September Summary

Blue Passion Flower by Kathiesbirds

The summer ended quickly with so much going on. For me the days have flown like autumn leaves on the wind. My blue passion flower blossomed, then the blooms faded on the vine. Now the vine itself is whithering and fading like the year. Autumn is upon us, and with it cooler nights. Yet still the days are sunny and hot with dry winds that burnish the grasses brown and the seed heads flaxen. I see them blowing in this autumn wind outside my window, tossing like the mane of a golden palomino galloping at full speed. Autumn in Arizona is a wild thing!

Can it be only a month ago that Xavier came to play in the water in my backyard?

Can it be only a month ago that this gopher snake showed up on the same day and scared me for his safety until I was sure it wasn't a rattlesnake? I went to turn off the hose and found this creature coming out of the drainage pipe. I grabbed my grandson and quickly put him safely inside the house, then came back out to see if I needed to call the Fire Department to come relocate the snake. The slender head and mild temperment let me know I and the child were safe. The bulge in the snake's belly led me to believe it had crawled up the pipe and eaten some rodent who had taken refuge in the cool dark tunnel. Alas, not such a good idea for the rodent, but for me, this jeweled beauty did me a favor!


In this month of September a lark sparrow bashed into my picture window. It sat stunned on my patio table, but eventually flew off. I can only hope it lived.



On International Turkey Vulture Day this bird flew down to devour the carcass of a snake killed the night before by a vehicle as it crossed the road...




...and then, as if to drive home the point that I live in a truly wild place, this tarantula walked across the brick patio on evening, as casual as can be.

It has been a busy month here in Sycamore Canyon. The bird populations are changing. I have not seen a purple martin or a white-winged dove in awhile. I have spent all month monitoring the Lesserlong-nosed bats but I believe they have finally migrated south for the winter. The hummingbirds are still here, but most of the black-chins are gone. A few rufous hummingbirds still linger, while the population of Costa's is increasing.

Earlier this month Blossom got the all clear from the vet. Shortly before her last appointment the scabs fell off her rump and once they were gone her "happy tail" came back. She can now curl it completely over her back again. We are so glad to see it wagging once again.

I just returned today from spending 3 days and nights in Maricopa where I did birding presentations for six 7th grade classes. This was my first time doing this, and I ran out of time before I ran out of things to say! Of course, I went birding in my spare time and took lots of photos which I will post as soon as I unpack, clean house, rest, and upload them. I found quite a few new places to bird. I know it has been a long time since I have been around to see everybody. I hope to get to some of that this week. Until then,

Happy Autumn Everyone!

Now, lets bring on October and all the winter birds!

And that's...

MY WORLD Tuesday

Snakes, Doves, and a Black-crowned Night Heron

It’s definitely Spring here in Sycamore Canyon for the snakes are on the move. Gus and I saw a beautiful salmon-colored snake about 4-feet long as it crossed the road in front of our vehicle here in Corona de Tucson on Monday. We stopped our car to watch it pass as it was taking its own sweet time. Once again, I was without my camera! Soon we saw other vehicles approaching from the opposite direction and Gus flashed his lights to warn them to slow down, but that must not be a universally accepted signal here in Arizona for no one did. I was about to jump out of the car and stand in the road to protect the snake, but apparently it felt the vibrations and picked up the pace, for it slithered quickly off into the desert.

We’ve been busy for the past 10 days with grandchildren visiting from Maine. At ages 3 and 5 it was the first time my grandchildren have flown on a plane or left New England. How much fun it was to see the desert through their young eyes. At their ages they were more interested in playgrounds than anything else, but we did manage to get to the Sonoran Desert Museum and the Reid Park Zoo. Brooklyn, the 5-year old was captivated by all the animals and spent much of her time trying to pet birds and squirrels. She wasn’t successful but she gave it her best effort. Trey loved playgrounds the most and we visited one almost every day.

Last night was their last night here and for the first time we discovered a snake in our backyard. At about 2 feet long the slender body had a narrow head and no rattles on its tail. Still, the pattern was reminiscent of a rattlesnake, so we were cautious. My oldest son, G, was visiting from Coolidge and he captured the snake in a bucket with some barbeque tongs. We simply dumped it over the wall back into the desert but I had to know what kind of snake it was. So, though supper was ready, I turned on the computer and searched for Snakes in Arizona. I found this great web site with the snake patterns indicated next to the species names. You just look for the pattern and click on the link and it takes you to a complete description of the reptile you are searching for. In this way I discovered my backyard snake was a Gopher snake and non-venomous. I believe the long salmon colored snake was a Coachwhip snake. Finding the snake in the yard is one more encouragement to get a piece of screening to put over the drainage hole in the block wall. After that the yard will be pretty much sealed up and a snake will have to climb the walls to get in. I really don’t want to find any rattlers in my back yard!

On Tuesday, May 6, we visited Reid Park and Reid Park Zoo. It was our first time visiting the zoo, which, though small, is nicely laid out with many impressive animals. The kids also loved a small splash area near the otters called “Kenya Get Wet”. It didn’t matter that they were fully clothed, they splashed away anyway. With the dry Tucson air it wasn’t long before their clothes dried either. Along with all the zoo animals there are two walk through aviaries with exotic birds from around the world, but the artificial habitat created by the lush trees and artificial streams also draws many of our native birds to the zoo. As a result, we saw a Black-crowned Night Heron in a wooded area near some water, and an Inca dove feeding on the ground beneath a bird feeder suspended from a tree. The Inca dove was feeding with a flock of house sparrows and you can really get a good idea of their size in relation to that common bird. Inca doves are quite small. You can see their all over scaly pattern in this picture.

Well, in another area I found these two small doves with a somewhat scaly pattern roosting on the ground. I thought at first they might be more Inca doves but they had the spots of mourning doves. So, then I thought they might be Common Ground Doves, but after consulting my field guides I realized these were simply juvenile mourning doves. Ground doves would be ruddy colored underneath their wings, and these weren’t, plus, ground doves also have a pinkish or orange-ish base to their bills and these clearly don’t.

Gus took all the pictures at the zoo and I have to confess, this one is my favorite. I’m including it here, simply because I love the feathers. Can you guess what bird it is? Enjoy!