Sightings and Ramblings

Desert Sunsets II

2009-06-04T21:33:00.002-05:00

A sunset for which I was particularly excited, but the clouds didn't stick around long enough. Still, a pleasant result

A very odd sunset which had lightning storms in it, the rain coming down made it look like the mountains were on fire

The full moon rises shortly, which means more fun with night photos. I will post them soon.

Desert Sunsets

2009-06-01T14:31:00.005-05:00

Apologies for such a delay between posting. No valid excuses, just busy and tuckered out. But, hopefully the photos will make up for it. With the cloudy weather lately, I've headed down to the desert a few times to catch more sunsets. Enjoy

Just before sunset, the light was perfect

Mesquite blowing in the wind

A prickly pear cactus

More to come...

National Monument Poetic Style

2009-05-21T11:42:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, with a shared day off, we headed to the Chiricahua monument. I had been last time I was in AZ, and was happy to be heading there again. Ancient volcanic activity and erosion has left tall pillars of rock that cover the mountain sides, which gives you a very awesome and eerie feeling. We decided to go on one of the long hikes, which was great as I got to walk along the Heart of Rocks trail, which I had no been on before. It takes you up amongst all the hoodoos.

I was looking forward to taking some photos, but it was a cloudy/rainy day which is perfect for hiking, but not perfect for making your photos look cheery. So, I will rely on the greyscale to make my photos appear artsy and deep.

Denise walks amongst some hoodoos in the Heart of Rocks

Attempting to wreck the landscape. But doesn't it look poetic in black and white?

We borrowed a jeep to head over the mountain and back. This is one of the few times Denise didn't have a grin on her face while driving :) Yeehaw!

Electricity

2009-05-17T16:19:00.003-05:00

Blue, my laptop, has sprung back into life, but I'm assuming its fleeting. Must be some kind of connection problem. And I was just about to take the whole thing apart too, he woke up not a minute too soon.

So, last night I was lamenting that I had not been out taking many photos, for various reasons. But last night the skies opened up, poured rain, and gave me a very good reason to stand in the parking lot getting soaked.

Can you hear it?

The loss of Blue (my laptop)

2009-05-15T11:07:00.001-05:00

Hello all,
Finally, the moment I was dreading. My laptop seems to have kicked the bucket. Which means, this blog is about to get a whole lot less exciting. I will try and post photos when I can using the station computers. Sigh. Sorry to all my fans :)

Night Moves II

2009-05-12T09:01:00.004-05:00

More fun with long exposures and pretty lights. With the full moon and a clear sky, we headed down to the desert to catch the sunset/moonrise.

Not bad, for a moon. But hazy unfortunately.

The moon a little higher, with a longer exposure. (the funky lines around the moon are due to compression of the file size, but looks kinda funky no?)

My zen friend

Me, not as zen, but cool, which is equally important

Denise had the idea to play with some backlighting. Having looked at the photo I think we should have kept playing with the idea, it makes a pretty neat effect

And finally, what I think of as the coolest photo of the whole evening, the horse we rode in on (lovingly known as Padiddle). Denise sat in the car holding a light stick (she's the best and most flexible assistant a photographer could have, willing to jam herself into uncomfortable places for effect) and I shone red light on the head lights. This is a 40 something steamboat exposure

Grrrrr

Working on my night moves I

2009-05-09T12:56:00.003-05:00

The other night, with Denise frolicking with Chiropterans, I took advantage of the almost-full moon and played with some long exposures.

This dead tree has an Elf Owl nest in it, but it was pretty quiet the evening I was out there.

Spooky signs out front. Not as spooky now as Denise and I are working on refinishing them

Inspired by www.lostamerica.com (look at his photos, seriously, they are incredible)

Oooo, spooky spirally ghost in the woods. Its so tangly.

This is about a 70 steamboat exposure, I walked in front of the camera and traced myself with an LED. Freaked myself out a little bit with this one, being an almost-full moon and all the crazy noises around me, I ended up spending the rest of the evening under a wool blanket

Desert Nights

2009-05-05T17:56:00.007-05:00

The other night was a beautiful one here, the clouds were just perfect for an excellent sunset. Denise and I threw back dinner and headed down the mountain about 7 miles to the desert in time to catch it. I had spent some time on Foothills road before and knew that it was a really neat place; typical desert and no cattle fences, so you are able to wander. We also played around a bit with some night photography, I'm looking forward to the full moon

The mountains opposite the sun, big sky

The gravel road from whence we came

Octotillo and the moon

One of the many spiky things found in the desert, displayed in a poetic manner (still hurts when it jams into your leg though)

The sun slowly descends

I remember this plant has very nice flowers in late May, but I have no idea whats its called

After the sun went down, we played with an LED light and long exposures, Denise stands still for 15 steamboats.

Tee-hee...

The last few days

2009-05-03T15:25:00.004-05:00

We've been spending a fair bit of time walking through the forest (I've accelerated from couch to 4 miles/day in under two weeks), and now that we are the only volunteers, Denise and I are on permanent dish duty for the next few days until the reinforcements arrive. But, I digress,
random photos!

As a gift to myself, I purchased a remote shutter release, so I've been playing with a few night shots. In the next few days the moon will be full, so I'm hoping to get out and do some more when the light is bright. These are the solar powered lamps that run along the pathway through the station

A little fun with 'light painting' and my headlamp. Used to illuminate the trees (with a shutter speed of 90 steamboats)

This Wild Turkey says "gobble gobble gobble" in a slowly descending tone, translated to "heyyyyy ladies"

An Arizona Sister butterfly

Sadly, I just couldn't get this one in focus as much as I would have liked. These are ants tending to aphids. They actually care for the aphids, feeding them. In turn, the ants eat the honeydew (sugary poop) that the aphids produce. Yay commensalism!

Rocks

2009-04-30T08:44:00.010-05:00

A day or so ago (I can't really remember, time is twisted here) Denise and I hiked up to some caves. It was really nice hike up. One this about this region is the low density of trees and shrubs. You can pretty much look at a point and then aim for it, you'll eventually reach your destination. Unless rocks stop you of course.

The rock around here is very neat, though its tough to photograph its true colour in full daylight (a pinky orange)

One of the larger caves, the walls had many scrawlings of dates and people who had slept there at one point (some from the early 1900's)

One particularly cool Native cave drawing, many of the others were stripes or dots, this one showed particular care (and a fancy headdress)

Denise, in her natural cave setting

A view out the window

Feeder action

2009-04-28T18:03:00.010-05:00

Wow, only two postings and I've already slowed down. Sigh.

The hummingbird feeders at the station are always a source of amusement and photo ops. About 3 species are commonly seen at the feeders, with a few other rare ones. Here are a few shots, enjoy
A black-chinned male

A blue-throated female (I think...)

A trio. Two black-chinned males, and a black chinned females (the females are the species that I have worked with in the past, and that Denise and I will be working on for this field season)
A magnificent hummingbird (male); can't really see it in the photo but they are a bright turquoise and blue. Very handsome. This one is pretty concerned with the other hummingbirds that are interested in stealing his sugar water

The beginning of the photo dump

2009-04-25T17:34:00.007-05:00

I don't know whether its the heat, or the dishwashing, but I'm feeling only slightly inspired to write long tomes about the station (perhaps you can go back and read about my last trip here, not much has changed). This may end up being more of a photo blog, with only small captions. I figure the 2 or so people that are reading this won't mind :)

Denise spending some time with the resident mule deer Mickey. When I was at the station last time, there was a mule deer named Molly. Apparently she was eaten by a mountain lion (yes, there are mountain lions here, sorry Mom. ) but she had given birth to Mickey. He likes to hang around the station for the apples.

Yer standard cactus, cept without the spikes. I think these ones are edible.

A striped plateau lizard perhaps? These things are like squirrels or pigeons. Meaning they're everywhere and eventually you stop noticing them.

Its an awesome time of year to be in these mountains, cacti are beginning to flower and they add such a nice colour to the landscape

There are sycamore trees that run along the creek near the station. I'll try and get a photo later of a whole tree

Killarny to Superior OR Rocks and Trees

2007-09-26T14:01:00.000-05:00

The next day, we went on a hike on Chikanishing Trail, which gave us some great views of Gerogian bay, and demonstrated perfectly the rocks and windblown pines in the area.

