Little Ones

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

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.

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

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

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..

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

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!