Return to Silver Peak

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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.