Me (without a camera in my hand for once, but only cause I lent it to Mike) with the Cloche mountains in the background

A hawk (possibly a Broad winged, or maybe a Coopers?) I chased down in the woods

Looking back at these photos, it reminds me of an Arrogant Worms song about Canada that we heard on the radio driving up to Superior called "Rocks and Trees"

"Although we don't have history

Gold medal winning teams

Heroes or prisoners

World famous volcanoes

Still what we've got's glorious

'Cause we've got Rocks and trees

And trees and rocks

And rocks and trees

And trees and rocks

And rocks and trees

And trees and rocks

And rocks and trees

And trees and rocks

And water"

True that.

Lake Superior Camping trip, day 1 Killarny Prov. Park

2007-09-24T15:05:00.001-05:00

Hello all,

Finally, another opportunity for some great photos! Its been a while. Mike and I went on a week camping trip around the East side of Lake superior. Our first stop was Killarny provincial park. We left TO around lunchtime and arrived there in the evening, with enough time to set up the tent and head to the lighthouse to see the sunset. The scenery was beatiful and the light was perfect for a few good shots. Here is one of Mike enjoying the lake

I like the way the water in amongst the rocks reflected the sky so nicely

A gull gives me a fly by

The suns angle was perfect for this shot, making the rock looked like windblown sand

The sunset that evening was nice, but was over very quickly

I will post the hike at Killarny tomorrow

Snowbirds out my window

2007-08-31T21:15:00.000-05:00

Well,

I discovered one good thing about living in the city, Snowbird practice. For the labour day weekend at the CNE the Snowbirds are doing an airshow, and this morning they were practicing above the city, so I got out the long lens to play. Watching them was very cool, but made me feel kinda sick.

I like the twists in the clouds

This was completely by accident, on my part, not the Snowbirds Im sure.

This is my favorite one, you can see the clouds in the upper part of the photo where they had done the same maneuver a few minutes ago (giving me time to get the camera)

Tough Parenting

2007-08-28T07:24:00.001-05:00

Hey all,

Here is a nice little sequence of photos I captured of a Chipping Sparrow fledgling and a parent. It was on the ground chipping away, begging for food

The female parent returned with a small moth, which was guzzled quickly, and of course the fledgling still wanted more.

When it realized it wasnt going to get anything else with this trip

It did a nice wrestling move on its mother. Parenting is difficult for birds apparently

a decent shot of the gaping maw

Return to nature

2007-08-26T10:01:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

I'm sorry that I have not recently updated this blog, sitting in my apartment looking at the classifieds does not help my creativity. But, I spent a few days up in Bracebridge so I was able to wander around getting a few photos. Its always nice to get back to the nature that Toronto doesn't provide (unless by nature you mean the very interesting crazies that live here).

Heres a pretty good one of a toad I found in the woods. After the fact, I was pretty angry at myself for not seeing the leaf in the foreground that gives the right hand corner a greenish blur. But hey, Im learning, and maybe you wouldn't have even noticed had I not pointed it out.

Similar to the Chipmunk photo posted earlier, I think this is a text book picture of a Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). It froze in terror for a few minutes, which allowed me to play with the settings on my camera

A damselfly, I wish I could have brought out the colours in the eyes a little more, they are bright blue (if you cant tell in the photo)

Tomorrow I will post a nice sequence of a sparrow fledgling I found that was putting its mom to work.

Ultimate Frisbee Nationals

2007-08-12T10:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, My husband and I headed to the Ultimate frisbee National Champs at Sunnybrook Park in Toronto. My two cousins from Vancouver were on two teams from BC, so we came out to show some family support. I had fun playing with my 70-300 lense and catching some of the action on the field. Enjoy

My cousin Julie's team was called Backbone, here they are in the first game we watched

Pretty serious stuff

My cousin Julie, waiting for the kick(flick?)-off.

My cousin Jordan, team "Vortex", in her game

A sliding catch

We also got to watch some of the other games going on, some of the mens teams were pretty crazy

I took some time to watch "Furious George", a very impressive mens team

Julie in the semifinals

Backbone lines up

Backbone won their semifinal game, to play in the finals against "Dirt", a team from Toronto. It was a awesome game (despite all the foul calls).

Those frisbee shorts give bad wedgies apparently

The game was awesome! It was 9-13, Dirt only had to score one more goal to win, I was down on the field and they were totally sure they were going to win. But Backbone fought back, made some awesome plays and scored 5 points in a row to win the game! The best comeback ever! Congratulations on a great game Backbone!

Hot in this apartment?

2007-08-03T16:15:00.000-05:00

The past few weeks after Gaspe have been nothing but job searches (if any of you know anyone that needs 1) A PhD student to work on vector-borne diseases or 2) A vector biologist, please..let me know :) ) . I haven't had the camera out much (nothing but smog in Toronto anyway!) but I busted it out today to convey the stuffy hotness that is our apartment, as demonstrated by my cat, Sphingidae. She's still alive, I promise.

Mont Albert and the end

2007-07-26T10:40:00.000-05:00

The next morning, we were treated to the best weather we could possibly imagine for the climb up Mont Albert (except later in the afternoon, it rained, but whatever). The climb was rated as being for those in good physical condition and between 6-8hrs long:we were in for quite a ride. I got a fair number of photos, and I don't think Ill post them all here, remember you can see all my photos at www.flickr.com/photos/biting_flies, take a look!!

There were quite a few streams rushing down the sides of the mountain

Well, we'll skip right to the top of Mont Albert, since it came rather quickly in comparison to the rest of the climb back down. It was perfect weather for grabbing a few photos, with nice clouds and blue skies. The top was very rocky, and kind of tundra-like

The climb down was a whole different story. We did a loop, which was a great idea because we got to see the other side of the mountain (which, despite what any bear may say, was totally worth the climb up). We followed this path along to the edge, and then down we went.

The boardwalk through the trees was very cool, all the trees are stunted

And then came the rocks, and they would keep coming for the next 2-3 km

We were high enough that there was still snow on the peaks

This is one of my favorite photos from the trip, I think I've managed to capture gravity quite well. Thanks to Erin for climbing out on the snow!

This was a woman making her way down the slope with walking sticks. I was quite impressed at the number of people attempting this climb, by this point in the trip I was starting to question my climbing abilities (and the integrity of my knees).

For those of you non-french speaking folk, this sign says "the descent down this slope if very long and very difficult"

Pardon my French, but no shit.

Alex makes his way down

I love the colours in this one

This photo was around the bottom of the slope, from here we still had 6km to go. And here comes the rain.

The rest of the hike was rocky at times, and other times very muddy. All told, it took us 7 hrs for a 17km hike. We all felt it the next day. There are plenty of other trails around the park with lesser difficulties. It was a great place to visit, hike and camp in and I hope to go back there again.

The next day involved biking through the rest of the park and back to St Anne du Monts to pick up the other car. We packed up and started the long drive back home. By this point I was too tired to take more pictures, so Ill end the blog story here. It was an tiring experience, but one well worth the energy. If you ever get a chance to go to the Gaspe peninsula, your in for a treat. The people are friendly, the food is good, and the scenery is great (when its not raining, I think we just had bad luck with that). Thanks for reading everyone!

Into Parc National de la Gaspesie

2007-07-25T07:19:00.000-05:00

We woke up all cosy in our hotel beds and were greeted with fog and pouring rain. Because we had gotten behind in the distance travelled, we decided to drive the girls to the start of the hyway which lead to the national park. I stayed behind and did a load of laundry at the local tourism bureau which turned out to be the worst 3 hours of the trip. The tourism guy was a lonely man, I guess he doesn't get too many people coming through there except to use the washroom. So, it was a long 3 hours of slurred English (he spoke mostly french but still tried) and pictures of him in hockey leagues as a kid and his father in the war. Wonderful. But soon, Alex came to rescue me, and as I fled to the outside, I got this photograph. I've converted it to black and white, to give it an older feel (actually, probably didn't look much different 80 years ago)

Driving to the national park with Alex was fun (stopped at a Tim Horton's for some delicious, aka not-instant, coffee, Joy of Joys!). When we got to New Richmond, the weather suddenly cleared up and it became a beautiful sunny day. As we were driving we came across a stack of bikes and clothing, so we pulled over to find the girls

They were down by a river having lunch

We started planning our hike for the next day

The camping at the park was great, Erin cooked up some dinner

And taking advantage of the nice weather, we hung just about every article of clothing out to dry
The next day we planned to hike up Mont Albert. The weather was going to be perfect, and I was going to get some totally awesome photos! Look forward to them tomorrow :)

Tete D'Indienne and the Bayview Motel

2007-07-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

We found a pretty good campground that night and settled in. Late at night I got a little warm in my bivy sac so I opened the screen. Apparently slugs like bivy sacs, or they are warmth sucks or whatever, I kept waking up with slugs crawling all over me. And you know, I actually felt bad flicking them off, considering it probably took them over an hour to get that far.

