Invisible Woman

urban birdlife

My newest bird-related fascination is photographing birds in urban settings. There are a few citified spots in Tempe that provide some reliable birdwatching. This was the highlight of yesterday's visit... a young Red-tailed Hawk, launching from atop a metal light fixture, seen between the blurry horizontal cables of a pedestrian railing.

Here's another shot of what I believe to be the same hawk, taken several weeks ago:

You can see more of my urban birds here on Flickr; it's a set in constant progress, with most recent photos first.

  

wild, wild turkeys!

For several weeks before Thanksgiving, son Chris had been occasionally seeing a pair of very large brown birds at the edge of the woods bordering a business park across the street from his northern VA apartment. He described the birds to me, but I was drawing a complete blank.

Until I finally saw them myself, it had never occurred to me that they could be Wild Turkeys.

I first saw them on Thanksgiving Eve, and then again several times during the holiday weekend. They were very shy, so I photographed them using the car as a blind, since they seemed accustomed to passing vehicles.

This photo taken in the nearby business park's lot gives a better idea of the size of the bird, compared to a small SUV -- they're surprisingly large!

Finding these turkeys was an unexpected and timely discovery that topped off an extremely fun Thanksgiving weekend with our family. Wish they would hang around to become part of the annual tradition!

  

at the zoo

For some reason, maybe autumnal blahs (even in Phoenix, a change of seasons triggers mixed emotions) I've had little blog inspiration/inclination over the past few weeks...

At any rate, getting back into my photo groove, here are a few shots from last Saturday when we spent some time at an event at the Phoenix Zoo.

At this stage of my life (i.e. arguably older & wiser) zoos definitely tend to break my heart, and this is why -- a pair of one of creation's most beautiful creatures, with little more than a high feeder of fresh grass to look forward to each day.

So the theory goes: our society loves and protects the animals we see at the zoo.

But imagine being confined to your house/yard (however beautiful and comfortable) for your ENTIRE life! No trips for socializing or vacationing or exploration.

Just your tiny patch of earth, day after day after day.

That's what we do to these magnificent zoo animals.

Same feed bin, same fences, same tiny realm, every day, forever.

Makes me just want to cry.