Yesterday

Besides badgers, here are some of the other sightings on yesterday's short walk in Sabino Canyon:

Lots of people at 6:00am...probably trying to beat the heat,

 but it was already hot and muggy!

jack rabbit

white-tailed deer

gopher snake crossing the road

snake climbing on the tree

striped tail

pyrrhuloxia, singing

agave

hummingbird

verdin on mesquite tree

palo verde seed pods

one...two...

three javelinas

That was more wildlife than I typically see in this area.

  It's usually quiet here except for the people.

Bye for now.  Have a great day!

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Badgers

This morning I saw three young American badgers.  I did the best I could taking pictures from the road, not wanting to move any closer and possibly scare them, and not knowing if their mother was nearby.

The badgers were under the shaggy mesquite tree on the left:

Two badgers were tumbling around playing with each other and one was digging, maybe foraging for small animals such as ground squirrels.

What a morning!  In addition to the badgers I also saw javelinas, deer, a jack rabbit and a large snake all before 7:00 am.

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Skywatching

Hi there! Here are some playful clouds from the morning of June 11th:

Random

Splashy

Backlit

Dry-brushed

Happy Bird Cloud

Stringy

Streaky

Meringue

See more skies at Skywatch Friday.  Have a nice weekend!

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White-winged Dove

up on a saguaro cactus:

In the last picture, the dove is not alone:

Click the picture to enlarge and find another bird who loves saguaro fruit. :)

I hope your day is sweet and easy!

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Saguaro Hearts

Saguaros keep on giving. After the cactus is done blooming, the fruit starts to look like tiny watermelons. Then the fruit splits open into flower or heart shapes depending on how you look at them.

Sometimes the entrance to a bird nest in a saguaro appears heart shaped.

Here's a random heart on a decaying saguaro boot.  A saguaro boot is the woody plant tissue of the saguaro nest cavity which remains long after the cactus dies.

It's hard to see, but after I uploaded the picture, I saw a tiny heart above the heart shaped cutout on the edge of the boot.

It's fun to discover random hearts!  See more hearts at Clytie's Random Hearts.

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Down to Earth

After three sky entries in a row on this blog, here are some things found on the desert floor. These pictures were not all taken the same day, they are from several different short nature walks over the past two weeks.

The barrel cactus is slowly falling to the ground...

Western Whiptail Lizard

Zebra-tailed Lizard

Desert Spiny

Desert Cottontail

Harris' Antelope Ground Squirrel

Round-tailed Ground Squirrel

Roadrunner

Gambel's Quail

Marine Blue Butterfly - female

The remains of a fallen Saguaro cactus fruit...

This last one is from our garden, oleander leaves and blossoms covering the pathway before being raked:

Have a wonderful week!

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