We woke up to no-rain (yet), and a nice view across the bay. The cliffs in the distance are those of Forillon national park (Cap Gaspe), where we had hiked the day before. You can actually see the lighthouse on the point. This photo can be nicely cleaned up, with all the grey removed. But I figured that would just be unrealistic.

Tina and Erin eating breakfast

We hopped on our bikes for a long day of riding. We had manged to get a little behind schedule the day before (rain and bike repairs) so we had over 160 km to ride. During my leg of the journey, it starting pouring rain. Yes, it had poured before, but this was an absolute deluge. There was thunder, and yes, lightning. I met up with Alex at a rest stop and switched riding for driving (props to him for actually starting to bike in the pouring rain, I was already soaked and resigned to stay that way). I had to strap my bike to the bike rack on the car, and it was pouring so hard, that the people working at the rest stop stared out the window the entire time in amazement of my stupidity.

The rest of the day was a drag: rain and fog and nothing to see along the coast. we decided to look for a motel to stay the night. We found a place with a great old man who gave us a super rate on two rooms, we all had showers (cold yes, but still a shower) and used our mini kitchen to cook some seafood pasta. We spent the rest of the night working on three large bottles of Milwaukee's Best.

This photo about sums up the trip. A lot of eating and drinking was done around this map.

Lisa shows off her delicious Coors light as Tina whips up some dinner

Alex and the holy glowing flyswatter hanging above the bed

Lisa 'half asleep in frog pyjamas'

It was great to have a roof over our heads and a comfy bed that night. More rain in the forcast for tomorrow, turning to sunny skies in the afternoon.

Sara's Wedding and Gaspe continued

2007-07-23T06:49:00.001-05:00

Hey all,

Sorry for the delayed post, I spent the weekend up in the Muskokas for my sister-in-laws wedding. Everyone had a good time, it was a beautiful setting. Just to satisfy you readers, I'll post a photo of the happy couple, I'll wait before posting the others

The night before the wedding, my husband and I wandered around outside, taking photos of the sunset/moon. Here is one of him and the moon

So, that was my weekend in a very small nutshell. Back to the Gaspe trip.

The next morning, since it was pouring rain, we took a cycling hiatus and drove to Forillon provincial park. It a point near the end of the Gaspe peninsula with cliffs and shorebirds. Its a beautiful area to hike through. We saw whales (sorry no photos) which was really cool and the general landscape is very pretty. Here are a few photos, I'll have to go and get some more when its not dumping rain and foggy.

The rock formations there are really neat, most of the cliff edges look like they are sliding into the ocean

A thick forest we walked through on the way to the point

When we got to the top, we were greeted with a small black bear, we never saw the mother so it was a little nerve-wracking. Didn't stop me from taking photos though. This photo has had the fog filtered out for clarity. It was so thick up there that we couldn't see a bit of the ocean.

A sparrow that was singing away despite the rain.

The rest of the afternoon was spent biking to the city (town?) of Gaspe to get Lisa's bike repaired. We arrived at Camp Tete d'indienne which provided a few good photos the following morning.

Driving pt 2

2007-07-19T09:12:00.000-05:00

More photos as promised. Waiting for the cyclists, we parked at a lighthouse (after getting some ice cream; ice cream and cheese are in abundance in Gaspe) and spent some time taking photos. I found some neat rocks with the water crashing in, and there was a steady stream of sea birds making a run for Cap Gaspe (a large cliff point where sea birds hang out) so there were plenty of things to keep me occupied.

A wave pelts a rock, with two Common Eiders hunkered down in the background

Just a Gull, but they are much more majestic and less anoying by the ocean than in McDonalds parking lots.

A sparrow on a fence post

Three Double-crested Cormorants making their way to Cap Gaspe

And finally, human photos. Erin rounds the corner. Welcome to Cap du Rossiers.

Tina flying down a hill

Lisa heading down a hill, dont be deceived by these photos, these girls were going faster than 70 km/hr down these hills. Shortly after this photo was taken Lisa hit a pothole (at 83.6km/hr) and cracked a rim; leading to a nice little non-cycling morning the next day, and an opportunity to get more photos, look forward to those tomorrow!

Day Two of Gaspe: The Drive

2007-07-18T06:41:00.001-05:00

So, as mentioned, I spent the second day of riding, riding in the support car. It was a pretty good decision on my part, as this section of the ride was incredibly hilly. Now that Im looking through my photos, most of the days have blurred together, so I may have included a few from other days, but not that you care really. So, onwards.

The day before, we had been caught in the rain, having set our cycling shoes outside, they began to mist.

The road through the inland, I think this hill was about a 11% grade. Notice the huge windmills in the background

A close-up of the windmills, in some areas they just cover the hills

A Black Guillemot, a sea bird that is pretty common in the area. They have bright red feet and nest in the rock faces

I stopped at a rest station to get a few shots, this was a beatiful area, with the ocean coming into the inland and forming a lake.

I drove 4km on a dirt road to see a historic Marconi site. Sadly, all the tours were in French (which Im not so bad at understanding, but no so much as to get a whole tour). So that trip wasnt very eventfull, but I did get a good photo of a Spruce Grouse. So there you go.

I realize that because I drove the entire day, I have many photos to share. I will post some more tomorrow.

The first day of cycling

2007-07-17T08:27:00.000-05:00

The camping Saturday night was great, and I awoke to a pair of loons chatting to eachother out in the river.

We started our first day of cycling on Sunday. We had a support vehicle which would be driven to a meeting point along the way. I drove the first day and biked out to meet the others cycling. Here are Lisa, Alex and Erin starting their ride.

A view of the landscape on the North Coast through the car window, very beautiful, very windy. Notice the looming clouds.

Stopped at one of many lighthouses along the way. I didnt stay out of the car for long, it was incredibly windy and pretty cold on the camera hands.

Another shot of the landscape on the north coast, facing west (meaning we were cycling away from the beatiful blue sky)

I wish that I had a photo of the cycling from the afternoon. I switched driving and cycled the remainer of the day. The flat coastal road suddenly turned inward, into the mountains and I was left facing the biggest hills I have ever cycled up. My 7 weeks in Arizona didnt help me here in the least. Never in all my active life have my legs just decided to stop working, but they did this time. Still, having walked a few metres up one of the larger hills, I got back on the chariot and finished the day. However, this climb put my knee out quite nicely, so I ended up driving the following day, it gave me a good chance to get some great photos though, so I was greatful for the opportunity. Look forward to those tomorrow!

Back from Gaspe

2007-07-16T09:38:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

Its been a long week of biking, rain and no internet access. The biking trip was lots of fun, though very tiring and very wet. I did get a chance to get some pretty good photos, which Ill share with you over the next few days. I figure I will do them chronologically, so here they are.

The first day we drove from Peterborough to Montreal, which takes about 4 hours. The next day was the long haul (10 hrs) from Montreal to Saint Anne-du-Monts in the Gaspesie. These are photos from our first campground which was right on the shore of the St Lawrence river. The owner didnt speak a word of english, but he was really great, and kind enough to let us leave the other car there for a week while we cycled around the penninsula.

Our bikes locked to the flag poles, flying the Maple leaf and the Fleur de Lis

One of the many things Quebec is known for is cheese. There are plenty of Fromageries to stop at along the way, with good bread for snacking. We learned however that cheese, though delicious, bungs up the digestive system very nicely. Our diet for the rest of the week consisted mostly of bran, granola and prunes. Nuf said.

We took a stroll along the beach before dinner, lots of fun rocks to play with. This is not a rock however, its a poetic look through glass. My retinas suffered getting this shot so appreciate it :)

An artistic look at a dead crab

Our first sunset. Little did we know it would be a rarity to actually see the sun on this trip.

Heading to Gaspe

2007-07-05T14:21:00.001-05:00

Hello all (of those who are still reading this blog),
Tomorrow I will be heading off to Gaspe, Que. on a 10 day cycling adventure. I wont be bringing my laptop with me, so I wont be able to post everyday, but look forward to some good photos after I get back!!

Powerlines

2007-07-01T08:18:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

Got back from spending two days in Peterborough, it was nice to be back in my university town. I didnt get very many photos however, just too busy running around. I did get a few great photos of the sunset as I was walking to the place I was staying. If only the clouds had been this awesome in AZ. Rather than being frustrated with the powerlines in the way, I intentionally included them. Cant beat em, join em.

