visitors clear out, leaving the roads less congested and restaurants pleasantly un-jammed. Early morning and evening are when the town comes to life. And even if you don’t mind the heat, it’s hard to move fast when the temperature is over 105 degrees.

2. Cicadas announce summer, but don’t take over. Some years, including this one, many who live back east have complained of the onslaught of millions of cicadas, swarming the vegetation and deafening anyone near them. Here, the cicadas show up every year as soon as it gets hot, but in small, much more manageable numbers.
Cicada chrysalis in palo verde

3. Our trees don’t get in the way of the scenery. My grandmother, who lived in the southwest most of her life, did not enjoy visiting the east coast, because “the trees cover up all the scenery.” I understand her point of view. Though we do have plenty of trees here, even out in the desert, they are generally not as tall and close together as those in eastern forests, and their canopies are more open, with fewer and smaller leaves. Besides, who needs trees when you have saguaros?
 
Hiking in Catalina State Park.
 
4. It’s a DRY heat. I’ve lived back east, in D.C. and NYC, for a total of around 23 years, and believe me when I say our hot hot hot DRY days are usually way easier to take than sopping humidity. Our current heat wave does present challengers (it's 110 already today, going up to 117 tomorrow), but its mere existence probably keeps our population from growing to 10 million.
 
5. Cactus flowers. Throughout the warm and hot weather, various cactus bloom, some by day and some at night. All of them are beautiful, some breathtaking.
This is alicoche, a kind of hedgehog cactus that creeps along the ground.

6. The sky is bigger, clearer, and bluer than most other places.


7. The monsoon. I like to joke that we truly appreciate our rivers, so we don’t cover then up with water. As a rule, they only run wet in the monsoon season (generally July to mid-September), when the skies fill with glorious clouds and huge thunderstorms produce thunder, lightning, much-appreciated rain and glorious sunsets. Experiencing a southwestern monsoon ought to be on the bucket list of anyone who loves nature. 
 
My backyard just after a monsoon storm.
Monsoon sunset.

8. Night-blooming cereus. The plants of Peniocereus greggii, known more popularly as Queen of the Night,  bloom en masse one night a year, in a glorious, splended spectacle designed to attract the hawk moths that pollinate them. This display is celebrated in a big party at Tohono Chul Park once a year, lasting from dusk to midnight. Click the link for more on the Queen's night. 


9. Baby quail

 Click on this link for a compilation of posts about quails, quail families, and the interesting adaptation that make hot weather the best time for watching quail chicks.






Technorati Tags: Sonoran desert,monsoon,summer in southern Arizona

More Art in the Park

In my previous post on art at Tohono Chul Park, I discussed some of my favorite pieces that not only look good, but are functional. Today I’d like to show you some of the many, many (some might say TOO many) strictly decorative pieces found throughout the grounds.

Horse statue in the Cactus Circle. This stunning horse, which was donated to the Park by a patron, is by the Kenyan artist Kioko Mwitiki, who works exclusively with scrap metal, recycling what many of us would consider trash into beautiful art. .

Coyote Sculpture. This pensive young coyote poses on a wall behind the Spring wildflower section of the Five Seasons Garden.

These two vultures, also by Kioko Mwitiki, are very popular with visitors to the Sundial Plaza.

One of several abstract sculptures in our gardens, this piece rather nicely depicts hummingbird flight.

This semi-abstract rusty hawk keeps a yellow eye on visitors on the path behind the Five Seasons Garden.

 

These abstract metal flowers, whose colors change with the sky, are planted in the Winter section of the Five Seasons Garden.

Technorati Tags: Tohono Chul Park,outdoor sculpture,Kioko Mwitiki

What Does a Nature Docent Do?

The word docent comes from a Latin word for “to teach.” It is defined in Merriam-Webster online as “a person who leads guided tours, especially through a museum or art gallery.” In my case, I lead guided tours through Tohono Chul Park, the beautiful nature preserve where I volunteer.

KL (me) leading a tour of members of my high school graduating class.

I also “rove” in the Park once a week—three hours at a time in the cool weather, two hours in the summer. My job as a rover is to help visitors, if any, and to get to know the Park and its wonders better, for the benefit of visitors and myself.

