January 19, 2008

Sweetwater wetland, only a couple of miles from downtown Tucson, has anything but sweet water. In fact, it is a series of lagoons where they reclaim drainage water--I don't think it is sewage, but it doesn't smell good. Nonetheless, it is an active wetland. The egret, above, was oblivious to the photographers who passed by.



The green heron hid behind branches, but I can never resist what really is my favorite bird.



Thousands of shoveler ducks filled the refuge.



I finally got this little thing with the camera. It is a kinglet. It is tiny, and it flits from branch to branch, snagging unseen gnats, I believe.

If he keeps this up, he'll be fine. I wrote last week about Hillary's awful, stilted answer to the, "when did you decide to run for president?" question. Obama points out an even worse example of the typical politicians' answer to a question which could be answered in a human and simple manner.

January 18, 2008

Later in the day, we headed south of Tucson to the Santa Rita mountains and Madera Canyon. As we got into the higher elevations, about 5,000 feet, cacti were replaced by live oak, the kind of oak prevalent in California which keeps its leaves year-around. The acorn woodpecker, above, is a hoarder. It stores acorns in the holes it bores. In fact, it was boring holes in the side of the cabins at the Santa Rita Lodge, where we stopped to take pictures.

Alas, after about a half-an-hour of picture taking, I realized that my memory card was in my pocket. So, I had to rush to get off a couple of shots before we pulled out. I don't think I lost anything of significance.



There were dozens upon dozens of Mexican jays, above, but I only caught this one near the feeder. Actually, due to the thickness of the vegetation, it was difficult to shoot pictures of the birds in Madera Canyon. They seemed unwilling to land in the sunshine.

This morning, I joined Bruce at the Agua Caliente Park in east Tucson, way out on the edge of town. It is a historic site, a watering hole, almost an oasis, which has been used for hundreds of years.

The ring-necked duck, above, looks fierce, but actually, as Bruce found out, they are quite friendly. Even so, when they sit and look at you, it is as if you are in some sort of staredown.



Mallards are always beautiful, especially when the sun catches the green head of the drake.



And this American widgen was kind of a cutie as well.

January 17, 2008

Before this week, my bird photography had been pretty much unplanned capturing of what I ran across on roadsides or outside of my house. Prodded on by professional bird photographer friend Bruce, I for the first time sat and actually waited for birds to appear.

The first day, yesterday, we went far out in the desert and sat still for perhaps 90 minutes waiting for birds. Only a few came. However, I found the experience rewarding and it occurred to me that, for the first time, I was enjoying a hunting/fishing type activity, where you wait for an animal to come along and then shoot it, spear it, hook it, whatever. In my case, I am taking a picture of it, which feels a whole lot better to me than shooting something. I have never understood the supposed "joy" of "harvesting" (shooting) animals, and are suspicious of people who talk in those terms. But photographing animals feels fine.

We'll see if this lasts. Today, I went out to what turned out to be greener pastures. There were birds everywhere. I tried to stand still, but I didn't need to. I chased birds rather than waiting for them to come to me. Bruce, a veteran at these things, said either way works. It's pretty much like when you lose your party in a shopping mall--is it best to go looking for them, or should you just stand in one place and wait for them to come around to you?

Of course, that rarely happens any more. You just call them on the cell phone and meet by the fountain.

Speaking of cell phones, I found out today that Fertile's cell phone tower became fully operational Tuesday of this week. Ryan Bakken of the Grand Forks Herald called today to see if I had any reaction. Was Fertile's innocence permanently sullied? I figured no, Fertile's innocence was lost when the first Norwegian bachelor farmer got a satellite dish in 1979. That was the beginning of the end.

Or was it when WDAY first sent out a radio signal in the 1920s? Or when it sent out its first TV signal in 1953?

Who knows. Maybe we're still innocent.

SPEAKING OF INNOCENCE, Mike Huckabee plows forward, oblivious to the 20th century––much less the 21st––talking of wives graciously submitting to their husbands, supporting the people of South Carolina in their desire to fly the confederate flag over their capitol, saying we need to put God into our Constitution (the devil is in the details on that one), and so on. He mistakes the political podium for the pulpit, yet he smiles and jokes enough to make the potential introduction of these patently religious ideals into the political arena seem sort of benign. Yet, despite my disagreement with his every pronouncement so far, including the so-called fair tax, which is anything but, I sort of enjoy seeing him gathering up the votes.

Who'd you rather have as a neighbor, Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney? Hillary Clinton? Barack Obama? Dennis Kucinich? Fred Thompson? I think right off the bat, Huckabee would be my choice out of all of them. The Obama's would make me feel like an underachiever. The Clinton's would make too much noise with their late night marital spats, so legendary when they lived in the White House. Kucinich would monitor my recycling. Ron Paul would leave me alone, true, but you'd have to watch him burying gold coins in his back yard. Fred Thompson would have late night parties. Mitt Romney would sue you to repaint your house a color which wouldn't reduce his property value. Rudy Guiliani would monitor you for terrorist tendencies. John Edwards would be aloof, especially if you were from the middle class which he so loves but doesn't want to be around.