Waterfalls

2007-06-28T11:49:00.001-05:00

I will be heading to Peterborough (my university town) this afternoon until Saturday. I hope to get some good shots, there are plenty of places to wander around. In the meantime, here is a shot or two of a waterfall on the Fish hatchery trail in near Bracebridge, my husband and I walked through there this past weekend.

This photo has an odd feel to it when its black and white, like I melted the film or something

A view of the whole falls

And just for a laugh, the mighty Winn Falls in the Chiricahua mountains in Arizona from about 100 ft away (I know, its the dry season there now, Im sure it can be more spectacular, its just that I hiked 4 hours to get to this point, at least it encouraged me to hike 2 more hours to find something more exciting)

Home and to Muskoka

2007-06-27T16:20:00.001-05:00

Hello again all,

I made it back from Arizona safely, it was sad to leave really, such a great place. I have spent a few days up in Muskoka with my parents, helping them clean out the cottage. After 23 (I think) years, they have decided to sell the place. It was nice to spent a little time up there, and I'll share some photos I got over the next few days.

The essential element of every cottage is the friendly neighborhood Chipmunk. This was obviously one from last year as it remembered the "Chippy!" call as well as what a peanut was.

The epic struggle of Munk versus Nut

Now if this isnt a textbook picture of Tamias striatus, I dont know what is.

Thank you Arizona

2007-06-20T19:19:00.000-05:00

This morning Im off to Tucson to catch my flight back home. Its with mixed emotions that I leave this place. As anyone who has spent time at a research station (or camp for that matter) would know, people start to wear on you, and the general politics around this place have become a little tiresome. However, by no means am I sick of these mountains. There seems to be endless places to wander off to and always new things to see and photograph. I will miss the desert the most. There is something about the strange noises and the warm winds down there that make that place beautiful, and everything seems to new to me. I hope that I can come back here again someday, Arizona (or at least this tiny corner of it) is an incredible state.

So thanks Arizona,

For the big skies

The beautiful valleys

The culture

The research opportunities

And the Photographic opportunities

And thank you to all those people that made this place great! Thank you also to all of you who have read my blog, I hope that you enjoyed my photos and my stories. I will see how photography treats me in the future, perhaps I will continue to post here if I get anythng interesting. Check in from time to time.

Much love

Chris

Greenhouse Trail

2007-06-20T18:30:00.000-05:00

On my last day here in the Chiricahua's, I decided to go on a long hike on the Greenhouse trail. I would say that of all the hiking I've done around here, this one is by far the nicest. Its quite strange actually, because the trail goes up the mountains, but travels along a creek within a valley, so you get to see all sorts of different flowers and plants. And its not very desert like, there are huge pine trees so it reminds me more of BC. The trees provide some pretty good shading, so its a nice hike on a hot day.

In 1994 there was a forest fire in the area, so there are many fallen and dead trees, a good lesson in succession. Very strange to walk through though, its amazing how long it takes for the forest to come back

The tour guides in the area are friendly, but dont say much. They seem to just get freaked out by your presence and run down the mountain.

A columbine, they grow in large numbers near streams

By the streams, there were many different kinds of butterflies, though generally they were flittng around too much to get good photos.

And last but not least, I was lucky enough to run into one of these big boys, but it couldn't have cared less that I was there, so it provided a good photo opp.

In total, I hiked about 10 hrs, up to Fly's Peak, at 9660 elevation (thats higher than Silver Peak), sadly the view at the top was all forest, but Im glad I did it (even if my feet are not). I highly recommend this place to anyone interested in a good hike, the trails are not prefect, often they are rocky or falling apart in some cases (due to cattle), but it seems that no matter where you hike here, there is always an amazing view and something totally different from other parts of the area. I hope that I can come back here again soon and hike to more of the many peaks within this national park.

Snowshed Trail

2007-06-19T18:01:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, after lunch I hiked a short ways up Snowshed trail. It was pretty crazy hot out there this afternoon, and honestly, its not the most fascinating trail in the area, but I still managed to get some good photos.

At this time of the year the cicadas are deafening (and dizzying for that matter), they are all in the trees and in some places drown out just about every other noise.

A Red-shafted Flicker, there was a group of them mobbing Jays, which have been moving around the area preying on nestlings (sadly, you never really look at jays the same after doing a hummingbird nest survey)

A butterfly, 'nuf said
A view of the valley and the mountains of New Mexico beyond

David Utterback

2007-06-18T17:20:00.000-05:00

When I first arrived at the station, I was soon introduced to David Utterback, a naturalist and an artist who lived just up the road. His art was beautiful and lifelike and his drawings have been used in several ornithological textbooks as well as to decorate the office and gift shop here at the station. He was a talented naturalist, having a unique connection with many of the nesting birds in the area, he was often able to identify and follow individual birds from one year to the next. He was also an enthusiastic physicist, explaining theories of special relativity to me that sadly, were far beyond my comprehension.

But along with his brilliant abilities, came a tormented mind and on June 1st, he left everything behind and disappeared leaving only a note with some researchers at the station. Many hoped that he had driven off to Mexico or had run off to live in the mountains for a while. Sadly, just two days ago, his body was found up in the mountains near the station. He has become such a constant here at the station and will be missed by everyone that knew him. Heres to Dave Utterback, in hopes that he has finally found some peace.

Happy Fathers Day!

2007-06-17T16:08:00.000-05:00

For mothers day I posted several photos of the flowers in the area, for my dad, I will post some photos of trees, of which there are plenty around here. There is a law apparently in the national forests of the US that you are not allowed to cut down dead trees nor remove fallen deadwood (this would drive Dad nuts). It provides a whole bunch of nice dry firewood and most of the people around here believe its only a matter of time before this place goes up in flames. Several fires have come close and you can see the burn areas on the tops of mountains around here that are slowly growing back. So, here they are, a few photos of trees for Dad. Happy Fathers day!

I think this is a fallen Aligator Juniper tree, which apparently burns very easily and it smells great

Under a tree

Roots hold up large rocks over a stream bed

A twisted old tree on a hill

Two Apache Pines are left of center, you can actually see part of an old burn (1996 I think) on the mountain in the background, its somewhat sparse on top.

Hope everyone has a great day

Fledged and Confused

2007-06-16T13:27:00.001-05:00

With the prospect of facing upcoming job and perhaps grad school applications along with payment of hefty student loans, I feel akin to this Robin fledgling: overwhelmed at the necessary but daunting task of figuring out what the heck Im doing with my life. Well, thats probably not what the Robin is thinking, but it did look somewhat confused. Enjoy the photos.

A second shot at Monument

2007-06-14T20:26:00.000-05:00

Today I was lucky enough to get a second crack at the National Monument. A few of the folks around here decided to go, and though we didn't spend as much time there, it was great to get back when the weather was nicer. Here are a few photos with much bluer skies.

Defying physics

Turkey vultures ride the airfoils over the mountains

A second Silver Peak hike

2007-06-13T15:43:00.000-05:00

This morning I hiked up Silver Peak yet again (a 4.5 miles hike up to 8020 ft elevation, start hiking at about 5000 ft). I noticed that my fitness has improved since the last time, Im now used to the elevation and the heat. Not to say that Im not hurting right now, but again, its a good kind of hurt. We made it up the mountain much faster than last time, reaching the peak in 2hrs and 40 minutes (last time was about 4.5 hours, we stopped often to look at the scenery). Though I didn't get as many photos as last time, here are a few to share

A tiny Yarrows lizard, you can see the shed casing of a cicada in the left hand corner for scale.

These flowers (Penstomen barbatus) grow up in the mountains

A view East

A wasp roughly the size of your thumb

Me and the Chircahua Mountains

Return to Silver Peak

2007-06-12T22:16:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow morning, once again, I am hiking to Silver Peak. I hope to get some new photos so look forward to them tomorrow evening.

Gun Country

2007-06-12T13:10:00.001-05:00

Hello all,

Wow, two postings in one day, arent ya'll lucky? I thought I'd post some photos of a different colour. Round these parts, most people have guns for protection from animals as well as some of the illegal smuggling that goes on in this area. PD, the volunteer coordinator has some of his own, and was kind enough to offer me some lessons. Learning how to fire a rifle is something that I've wanted to learn, not to hunt animals but more as a safty measure for doing research in remote locations (ie Africa + cape buffalo). So, this morning, Freya and I went to PD's house and shot targets in his quarry. Here are a few photos, enjoy

Freya shoots a rifle while PD watches the target with binocs

Me and a semiautomatic rifle (yes, that is a target paper taped to an old fridge)

Firing a 45-70, the kickback from the gun, I beleive, will give me a nice bruise on my shoulder. If so, I will take a picture of that also as a follow up post :)

The 45-70 was the most accurate. Look at those big holes near the center, not bad for my first time.

