Invisible Woman

Daily Bird & Bonus: May 28

    Male Costa's Hummingbird in the backyard, 5/28/12.

This brilliant little guy has been ruling the backyard recently, though not without frequent challenges from several other hummingbirds. He kept us company today and was content to share the patio with us for awhile.

And my bonus sighting this afternoon was a 4-legged fellow often heard but rarely seen from our backyard...

A  healthy-looking coyote, who wandered up out of the wash behind our property and out into the desert preserve. As soon as he noticed me watching him, he took off.

 

fiddling around with photo filters

 The 100+ degree days of summer in Phoenix are at least temporarily upon us. This heat chases me inside for more of the day where I find myself at the computer, tinkering with photos -- instead of being outside, taking more photos.

This morning I've been playing with this image I took yesterday, above with the usual basic crop & edits that most of my photos get -- mainly contrast & sharpening adjustments after first cropping for a balanced image.

 

This version has a filter applied that simulates Polaroid film with highlights blown.

 

This version applies an additional filter that simulates a faded old film and adds a darker vignette.

 

This version adds a final additional filter that further fades colors other than red.

 

And this version replaces the final filter in the previous photo with one that applies a sepia/blue color-toned effect in lieu of the non-red fading.

If you're curious about what the original  image looked like fresh from the camera with no cropping or editing, here it is...

Not even my copyright ID tag added.

Playing with filters and other effects is a good antidote to cabin fever, but be careful -- it can gobble up as much time as Facebook or Pinterest or Words With Friends -- so proceed with caution!

   

Daily Bird & Bunny Rescue: May 16

    This morning began with a rescue. Our poolman Paul came for his weekly visit and immediately retrieved this wee Desert Cottontail from the bottom of the pool. It was still alive, so Paul set it under a nearby shrub and then alerted me.

Initially I searched for a rabbit nest, but then realized that if it had gotten water in its lungs, it needed medical treatment. So I consulted Liberty Wildlife's information page which said to put the animal in a box on a warm heating pad. I brought in the baby, dried it as thoroughly as I could, and placed it on clean towel in a warmed shoebox while I awaited a callback for dropoff instructions from Liberty.

By the time I got a call with directions to bring it in, the baby bunny had perked up considerably. It took about an hour to get to the Scottsdale facility, so I kept the warm heating pad under its box during the drive. One last peek showed the little bunny dry and hiding in the corner, which told me it was well enough for its self-protective instincts to have kicked in.

I hope it survives and has a happy, hoppy wild life.

Upon returning to the car, which I'd parked on the street in front of the facility, I noticed a dark shape in a huge neighboring pine. I moved up the street a bit, grabbed camera and binocs, and discovered today's daily bird...

a spectacular Harris's Hawk, in Scottsdale near Liberty Wildlife, 5/16/12.

It felt like Mother Nature was patting me on the back.

 

Daily Birds: May 7 & 8

Okay, I'm turning into a daily bird slacker -- yesterday I was mildly under the weather, and again took no photos whatsoever.

So today I offer two goodies, this first one from last week, to make up for yesterday...

Harris's Hawk on a power pole, near the Salt River, 5/3/12.

The Harris's Hawks seem to favor power poles as perches. Often these birds take off when I stop the car to try to photograph them, but this one held its ground.

And the next photo is from this morning, a true daily bird...

(and if you're reptile-squeamish, fair warning, don't look!)

 

A Red-Tailed Hawk atop a saguaro with a non-venomous Red Racer (Coachwhip) snake wrapped around its neck.

Probably the hawk caught the snake and brought it up to the saguaro top for lunch, but in any event, the snake had other ideas. The hawk appeared to have the snake's front half firmly in its talons, but the snake had gotten its tail end up around the hawk's neck and tied a little loop.

After a few minutes of mutual struggle, the hawk took off and the snake fell to the ground. The hawk seemed fine afterwards -- it landed on another saguaro. Not sure if the snake could have survived the 25 foot drop, but I wasn't about to investigate!

 

Finally!

 

Long-overdue updates and links to my Flickr slideshows have been posted in the right sidebar. Newest photos are always added at the beginning of each slideshow, so you don't have to watch reruns! Hope you enjoy.

Daily Bird: April 28

    Three Burrowing Owls at Zanjero Park in Gilbert, 4/28/12.

The Desert Rivers Audubon chapter, the Town of Gilbert and Wild at Heart have partnered to develop a new Burrowing Owl habitat at Zanjero Park. This site is intended as a home for relocated/rescued Burrowing Owls. It also has perimeter burrows for local Burrowing Owls, or perhaps for the offspring of the relocated inhabitants.

This morning, the tent sheltering 5 male and 5 female BOs was removed after several weeks' acclimation period. It is hoped that these owls will pair up and make the man-made burrows their permanent homes. Already, one pair has an egg in a burrow, based on a videoscoping report. But at this point, human interventions recede and the owls are mainly to be observed.

I went to the park at sunset this evening for my first visit, expecting other owl nerds to be there, but I had the place all to myself! With my trusty 70-300mm zoom, I was able to get photos from the path without getting too close to the owls. Still, they were obviously aware of my presence.

Hopefully, as they become more accustomed to their new digs, they will feel safe to move about their habitat more. It's a lovely little desert park. And their burrows are very functional, but not terribly photogenic!

 

fringe benefits of birding in AZ...

This past Monday, I went out to the Salt River area in search of feathered friends.

Along the way, I also encountered some new 4-legged friends, grazing silently along the trail.

We hung out for awhile; I took photos while they settled into snacking. Finally I thought it best to move on and leave them to their wildness.

To my surprise, they followed me. They even lined themselves up for this lovely farewell photo before heading down to the riverbed.

I've made a Flickr set of my wild horse encounter from start to finish. You can see the slideshow here or click through the set starting here.

I still can hardy believe it was real.

 

Surprise! Suburban Sheep

 Yesterday's daily bird was just a hint at the surprising discovery I made when I went for a morning visit to the Great Blue Herons' nest tree.

There were just a few herons in the tree, a venerable old eucalyptus that sits in the middle of a farm field, hosting probably a dozen or so nests.

But behold, a consolation -- the adjoining field was newly full of grazing sheep!

This spot is a relatively new photo haunt for me, so I don't know if perhaps sheep are part of this tiny farm's regular annual cast of characters.

The herons' nest farm (my name for it) is tucked in between a good-sized shopping center and an established suburban residential neighborhood. Maybe the owner was a holdout to the area's developers?

Not that there aren't plenty of farms around Phoenix, but usually farms are farms and suburbia is suburbia. Or sometimes you see areas in transition. But I don't commonly see farms situated in isolation as this one is. 

The sheep were a delightful discovery, especially the babies with their moms. Most of the flock were adults but some looked younger, and there were a few wobbly-legged little ones like these.

It was fun just to hang out and watch them for awhile.

And I enjoyed watching them watch me, too.

*     *     *     *     *

Not sure how long this flock will be at the farm (doesn't look like there's enough grass there to graze on for very long) but I'll be checking on them now and then. Photos will be on my growing Suburban Sheep Flickr set, slideshow here, or click through the set yourself here. As usual, newest photos will appear first.

  

Daily Bird: January 15

Female Boat-tailed Grackle with a wooly farm friend, 1/15/12.

 

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.