The Park features many natural desert trails…this one is the Desert View Trail.

Some docents find roving boring, but I usually love every minute of it. Unless it is too hot, I usually try to cover all the major trails on each rove. There is always something beautiful to see, and I always learn something new.

The Sundial Plaza, in the center of the Park, is beautiful all year round.

I’ve written about roving often in this blog. A typical rove last year at this time featured the inside of a saguaro, a hawk nest, and a preview of our famous Queen of the Night, the night-blooming cereus that only blooms once a year.

In addition to roving, I also lead bird tours four times a month, lead scheduled tours for adults and children, and participate in our reptile show, Reptile Ramble, in the warm months. I’ll have more to say about each of these activities in future posts.

Technorati Tags: Docenting,Tohono Chul Park,Night-blooming cereus

Quail census

Hooray, hooray, it’s finally hot! Really hot! And that means… baby quail time in the Sonoran desert. Other people dread June, but I look forward to it. For some reason known only to Nature, the majority of baby quails around here are hatched during the hottest, driest part of the year.

The babies don’t mind, of course, because extreme heat is all they know. I’m wondering if this behavior evolved to make sure that any young quail who lasted till the end of the summer were REALLY fit.

Mr. and Mrs. Gambel’s quail

The beautiful birds I am talking about are Gambel’s quail, small ground-dwellers who live in the deserts of southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico. They hang out in large flocks, called coveys, most of the year, but in late spring they start to pair off, and once they’ve got families going they become very hostile to each other.

The “dorm” tree where quail roost in the front of my house.

I became obsessed with Gambel’s quail shortly after we moved to our new home in the desert, eight years ago. They roosted around the property, and particularly in a Meyer’s lemon tree next to our front door. I called it the dorm tree, and watched the quail go to roost for about an hour every night for a couple of years. During the day I observed them out in my bird garden, where I keep a quail block. Nothing they did was too small to escape my attention. I began to think of myself as the Jane Goodall of quails.

Quail eggs

I still keep track of the new families. Here is what we have right now: a family of three half-grown chicks; a second family that started out with twelve little fuzzballs, and now is down to eight sixth-graders; a new family of five very little chicks—nursery school age, I would guess--and another family of three first-grade chicks. I expect to see more new families every day or so from now till the end of the month.

  Handsome papa quail keeping guard while his family feeds

The father of the largest family is very aggressive. When they are fighting or competing for females, male quails jump up and bump chests, much like NBA basketball players. A few days ago I saw this particular father lower his head to the ground and charge another quail like a bull. Sometimes he spreads his wings and tail like a turkey and simply runs at a foe. Today I watched him chase away white-winged doves, rabbits, squirrels, and innumerable other quails. Some of his offspring have begun to imitate him, charging at sparrow babies and apparently scaring the heck out of them.

There are more stories about quail than anything else in this blog. Here are some of my favorites:

A quail explosion (caused by a hawk)

The sad story of an abandoned quail baby

A post with photos of teeny-tiny babies on my porch

And finally, a video of teeny babies and their mama, also on the porch

If all that isn’t enough quail-ness for you, just search the blog for dozens more quail posts. I will update the quail census from time to time during the Blogathon.

Technorati Tags: Gambel's quail,quail babies,quail behavior

My Two Favorite Nature Apps

As part of the 2013 WordCount Blogathon, all participants are asked to write about our favorite apps on the fifth day.

Naturalists today are fortunate—we can easily carry an entire library of nature guides in a pocket, choosing from among the dozens of apps currently available for smart phones and tablets. As part of my work docenting at a nature park I use six or seven such apps. Here are my two favorites.

IBIRD. The nature app that I use the most and recommend the most is iBird, one of the most popular apps around. IBird comes in several versions, including regional (for several regions) and Pro. There are versions for Windows, Kindle, Android, iPad, and iPod/iPhone. The one I have is iBirdWest, for iPod/iPhone, which currently lists at $9.99 but is often on sale for much less.

The iBird West cover

This app is incredibly useful. I always take it on the bird walks I lead, usually  with a paperback birding guide as well. Because it is so lavishly illustrated, with photos and drawings, it’s great for showing birders new to the area what a particular bird is supposed to look like.