And finally, me with an automatic handgun. Freeze desert animals!

As promised, a predator!

2007-06-12T09:16:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

Because of the cloudy weather yesterday, I ventured once again down to the desert to see if I could catch another sunset. It was a bit too cloudy, though I did come up with some nice photos. When the sunset was past its prime, I stood for about 5 minutes waiting for a mocking bird that had been flitting around to land to a yucca flower spike. Suddenly a bobcat sauntered across, about 8 m from where I was standing. I was downwind at the time so it didn't notice me until it was out in the open. It turned and watched me. I slowly moved my finger to change the settings on my camera, trying not to make eye contact (I didn't want to scare it away by staring it down). I then took as many photos as I could (5 in the end), I was worried because the light was rapidly disappearing. About 10 seconds later it slunk away into the bushes. This is the only photo that turned out, but understandably I'm totally excited about it!

The Chiricahua National Monument

2007-06-11T19:08:00.001-05:00

So, this morning we set off over to mountains towards Chiricahua National Monument, a national park filled with unique rock spires created by erosion of the rock from a volcanic eruption about 27 million years ago. Its an amazing and totally bizarre place, I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting this area.

However, not when its pouring rain. Today was our only day off, so despite the weather forcast we decided to head out. It basically started pouring as soon as we got onto the trail and soon our hands were frozen from sacrificing them for the sake of photography. Within an hour we were soaked to the bone, trying to find dry clothing to wipe off our lenses. The photos that I was able to get were somewhat disappointing, though you can get the idea of the place. I hope that someday I can return when there is a little more sunshine and its a little warmer. Enjoy the photos

A black and white photo of the volcanic spires, hauntingA volunteer from the station, Galen, sits beneath one of the rocks
A valley filled with pillars (now that I look at this photo, it almost looks pleasant outside, not true)

Me, between two pillars (courtesy of Galen Priest)

The clouds on the way home. Too bad they werent like this when we were hiking. But, it only gives me another reason to come back!!

Heading to National Monument

2007-06-10T18:21:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow (monday) a few of us are going to National Monument, a very cool national park within this forest. Look forward to lots of photos, though not until later in the day as its a pretty long drive/hike. Hope ya'll have a great day.

Desert run

2007-06-10T11:03:00.000-05:00

This morning I biked down to the desert yet again. Its been a few days since I've done this, so Im a little out of shape, but I survived. Its really neat how you can stand still and suddenly all sorts of things around you will happen. I had a coyote peek around a corner at me, unfortunately when I moved, he jumped and ran off, so, no photos. I did catch one of a little Pocket Mouse

This is a Cactus Wren, slightly larger than a blue jay

Im working on finding out what these are, I suspect one is a kind of flycatcher, the other two, I'll figure out shortly.A memorial for John Hands, a pioneer, a rancher, a miner, an archeologist. And a rock dove.

A Scorcher

2007-06-09T18:21:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

Its incredibly hot here today so its been an afternoon of catching up on work in a cool lab. However, I did get out to grab a few photos.

This is a male Bluethroated hummingbird, he kept chasing other males off the feeders but continued to come back to the same branch to pose for me.

Yes, another lizard

A nestful of Plumbeous Vireo. Looks uncomfortable.

Little Ones

2007-06-08T16:00:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

The vegetation transects are almost done! Yay!! Soon I will have some free time to go wandering and get some more photos. Over the past few days I have grabbed some photos of wee little nestlings, something most people dont often get to see. So here they are.

An American Robin, there are at least 4 nestlings in this nest

Three small Plumbeous Vireo nestlings

An older Blackchinned hummingbird nestling on a weighscale

Basin Trail

2007-06-07T19:27:00.001-05:00

Hello all,

This morning, on my day off, I walked about 2 miles up the road and onto Basin trail. Its a short little hike up some foothills and perfect for a 4 hour roundtrip. It was nice to get away from the station for a short while. Im pretty happy with the photos I got.

This is a East facing shot of the valley in which the research station is located

A skipper feeding on a thistle, very unconcerned with the camera lens practically touching it.

A butterfly hangs off of catclaw mamosa. Mamosa is the wicked stuff that has left me with many a bloody scratch on my legs.

And finally, a Short Horned Toad (not a toad at all, but a lizard)

And then it threatened to kick my arss. Good thing the camera was in the way

Another desert sunset. Ho hum.

2007-06-06T23:29:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

Another late post. I managed to get down to the desert again this evening and at first I thought the clouds were drifting away and it would be another disappointment. However, towards the south there were plenty of clouds and a perfect photo op. I ran through desert plants and spikey things, up a foot hill to grab these photos. The walk back down was somewhat more difficult as it was pretty dark, but hey, it was worth it. Enjoy.

A self portrait. Gives you an idea of the size that some of the agave cactuses can reach!

Wandering

2007-06-05T17:13:00.000-05:00

More of the same today, sadly! Vegetation plots and dishwashing. Im hoping that the last two weeks of this trip get a little more interesting! Still, I walked around yesterday with the camera and got a few shots.

A turkey vulture, of which there are plenty in Ontario. Not a particularly exotic photo, but fun to take.

Yet another White tailed deer photo. I guess I still find it interesting that they aren't too concerned with my presence. This one was giving me a good sniff, just to make sure I wasnt a mountain lion.

Contemplation

2007-06-04T15:18:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

Its been a bad few days for photography, Im carrying the camera almost all the time and not finding a whole lot of good shots. I suppose its because Im looking too hard, heck, the Trogon practically landed on my head, perhaps I just have to wait for the opportunity. Yesterday, Harold (the hummingbird guy) and I went down to the desert to catch what we thought would be a good sunset, but all the clouds disappeared and it turned out to be kinda ugly. But Harold, always entertaining, was willing to act as a photo subject. Man meets nature and contemplates the descending sun.

Elegant Trogon continued..

2007-06-02T14:54:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

Its been another busy day of nest searching, and this afternoon we will be working on more vegetation transects so I will just post a quick photo. You may recall I posted a not so good photo of the Elegant trogon, a parot-like bird that is very noisy and quite handsome. I had not heard the male calling recently, so I figured my photo opportunities were over. This morning however, as we were looking at a hummingbird nest, the Trogon landed on a branch about 3 m away from me. So, here he is, in all his Elegance, the trogon.

A sunset and a moonrise

2007-06-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

Happy June everyone!

Last night the clouds were perfect, so Freya (the new volunteer) and I drove down to the desert to catch a sunset and a full moon rise. Again, I love being down in the desert, its so open, with so many different noises around and a hot wind. The conditions were great for a sunset and I got some good photos. Here are just a few

The Yuccas are in full bloom now. They have flower spikes about 2-3m high and about 1-2ft of the stalk is covered wth flowers.

After the sunset, we weren't really sure what time the moon would rise, but as we were driving back around 7:40 we saw it slowly rise above the mountains. I had neglected to take a tripod with me, so this photo was taken using the roof of a car.

Yep, thats the moon alright.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Familiar

2007-05-31T10:15:00.000-05:00

This morning I biked down to the desert again, not to catch a sunrise but to see different things. I've become accustomed to the sights and sounds around the station, so its nice to get out to somewhere new. Still, in the desert there are some familiar things, just taken out of context.

The cardinals are down in the desert in the mornings and are always perched high in the trees and calling

I laughed when I saw this sign. Not quite Canadian, but I'll take it.

Hope you all have a good day, it will be more vegetation transects for me today. However, this evening I am going to attempt to capture the full moon rise etc. and next week I plan on going to Winn Falls, so look forward to some photos there!

Random Photos

2007-05-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

On our day off, yesterday, we spent most of the day doing vegetation transects, and there is an end in sight. We are almost done the nesting sites, but for comparison purposes, we have to do non-nest sites. goodie. So, yet again, I had very little time for photos. I do however have some random photos from various days that will keep you entertained while Im doing nothing very exciting at all. Enjoy

Native Grasses

A yet to be identified butterfly

A type of wild poppy

An image from a map of the different rock types in the Chiricahua mountains

Another day

2007-05-28T19:44:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

I apologize for my less than exciting posts of late. Its been mostly work and more work these past few days. For all of this week, we're trying to get the majority of the vegetation transects done, so that I dont have to spend every spare minute measuring trees. Hopefully after that I will be making more trips out on the trails and I will have more interesting photos to share with you. In the meantime, Ill share with you some black and white photos. Its not often that I like b&w more than colour photos, but sometimes it just suits the picture.