But Mike Huckabee? He'd be like Ned Flanders. A little nauseating, but there when you need him.

A good birding day was topped off by my first-ever shot of a cardinal.



Also, how much do you suppose this mansion on the mountainside is worth?

Today was a pretty successful day of photographing birds. I probably saw more new birds today than in any other day since I became aware of birds. Above is a male phainopepla. Phainopepla are a bit shy, but at Sabino Canyon, they seem a little less skittish.



The female phainopepla looks like the male but is grey instead of black.



Above is the curve billed thrasher. It is a nasty looking bird, but it has a beautiful, long song.



The state bird of Arizona is the cactus wren, above. This one was picking up rocks with its beak and banging them against the ground. I also suspect one had a nut of some sort and was banging it against rocks to try to get them open. This wren is twice the size of any wren with which we are familiar in northern Minnesota.



This tiny little thing was hard to catch with the camera, it was so restless. It is a blue-gray gnat catcher. It rustles around the shrubs stirring up gnats, which it then snatches.



This is a northern mockingbird. I saw several mockingbirds today, but never did hear one sing. Apparently, they can imitate any bird around them, in addition to insects such as crickets.



Not a great picture, but it is a new bird, so I have to show it off: A lesser goldfinch. I don't know what makes it lesser, and I don't know if being called lesser affects its self-esteem.



The Gambel's quail run along the desert floor in flocks of fifteen to twenty, making a racket as they go. They stay on the move, so this was a lucky shot.



Above is a plain old house sparrow, which I still thought was pretty. We have to give plain old brown and gray birds a chance, too.



This tiny little thing is a verdin. Cute, fluttery and unable to sit still.



And then one varmint, a ground squirrel. There are three types of ground squirrel in the Sonoran desert, and the only ambiguity in today's findings is which one of the three is the one above.

This isn't the first time this great collection of pictures has appeared on this website, but the Library of Congress has added a few more thousand color pictures from the 1930s and 1940s since the time I last posted. This site is addictive. I include it for those of you back in the below-zero weather who would prefer to sit inside by the computer.



Many of the photographs concern the home front of World War II. A great novelty of that time was women working on military equipment.



I am struck by the compositional strength of the photos. These people knew how to handle a camera. Color film was expensive at the time, so it is unlikely that these photos would have been taken if the government wouldn't have sponsored the photographers.



This photograph of a metal lathe worker shows a pretty savvy use of lighting.



Although this picture was taken in rural New Mexico, I suspect it could just as easily have been taken in Norman County, Minnesota.

January 16, 2008

An email just arrived from weblog reader Jerrianne in Alaska which contained this recording of a house finch. By gum, that is what the bird in the third picture below sounded like. Nothing like the bird in the second picture below sounded like this afternoon, but I guess they talk about different things at different times of the day, those birds do. Clever little beasts.

Thanks for the feedback on the identity of the third red bird below. So far, the results are: 2 votes for house finch and one for pine grosbeak.

However, although the picture doesn't show it, the bird was absolutely tiny, and it had a complex call. The house finch that I took today, second picture below, had a very simple call.

The pine grosbeak is too big, I think.

I am thinking it is some sort of warbler. Today at the visitor's center at Saguaro national park, I saw a picture of a warbler which might have matched the mystery bird, but of course now I don't remember which it was, and there are so many warblers that I can't find it yet on the web.

Today, we joined bird photographer Bruce and his wife Mary, in Tucson for a week from Fertile, on an outing to Saguaro National Park West where we sought out a small body of water (only about 3'x5' big) and sat still waiting for birds. Things were quiet, but a couple of interesting birds stopped by. Above is a pyrrhuloxia, a relative of the cardinal. Below is a house finch sitting on the same branch a few minutes later.

January 15, 2008

This little cutie was singing like crazy today in the condo complex. It took a long time to find him, even though I identified the small tree in which he was hiding. His call was complex and varied. Almost like talking. If anybody can help me identify him, I would appreciate it. I am stymied.

Just finished watching the Democratic debate. Hillary is sharp. She clearly won tonight's round. Obama's the better stump speaker, but Hillary is pretty darn sharp in debate. I still think she could be more human--I mean, when they asked when exactly did she decide to run for president, why not tell the story? Where was she? Who did she tell? Instead, she started going on about change and hope and other abstractions.

Yakker Chris Matthews, who has been criticized in the past few days for hating Hillary before New Hampshire, is now on the tube tripping over himself to say that Hillary is looking presidential and that Obama took a big hit.