When I’m on a bird walk myself, the app helps me identify unknown birds, especially wen I have a general idea what category they belong to. Among the wealth of information given for each bird is a link to other birds that are similar. The app is relatively easy to search, and allows for creating a list of “favorites” for those birds you want to look at often.

Ash-throated flycatcher. Or is it a brown-crested?

I also use iBird to help identify birds by sound, when I’m not quite sure what I’m hearing (I will write more about birding by ear in a future post). For example, I have trouble remembering the differences between the calls of a brown-crested flycatcher and an ash-throated. iBird always comes to the rescue, but perhaps I need an iBrain so I could just remember those calls once and for all.

PETERSON BIRDS. My other principal birding app is Peterson Birds of North America. I find this app more difficult to use than iBird, but it does one thing iBird does not: it displays like birds together on one “page,” much like a paper bird book, making it much easier to choose from among, say, several similar warblers. Unfortunately, this excellent app is currently available only for iPad and iPhone/iPod. It was selling for $14.99 on iTunes at the time of this review.

Hummingbird page from Peterson Birds

I find that iBird and Peterson complement each other, and am glad to be able to carry both of them. Both apps offer plenty of background information on the birds they list, including behavior notes and distribution maps. Each app also allows you to enter sightings, so you can keep a constantly updated birding list.

Technorati Tags: iBird review,Peterson Birds review,birding apps

Early Morning in a Desert Neighborhood

This time of year I like to walk in my neighborhood when it’s light enough to see, but before the sun comes up, which at present is around 5 AM. It’s lovely out that time of day—no people, no dogs, no cars, just early-morning birds and me. In a very few weeks that will change—it will be hot, humid, and buggy—but right now, in the early days of summer heat, it is perfect.

Walking north toward the Catalinas

Our neighborhood dates to the 1950’s and 60’s, with relatively few houses and many mature cactus and trees. Nearly all yards are natural desert (the one grassy lawn with sculptured shrubbery looks as out of place as a saguaro would look in a cherry tree festival). Most of the more recent neighborhoods don’t even have what I would call yards—just scores of look-alike beige boxes jammed together with little space between one house and another. 

Our front yard.

Here in the desert, you never know what you might see on a morning walk. I have encountered javelina families, bobcats, and quite often coyotes. I turn around when I see javelina, because they are unpredictable and can be dangerous. Bobcats always disappear as soon as they are seen. Coyotes and I simply ignore each other, though I can’t help admiring their beauty from a distance.

Our neighborhood is in the foothills of the majestic Catalina mountains, on the north side of the city. As I complete my walking loop and start  back home I can watch the sunlight spotlighting the tops of the Tucson Mountains to the west…

The sun kisses Stetson Peak to the west

…then moving quickly down their flanks and spilling into the valley.

The Santa Rita mountains to the south, and the whole south end of the city are already in daylight.

West, from the mailbox in front of our house.

Up here, in the peace and beauty of the desert, it remains darkish and coolish just a little bit longer.

Technorati Tags: Sonoran desert,Catalina mountains,Tucson foothills

As The Egg Turns, Part Two

A few weeks ago, my Internet buddy in South Carolina, G.H. Curminion, wrote a guest post about the Canada goose nest just outside his office. For a few scary days, it looked as if some predatory crows might attack the nest, but the goose parents remained vigilant. Here is G.H.’s follow-up, illustrated with his excellent photographs.

I don’t know about the eggs. She keeps turning them regularly. Maybe she feels something stirring. Someone here said one of the eggs had a finger–sized hole in it late yesterday and was oozing liquid. Mama is still nesting, but her wings are a bit spread out, so maybe something is going on under there.

Something was definitely going on!

She stood up – three chicks!

Looks like two eggs didn’t hatch. 

 

Aaaaand . . . within a couple hours they started to graze and wander off.

G.H. tells me that “our” goose family has stopped by the nest once or twice since the babies hatched. It’s so nice to read a story with a happy ending.