Like Ansel Adams, but not quite as good :)

A lazy afternoon

Tavern pt 2

2007-05-27T14:37:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

Its been a few days of vegetation surveys and pool painting, not really exciting nor photogenic. But the pool is almost done. And the veg surveys, well...Christmas maybe? Anyway, the Danes are leaving this week so we went out for one last time at the Rodeo Tavern in New Mexico. The crowd was somewhat different this time, lots of people, loud etc. We ended off the night at a bonfire at a staff members house, but being the DD made it less eventful. I thought I would share with you a photo I snuck of someone at the tavern yestday. He was so stereotypical it almost seemed too unreal to beleive. Kept going on about how them damned liberals was what was wrong with this country and they should all be shot! Dangit.

Yep, those are shotgun shells on his belt. And though its not in the picture, you can beleive he had a mighty pair of spurs too.

Lizard poses

2007-05-25T19:26:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

I had only a short time to get out and get some photos today, as I had dishes in the morning and at lunch. At least the cook, Robert, who is in from Wednesday until Sunday keeps me entertained. Thats about the only fun part of doing dishes. The afternoon was occupied with vegetation surveys. But, I did finally get some decent shots of lizards. Lizards, I have found, are difficult to photograph as they are always sunning themselves in direct light, which makes photos ugly and cold looking. But this one, a Yarrow's spiny lizard was kind enough to pause for me. These lizards are everywhere, you always hear them running away through the underbrush wherever you walk.

Tomorrow may also be a late posting, as its more pool painting. The folks that have so kindly funded the pool reconstruction will be arriving next week, so we want it to look pretty! All volunteers will be on deck with rollers and brushes. I will try and post later on tomorrow evening.

Silver Peak pt. 2

2007-05-24T15:09:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delayed post, I spent the entire morning painting the pool, its being replastered.

So, Silver Peak. We started up the mountain around 6am. I have become used to the thinner air up here, yet Im certainly not used to hiking up mountains. Still, the path wasnt too rugged, only steep and the guy I was hiking with is a birder so we were often able to take a few breaks and look at the scenery. Unfortunately it was a bit of a hazy day, so the pictures are not as clear as I would have liked. This is the other side of the valley (with the road running up to the station). We're probably at less than 5800 ft here and have been hiking for less than a hour

After about an hour and a half, its still desert-like. At this point, we were heading around the eastern side of the mountain. I like this picture, as it shows pretty much what the land and vegation looks like around here.

The rock can be very difficult to walk on at times. Sometimes its round and boulder like, other times its shale, like in this photo. It covers the path and cracks like porcelain when walked on. This photo doesnt do it justice, when the sun shines on the rock it looks bright purple.

Then, strangely, at about 7000 ft, you round the corner (Northern side) of the mountain and enter a drainage area, filled with Douglas fir trees. It does not look much different than northern ontario. Stranger still you enter a very shaded area with tall grasses and steep slopes. Moss grows over all the trees in this area.

At this point, which was about the 4th hour of hiking, we were already pretty tired. Its all switchbacks all the way up. So heads were down, no conversation just hiking up up. This is a view from about 7800ft towards New mexico between two large rocks

But after hiking up 3000 ft for 4.5 hours, we were rewarded. You get up to a point where there are steps leading straight up rock, you have to use your hands while climbing up these.

A marker of the official elevation, 8020ft.

Sadly, these photos dont do the view justice. Its pretty incredible up there. This is the view towards New Mexico

The view North

I climbed up on what appeared to be a well. There used to be a firestation up at the top, and a foundation and this well is all that remains.

I of course have many other photos of the view, but I can't post them all here. We sat up at the top and ate our lunch, and then started the long trek back down. I can't decide whether it was harder going back down than going up. Your knees start to ache from trying to stop yourself from falling down the mountain. Eventually we ended up trotting/jogging down the mountain, and we made it back down in less than 2 hours. In the end, it was a trip well worth doing, a totally amazing view and one of the more difficult hikes in the area. Ill leave you with my favorite photo of the day. Thanks for reading everyone!!

I Survived

2007-05-23T21:19:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post, as I am going to bed very shortly. I made it back from Silver Peak, it was great and I have some great photos to share with you, but Im totally exhausted so I will write more tomorrow. Here is one of my favorite photos from the day.

Silver Peak

2007-05-22T16:26:00.001-05:00

To all my loyal fans,

Tomorrow morning (Wed) bright and early I will be hiking up to Silver Peak. Its about a 4.5 mile climb that will take us about 7 hours there and back (according to the various assessments of my athletic ability provided by the folks at the station). I likely wont be able to post tomorrow, but look forward to the view from 8000 ft on Thursday.

Sunrise

2007-05-22T11:18:00.000-05:00

Goodmorning everyone,

This morning I got up at 4am to bike down to the desert for the sunrise at 5:15. It was a bit wild going down the mountain in the dark, I had my headlamp, but cottontail rabbits tend to jump out onto the road. No rabbits were harmed however. The sunset wasnt as brilliant as I had hoped, but its a start

Hope everyone has a great day

Feeding and flyiing

2007-05-21T18:10:00.000-05:00

Apologies for not posting something earlier today. I may have mentioned, but we have a large number of hummingbird nesting sites to measure. We're doing vegetation transects, which is basically counting and measuring the number of trees and shrubs within an 8m radius circle. Sounds exciting doesn't it? So, thats what I did all afternoon, rather than taking photos. I will however, post two photos I took yesterday. I worked on hummingbird banding again yesterday morning, and I thought I would include a picture of a Magnificent Hummingbird male being fed before release. Because banding is often stressful for the little guys, and their energy demands are so high, banders make sure to feed them before they let them go. By the way, that white around their eyes is not actually their eyeball, only a marking. It does make them look like they are wigging out however.

The second photo I am including is just pretty, with no description. A dragonfly.

Bird pestering

2007-05-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

Just a quick little post again today, its a busy morning here. The Danes are studying the Whiskered Screech Owl, and yesterday when we went for a little walk they found a male sitting in a tree near one of their study nests. I hope to get another shot of him later, apprently they will sleep on the same branch every day if they are not too freaked out by your presence

I also came upon a Plumbeous vireo's nest, and I managed to get a shot of the female sitting on the nest before she flew away...

..and cursed at me from a distance

The Feeders

2007-05-18T09:04:00.001-05:00

Good morning everyone,

So, between the large thunder and lightning storms last night, and my new roomate who snores like a yak, I have had little sleep. I am therefore in no condition to provide commentary on anything otherwise its liable to get silly. So, instead, I think I will post several photos of some hummingbird feeder activity, yesterday after the rain they were out in large numbers.

A male Bluethroated hummingbird

Hummingbird vs Wasp

A male Magnificent Hummingbird

No one there.....

Looks good this way...Just minding my business... oops, clumsy me, must have dropped something down there....

and we're golden.
Hope everyone has a great day

Blacktailed rattlesnake

2007-05-17T13:18:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

Just a quick little post of a Blacktailed rattlesnake that Payanna found while we were on a walk this morning. This one was over a metre long, and about 3-4 inches in diameter. We never heard its rattle however as it seemed more interested in crawling into a hole than confronting us.

Just a wee one

2007-05-16T18:50:00.000-05:00

Today, my day off, Payanna and I went hiking off of South fork (the valley next to the one the station is in). We headed through forest trails crossing over streams several times. Its amazing how much the vegetation changes in these areas, as well as when you move to higher elevations; you start to see more maples and oaks and when you get higher, fewer things that I can identify. The rock changes as well, becoming more red as you head up the mountain. We hiked for 2 hours up, and came to a beautiful spot on top of the peak. It was amazingly windy up there, and it helped cool us off from climbing.

We also came upon our first rattle snake, a Rock Rattlesnake. It was just a tiny guy, only about the length of your forearm. And its wee little rattle sounded like a salt shaker. It was doing its best to sound scary, but it got little squeels of affection from us instead. Oh well, in time young rattlesnake, in time.

I found one!