Today is the seventh anniversary of the controversial online encyclopedia. Check out the last paragraph in this entry for Halstad, Minnesota to get an idea of the fallibility of the concept. Anybody can make an entry. Anybody can edit an entry. Nobody can trace who did what. Fans of Skitch Henderson might debate the assertion that Adam Lee is the "one and only" notable person to come out of Halstad!

January 14, 2008

Disheartening: I have been getting many email forwards from people who seem respectable enough, but see fit to send along word that Barack Obama 1) attended a Muslim school 2) refuses to pledge allegiance to the flag 3) is secretly Muslim 4) is part of a Muslim plot to take over the United States.

These emails come with a line inserted at the top: "Don't know if this is all true, but it is something to think about." Or, "Please pray! Our nation is in peril!"

This ugliness infuriates me. None of the above points are true. All of them were debunked as soon as they hit the internet--which was two years ago. But nothing will get in the way of what people want to believe, that is for sure.

What gets me is that otherwise decent people seem eager to believe this stuff. And when does the paranoid, libelous crap start circulating furiously? Just when it becomes clear that Barack Obama might have half a chance.

I have received a couple of emails defending Hillary Clinton against my criticisms. She is enormously talented. I will grant that her experience as first lady is not irrelevant. And I think her administration would be competent and more moderate than her promise-them-everything campaign rhetoric might lead one to believe. But I don't think she has the ability to inspire and unite that Obama has. And I am uncomfortable with Bill Clinton hanging around the White House. It is almost like having a three-term presidency, possibly four-term. I am frankly tired of them both. Not as tired as I am of the present occupant, but close. Let's turn the page.

Today Lance, his little brother Jonny and I headed a few blocks away to Sabino Canyon, one of the several canyons which extend deep into the Catalina Mountains, but the only such canyon with a tar trail leading up into it.



Jonny proved to be a good birder. He spotted several, including the canyon towhee, above, and the roadrunner, below. I was a little late getting my camera focused on the roadrunner, but at least I captured one, anyway.





The saguaro seem particularly healthy and plump in Sabino Canyon. Here one stands in front of a huge pyramid-like rock.

The stream which runs through the canyon was running more than I have seen it run before, although the flooding of a couple of weeks ago has subsided. Overhead, the cliffs show layer upon layer of geologic time.

Boy, the tone sure has changed in the past few days on the Democratic side. Clinton just can't seem to open her mouth without issuing a barb at Obama, and to his discredit, Obama has at times gotten prickly in return. I think he took the New Hampshire lost a little harder than it first appeared. Like many, he thought he was on his way to a coronation.

I mean, the points Clinton has tried to score on Obama are ludicrous. Just what has she done that makes her more ready from day one than Obama? Her experience as first lady? I know she's ready to press forward mechanically with her whole laundry list of issues, but I find her brittle, lacking in some of the more subtle leadership traits. Even her tearing up was not over some great issue such as veterans who have been maimed, or children who have gone without health care, but over herself.

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee continues to hit the pulpit hard. His argument is difficult for the Republicans to refute: You've used evangelicals for votes for thirty years, now its time for one of us to take our turn at the top. Bush, you say? Well, a lot of people sort of wonder about his evangelical credentials. He never did give up four letter words, and that alone makes him suspect. Huckabee's the real deal.

McCain is riding a wave. However, he is unpopular with the social conservatives. Really, it seems like he might win, but it won't be pretty.

I am pulling for Romney, my least favorite candidate of all, to win Michigan, just to make things interesting. He hasn't spent enough of his own money yet. Ron Paul is being dragged down by his sloppiness in allowing some racists to spout in the same newsletter which had his name on the masthead. Apparently, his devotion to freedom of speech extends that far, which is fine, but not amenable to a credible presidential run.

Wouldn't it be fun if there were at least one convention this year which actually had to decide who to nominate without knowing ahead of time? I'd tune in. The last few conventions have been real yawners.

Seventy degrees. Not a cloud in the sky. Well, one cloud is what I counted this morning. And by the time I had finished my walk, it was gone.

And, it was a Sunday, so when I went out for a walk this morning, traffic was quiet. The condo complex is actually quite beautiful, so a walk around it, which amounts to 1/2 mile, is truly pleasant, especially when the people who are usually walking their dogs are still in bed.

Then, a trip to Barnes and Noble where I scanned two books that I had been wanting to read and found neither of them worth buying. Not that they aren't worth reading, it is just that you can get the gist of the books without having to purchase them and read them again.

Then back to the condo to go for a little run. I am getting used to the elevation now so I can run a little without gasping for air.

Then to settle in and write the column for the week. It took a little time to come up with a topic, but once I did it went fine.

So, it was one of those days when it felt good to be in Tucson.