Technorati Tags: Bird behavior,Canada geese nesting,Canada geese

Art in the Park

Tohono Chul Park, where I am a docent, is a small (49 acre) desert preserve that includes cultivated  gardens of native Sonoran and adapted plants, natural desert trails,  and lots of art—much of it related to the culture of the southwest. We have three small art galleries with changing exhibits, and a number of outdoor sculptures that blend with or enhance the gardens.

Here are some of my favorite pieces, because they are not only artistic, they are (or seem) functional:

 This weathered-looking structure is a habitat for solitary bees, of which we have hundreds of species in Arizona. These include mason, leaf-cutter, and resin bees, and many of them have found homes in this specially drilled piece of wood, The bees lay their eggs at the bottoms of the holes, then plug the holes with wax. Please don’t tell anyone, but I often refer to them as “cribbage bees.”

 Here is a close-up of the habitat, showing bees crawling and some holes with plugs.

Below is my favorite piece of art in the Park—an old mesquite tree that was allowed to grow where it fell during a monsoon storm. Our head botanist at the time built the small fountain.

Last year the sculptures of a javelina family were added:

Finally, the cactus fountain, currently standing in front of a ramada,

is used by birds on hot days to cool their feet. Here, the guy cooling off is a beautiful white-winged dove.

Technorati Tags: Tohono Chul Park,outdoor sculpture,art galleries of the southwest

The Thirty-Day Challenge

I have entered this blog in the 2013 WordCount Blogathon. This means that I will post every day for thirty days, until the end of June. I did this last year with my writing blog.

KL’s Sonoran Nature Journal has been around a lot longer than the writing blog. I began writing it in the early nineties, soon after I moved to the beautiful Sonoran Desert. I migrated the blog to the web when Blogger became available, ten years ago, and added photos a few years after that.

A beautiful example of Sonoran vegetation, near Sabino Canyon

(For a look at my early posts, check August of 2003. There’s an amusing look at a coyote and its reaction to water in our usually dry Rillito river (August 16), as well as a piece on bird dominance and the beginning of my obsession with Gambel’s quail families.) .

Flooding on the Rillito in July of 2007

My main focus has been and continues to be the beautiful plants and animals I see daily in my yard and other locations in the Tucson area. I am especially interested in the behavior of birds and other animals. I also love to learn new things, and love to teach them to others as well.

Please join my journey into the natural history of the Sonoran Desert. You can subscribe on this page, if you like. I welcome comments and questions, and will always answer them.

Technorati Tags: Sonoran Desert plants and animals,2013 WordCount Blogathon

Mid-May Anomalies and a Rattlesnake

It's heating up in the desert, but there is still plenty of beauty and interest at Tohono Chul Park. Today I saw the following:

A desert spiny lizard disguised as a tree lizard (these guys are usually found on the ground);

An agave stalk that seems to be part corkscrew;

And a beautiful diamondback on one of our main trails. He (or she) could not at first decide whether to cross the path. Eventually, the snake made the sensible decision to turn back and disappear into the dirt, rocks, and desert plants, where it no doubt lay in wait for its next meal. I am mesmerized when I watch these amazing animals flow along the ground, so graceful and deadly.

In case you're wondering how they manage to move so sinuously, the short answer is that their ventral area is covered with scutes, which are large scales. The edges of the scutes catch on projections on the ground, or rock, or tree, and their very muscular body muscles work with the scutes to move the snake along. Also--how to tell a western diamondback from other rattlesnakes? Look for the black and white striped bands just above the rattle. (The Mojave rattlesnake also has black and white bands, but the white bands are noticeably wider.)

Psychedelic Fish, a Roadrunner Nest, and Baby Quail at Tohono Chul Park

We are in the late Spring/early Summer part of the year now—starting to get really hot, but with cool mornings. The wildflowers are mostly bloomed out, but the cactus blossoms more than make up for them. Here are a beautiful yellow trichocereus and some rosy-red staghorns:

Mrs. Roadrunner, her watchful eye visible here on her secret nest, has reportedly hatched three voracious babies.

The desert pupfish, an endangered species we keep, under the supervision of the Game & Fish Department, are enjoying the weather as their thoughts turn to love. The males become fluroescent-blue when they are ready to mate.

And here are a family of Gambel’s quails, foraging in one of our wildflower beds.