2007-05-15T16:54:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

It was yet another busy day of washing dishes and digging rocks; there are certainly plenty of both around here. But I will share something a little more exciting with you, which was my discovery the other day when I was in the desert. The Danes (as the girls are called) came down to the desert with me, and they were lifting up rocks looking for spiders and scorpions. But there is a little known habitat where scorpions can be found: under discarded illegal immigrant backpacks. I would never have seen it had it not moved. But here it is, my first scorpion finding!! Its a Bark Scorpion, and it apparently packs quite a punch despite being the length of the tip of my thumb to the first knuckle.

Notice its tail is only slightly raised, meaning it was still a fair ways from kicking my ass.

Border Crossing

2007-05-14T11:47:00.000-05:00

Yet again, I was able to get down to the desert yesterday and tromp around for an hour. Many of the cactuses are flowering right now and there are lots of small and colourful wild flowers. Its strange however when you are wandering through the wilderness and come upon this: a pair of pants, a shirt, underwear, a backpack, 2 shaving razors and some shampoo. I half expected to find bones next.

Apparently, over 25, 000 people from Mexico cross this border every month. The border patrol is constantly driving past the station, and often will drive slowly past researchers as they are working the forests, leaning out their car windows and squinting to see what colour we are. Makes me glad Im pale, I cant imagine being a legal immigrant and having to deal with border patrol asking for your passport all the time. You will often come accross old camps with clothing and whatnot in the wilderness. Apparently the people are packed so tightly into trucks that they cannot take anything with them, so often spare clothes and backpacks are left behind.

Of course dealing with border patrol can lead to some funny stories of misunderstandings as well. Harold, the hummingbird guy was telling me a story of an ornithology field trip he was co-directing that ran into trouble with border patrol. Many birders drive around in large white vans, packed tightly in with their gear etc and tour the landscape looking for birds. Apparently in an area near here, to their surprise they came across a large wetland as they were driving towards the Mexican border. Unbeknownst to them, this wetland was only about 100m from a manned border crossing. Now finding a wetland in AZ means you will get to see an entirely new set of birds, pure joy for a birder!! The driver of the van in his excitement slams on the brakes and all 12 people get out of the van and start sprinting. What does border patrol think when 12 people get out of a van and start running hell bent for the fields? So in their cars they hop, lights flashing, guns in hand, and they start rounding up the ornithologists. The leader of the tour being the fastest runner, was so engrossed with getting out his scope and binoculars the fate of his students went unnoticed until another leader managed to explain that he had to go rescue everyone!! Of course, being a birder he was pretty stubborn about returning, who knows, he may see a Kingfisher! All turned out well however, and it makes for a good campfire story :)

Flowers for Mother's Day

2007-05-13T09:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day Ma!

Im sending you some digital desert flowers. It is spring here (despite feeling like summer to me), so there are many cactuses and flowers blooming right now.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Real genuine desert

2007-05-11T22:04:00.000-05:00

Wow! Im totally amazed. I actually got to go down to the real Arizona desert today. Being up in the mountains is certainly awesome when it comes to the temperature, but its a little more like what Im used to back home. The desert on the other hand is Mars, I swear. I went down with the botanist as she wanted to check out some flowering plants that she would like to monitor for nectar consumption. As soon as she parked the car I was out the door and off like a shot, unhindered by the various wicked plants scraping my legs to pieces (whats a few more scratches?). Oh there were lizards and bugs and cactuses and all sorts of fun things to take pictures of. No snakes however, next time.

Now, I apologize for yet another picture of a bird, but its no ordinary bird, and its a photo I promised myself (as well as others) that I would get. You bet, a Roadrunner!!

And another animal that posed for me, A jackrabbit

And finally an insect photo, a cicada spending some time on a century cactus . These cicadas are very creepy as when you approach them, they will flush from vegetation making a very quick and very loud cicada noise that makes a desert rookie like me jump a few feet.

I hope to get down there again soon, as the Yucca's are about to flower and some century cactuses have put up huge flower spikes (looking like 3 m high asparagus) and they will hopefully flower in a month or so. Hope you all are enjoying the site and sharing in at least a small part of my excitement!

Rock cleaning

2007-05-11T15:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted earlier, I spent the morning washing the mountains and picking up all the rocks that fell off them (we joke about this as being a job for the 'new' volunteers). Actually, we just dug up rocks from the lawns, much of the plumbing at the station has been re-done recently, so there are lots of dirt trails and rocks lying around. However that isnt very exciting and I didnt get any photos.

I did get some photos from our hike yesterday. There are two other girls here from Denmark, they are volunteering while working on an Owl project. They always seem up for a hike and yesterday we went out walking. It was incredibly hot so we all wore shorts, and though we didnt intend to, we ended up climbing up to the top of a very large hill. The vegetation around Arizona is not known for being friendly and its gets less so as you climb higher. More cactuses, nettles, and bushes with very large hooked thorns that catch in your skin and rip it (not kidding) make climbing tough. As well, the mountains around here are only solid rock at their highest points, the footing on the way up tends to be like gravel, with small round rocks or sheets of rock that slip beneath the feet. Anyway, depsite all these difficulties and the blood lost, the view is totally worth it

Here is a photo of Nynne and Payanna, the two girls from Denmark, you can see the research station in the background

Hope things are well with everyone, this one way communication is sorta weird.

Birds and trees, birds and trees

2007-05-10T14:33:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

The wireless internet has been down for the a day, and I just didnt know what to do with myself. But now, I can comfortably sit in my bed and post rather than walking all the way down to one of the labs and actually having to plug this laptop in. Exhausting.

So, today I went out with the botanist who is spending her sebaticle at the station. Because Im going to be doing vegetation surveys on the hummingbird nests, she wants me to know all the local trees and shrubs. So, Im all up on the sycamores, pines, lunipers, oaks and cherry trees. Oh, and I discovered that here, posion ivy grows up trees. Does it do that in Ontario? Anyway, it was nice to learn something so different from what I know and any excuse to tromp around outside is nice.

And guess what? I have more pictures of birds for you all. This is a breeding pair of Scotts Orioles that are building a nest on the wall of one of the houses here. They are a little skittish but if you sit tight you can get some great photos. Here is a photo of the male, grabbing bark off a sycamore for his nest

And a female with a bit of cotton (from a cottonwood) to add to the nest

The Elegant Trogon

2007-05-09T11:50:00.000-05:00

So for the past week, Ive been hearing of, as well as hearing, a male Elegant Trogon in the area. Its kinda like a parrot (but dont ever call it one around a birder), with a bright red belly and green wings. They have a very bizzare call that sounds like a small barking dog. Everytime I have been out in the woods I have heard it but it has been to far away. When I was doing the hummingbird trapping it was right above us, barking at me when my hands were occupied and I had no camera anyway. So today (which is my day off, yay, no dishes) I heard him and went out hunting. This isnt the best photo, they tend to stay high in the trees, but its a start.

The view from here

2007-05-08T20:49:00.000-05:00

Hello all, as promised here are a few more photos. After finishing my volunteer work this morning, I hiked up a trail that leads to a high point in the middle of the valley. There is a huge rock on the very top that you can climb up on and get an amazing view. This first photo is a view of the valley where the station is located.

Its amazingly quiet at the top of this huge hill, you dont hear many birds or much of anything. Well, except I heard something that touches something rather primitive inside a person, something we often forget that we have when living city life. As I sat perched on the rock, I heard a distinct gutteral but quiet growl, followed by the sound of a large mammal exhaling. Oh lovely, it could have been several things, a mountain lion, a bob cat, or a bear. Sadly, there is no climax to this story, as I did not see what it was. But I promise, next time after the hair on my neck goes back down, I will get a photo.

This is a photo of a neat tree I found after climbing up another ridge. The forests here are filled with dead trees, both standing and fallen. Its strange because things dont seem to rot up here, they only dry out, so there is a lot of old withered and gnarled wood lying in the forests.

And finally, I have to show a photo of my new purchase, a cowboy hat. I actually fit in here when I wear it because normal people wear cowboy hats 'round these parts. Yeehaw to that.

Dishes, Dishes, and Rocks

2007-05-08T13:05:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

My apologies to those of you expecting to see a new post, I've been washing dishes for the past day so I have had little time to post more photos. Hopefully, if the rain holds off (thunder clouds are rolling over the mountains at this point) I will get out this afternoon and get some new photos. In the mean time, here are photos of rocks.

The rocks around here are very neat. Some look like Canadian shield boulders, others look like mars rocks, and some are encrusted with quartz like these

The backyard

2007-05-07T07:52:00.000-05:00

Good morning everyone. I post this photo because I am procrastinating about running this morning, I think its about freezing outside and all I have are running shorts. Anyway, this is a photo of two deer that were outside my cabin the other afternoon. They were casually concerned with my presence but not at all jumpy like the white tailed deer in Ontario. I will post photos later of the resident deer Mollie, that was bottle raised, shes very friendly and likes to eat your pants. Hope you all have a good day.

Hummingbird Banding

2007-05-06T14:49:00.000-05:00

This photo about sums up the morning :) A hummingbird researcher let a vistor hold the bird for release after banding, this one was ready to take off as soon as it was let go, sometimes they will sit on your hand for a while after being handled.

I got up this morning at 5:10 inorder to participate in hummingbird banding. Every two weeks, a researcher comes to the station to catch and band the locals. The research station itself is an official site of the Hummingbird monitoring network, and as you can see by the photos Ive posted recently, there are plenty of hummingbirds around.

The adults are captured at the feeders, using a netting apparatus that can released by someone watching the feeders (thats what I was doing this morning). As the hummingbird is feeding, you can capture them within the netting where you then transfer them into small mesh bags for banding.

So I got to handle hummingbirds! They are so tiny and very warm (high metabolisms), some species are more squirmy than others. It was lots of fun and a neat experience, hopefully Ill get to help out in two weeks when the researcher returns.

Tiny life

2007-05-05T19:17:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, okay, so I promised that I would post photos that were not mountains or birds, however, I just have to show you all these two photos. Today I went out looking at hummingbird nests again and I had the opportunity to photograph some. So here they are, its amazing life can fit in such a tiny package!

And another even more amazing (yes, its alive!) Just hatched this morning!

A day of hummingbirds

2007-05-04T17:26:00.000-05:00

So today, I sat at the feeders and stared, just like all the other birders, but at least I got some good shots. They have about 5 feeders set up at the station so there is constant activity. The species here are pretty big compared to Ontarios Ruby throated hummingbirds.

I also helped a researcher who is here monitoring hummingbird nests. We had to measure nest heights which can be upwards of 10 metres. The nests are almost impossible to find (for me at least) as they look like tiny little bee hives sitting in the crooks of pine trees. Ill have to get better at finding them though because Ill be monitoring them for the presence of females over the next few weeks, wouldnt want to screw up the data.

My apologies to those of you who are tired of mountain and bird photos, I promise I will endeavor to capture other creatures, as there are plenty of them around. If you havent yet taken a look at my Flickr page, please do, there are other photos posted there (mostly of birds and mountains). Hope you all have a good evening

Nature meets closet

2007-05-04T13:24:00.000-05:00

This is one of the most pleasant things I could find in my closet, A Yarrow's Spiny Lizard.

Lizards and carwashes

2007-05-03T18:46:00.000-05:00

These lizards are everywhere, Im working on figuring out the species for those of you that care about that sort of thing. UPDATE: This is a Striped Plateau Lizard

My walk this morning was productive, I saw quite a few birds and there are local jays (banded of course) which are more than happy to pose for photos.

The birders around here are a bizzare bunch, apparently this is one of the best known places for birding in the US so it attracts all sorts of weirdos. I was walking up the road and two guys pulled up in a car asking if I knew where the Trogons were (similar to a parrot but not really). Four people came and sat near the hummingbird feeders for at least 5 hours, just....staring. Birders get this look in their eyes, they cant wait to see that species that they have been driving all over North America to find.

As for me, I began my volunteer duties today, setting up rooms for a big group coming in this weekend. We also got to wash the brand new van that was purchased using generous donations from a bunch of naturalists (who just happen to be visiting this weekend). Tonight Ill work on dinner.

So, thats about the gist of station life around here. Clean, Eat, Hike, Eat again. The food here is awesome by the way and theres plenty of it, so Ill have to keep my running up. And the weather here is great, it probably got up to about 32 C this afternoon, but the morning was almost cold, maybe 6 C, which is perfect for sleeping.

Wishing you all well until tomorrow

Good morning

2007-05-03T08:19:00.000-05:00

This is what I woke up to this morning at 5:30 am. I've already gone for a run and Im about to go shoot some photos. I think I may just stay on EST. Hope you all have a great day.

Bug guts on the window

2007-05-02T19:29:00.000-05:00

I made it to the research station at last, this photo (through the guts) is the entrance to the station. A rather incredible backyard.

So for all those I joked with about the Tucson-Douglas shuttle and the potential for livestock to be on it, well, there were no livestock, but SKETCH was written all over it. My flamboyant taxi cab driver (who waved his arms around a great deal while driving) dropped me off where the shuttle station was in Tucson. Most of the mall is closed and falling apart and a barbed wire fence lines the parking lot. The shuttle station is what appears to be a decomisioned ice cream stand where the guys selling the tickets no hablo englaise. So I asked a guy sitting outfront smoking a corn cob pipe snugly wedged between his remaining teeth, and surprisingly he gave me a discernable answer "yeerjestgointherandgertyertircket, theylerveroundnanthirty" Thanks friend.

The driver of the van was very entertaining however, and told me all about the United States and its injustices towards Mexicans, a topic Im not really an expert on, nor, as a skinny white chick, am I allowed to comment.

However, I made it safely to Douglas and the volunteer director was there to pick me up. We had a great mexican meal (mmm, green chilli burritos) and bought beer at Walmart (I got carded!!). The drive in was nice, and it was great to talk to someone that knows the land, plants and animals around these parts (hes a birder). I have spent the afternoon wandering around taking photos, which I will be posting on Flickr after dinner.

Tomorrow I will begin the volunteer duties, I get to clean dishes and rooms. But its only 4 hours a day. There arent too many researchers here yet, though apparently there is a hummingbird guy around, and we're going to go out banding this weekend (there are several species of hummingbird around these parts)

Until tomorrow friends, Goodnight

How much do I love flying?

2007-05-01T19:02:00.000-05:00

Hello all, and thanks for taking a look at my blog!

As you can see by the photograph, I made it to Tucson. The landscape here is totally amazing. You know when you lay down patio stones or two railway ties, and it rains, and all the sand flows out of the cracks? Thats what all of this landscape looks like. Mud, flowing red and brown mud. Its awesome!

The flight was rather uneventful, which is good I suppose. The only bit of excitement was at US customs, when I had to go to that second room, where they leave you to sit for an hour and wonder if you' ll get a cavity search. I watched as they went around tearing tags on peoples luggage because they werent going to make their flights, or perhaps never get on a plane at all. But, I flashed my new Masters degree and got past those homeland security dumbos. Lucky you, you get to read about my trip rather than see more pictures of my apartment.

Since I hardly ever do it, I forget how much I love flying. While everyone else is fiddling with their blackberry or reading a magazine, Im gripping the seats screaming with glee (inside my head) as jet fluel explodes out the back of the plane. Nothing quite like it. Makes me want to be an astronaut. As I read this, it sounds sarcastic, but really, I love flying.

Im sorry I could not add more, but its evening time inside my own body (though its only 5pm here) and all that screaming with glee inside my own head has worn me out. I will post more tomorrow when I get to the research station. If you care to see more of the world from above, take a look at my Flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/biting_flies

Cheers and goodnight

Packing

2007-04-30T08:18:00.000-05:00

After returning to my natural animal form I am set to go.

Its typical that I should start this blog out with a picture of my cat and the floor of my apartment. Makes that $700 lens so worth it. I promise, the photos will get more interesting.

I walked around the apartment with the bag on yesterday, and I suddenly felt like a stereotypical university student, going off to find myself or something. Falling asleep with textbooks on your stomach is also another way to find yourself, and significantly cheaper (though not by much with the books they put out now). I havent really done much travelling, could not afford it, and lets face it, I was more concerned with school. Still am really. But Im looking forward to new sights.

I hopefully will have a window seat on both flights tomorrow, from TO to Denver, and Denver to Tucson. I look forward to posting lots of airplane window shots, and perhaps I will get some shots of those pamphlets on emergency procedures which I always find endlessly amusing. Cheers until then

Howdy all

2007-04-28T10:26:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my new blog. I intend to use this mostly for attaching meandering thoughts to some of my photos from my trip to Arizona, but it may continue depending on my level of inspiration (and yours I suppose). The majority of my photos will be posted on my Flickr site, www.flickr.com/photos/biting_flies but I will add the talkable ones here. I hope you all enjoy the site, I will try and update it every day or so once I head to AZ, so check in often!