A Magical Moment

The moment is well past but unfortunately life does tend to put a crimp in my blogging time. In the spirit of 'better late than never' I just had to make sure that the moment of snow in the desert did not pass without a post.

 It was a brief thing. It began snowing on Wednesday, settled a gentle white blanket over the land which was still draped when I jumped out of bed before sunrise on Thursday morning to take these pictures, and an hour after the sun came up it was gone, as if a figment of an over active imagination.

We are used to seeing the mountains behind our land capped with white at this time of year but it is extremely rare for the snow to make it down to us.

It is amazing to see an area that is usually a dry, hot environment, briefly transformed into a winter wonderland.

This is definitely my type of snow, around just long enough to take a few photos and then gone!

These photo memories, along with the ones of the wonderful winter rains we have been having will soothe our heated souls when the desert summer heat takes hold.

Next post I am going back to basics to try and get my blog back on track.

Turf Wars

I have done numerous posts about the tyrannical Broad-billed Hummingbird that has staked out the area around the southwest corner of our house over the past couple of years. Because he is such a permanent fixture my husband has started referring to him as Twigman because he can always be found on the exact same twig outside my husbands office window. Well Twigman has somehow stuck and now visitors to our house know exactly who we are talking about when we mention him.

To say he is a feisty character would be an understatement. We get regularly scolded when we venture into his domain as does any other living thing. Over time he has gotten used to having his photo taken on a regular basis and will sometimes pose obligingly. At other times he glares fiercely at the lens

And on a number of occasions he has stuck his tongue out!!

However there is one flaw in Twigmans plan for world domination - he doesn't get up in the morning.
Whenever you read about hummingbirds it always talks about how they become active around sunrise. The urgent drive to refuel those tiny bodies means that they are usually one of the first bird species that you see in the morning. Well clearly Twigman hasn't read the literature as we rarely ever see him before about nine thirty, ten o'clock in the morning!
There are several other individuals who are taking full advantage of this chink in the iridescent armour of Twigman. The feeder outside our guestroom is frequented by a pair of Anna's Hummingbirds. 
  

They have learnt to feast early before the slothful tyrant awakens and even later they will take full advantage of their numerical advantage to sneak a drink.

 The copper feeder outside the kitchen window also has a pair of Anna's that swoop in when ever Twigman is busy chasing someone else!
 

And perhaps most surprisingly of all, a diminutive female Costa's Hummingbird has managed to take over the feeder outside the back porch single-handedly.

So if you have a plan to take over the world - remember, in order to be successful, you have to get up in the morning!

The 'Mini' Monsoon?

When the desert seasons behave as they should, we are supposed to have a mini monsoon season during December, sometimes running into January but the mini monsoon has failed to materialise in the last few years. These rains are gentler and less intense than the main monsoon that marks the end of the hottest time of the year (in theory!)
We had been watching today's forecast for a while as it had promised rain, beginning during the night and then carrying on throughout most of the day. Sure enough in the early hours I was awakened by the sound of a steady drumming of rain on the roof. Nothing too severe, just a good steady rain that would allow all the desert plants to drink well.
When I got up at sunrise it was still raining but warm enough to sit outside and watch the animals slowly appearing, seemingly impervious to the rain as they went about there morning routine. First the quails came to the quail block, then the antelope squirrel, the House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches led a cavalcade of avian visitors to the various seed feeders whilst masses of hummingbirds swooped and buzzed around the nectar feeders.
Then the rain stopped and we started doing various chores around the yard. At one point I paused and happened to look to the south. 'Looks like another storm is headed our way.' We carried on working for a little while longer before we felt the first fat drops falling and scurried for cover. Then down it came!

The local Native Americans call the winter rains the female rains and the heavy summer rains are the male rains but today things got a little turned around and we ended up with what would normally classify as a good summer down pour. Within a couple of minutes the rain barrel was overflowing, quite literally.

And the down pipes had turned into a raging cascade!
 

We sheltered under the back porch watching the deluge before finally giving up and scuttling inside.

It wasn't long before the garden path outside the kitchen window began to turn into a stream.

And then into a slightly bigger stream,

And then into a river!

But then just as rapidly as it had approached us, the storm moved away, leaving the mountains behind us swathed in mysterious swirls of mist and cloud.

Slowly the river turned back into a stream

And the rain began to empty onto our neighbours to the east.

Not exactly a gentle winter rain but that is Mother Nature for you - she'll always keep you guessing.

Santa Likes Goldfinches!

One of my favourite things is watching the Lesser Goldfinches on their nyjer seed feeders. Compared to the other birds they are so polite, happily sharing the feeder, all feasting away in close proximity and not wasting precious energy chasing each other away.

So imagine my delight on Christmas morning when I discovered that Santa had given the Goldfinches an upgrade. Their feeder had been replaced by one twice as big!

Twice the feeders means twice the Goldfinches - perfect.

Kitchen Window Birding

It is COLD! Usually at this time of year the gulf stream dips down round the great lake region delivering an icy blast direct from Canada to folks in the Midwest. But just to be different, the gulf stream is currently way further west and bringing a big chill right into the Southwest.
The birds are eating a lot in order to fend off this cold weather and it is a full time job keeping all the feeders filled. I have several feeders outside my kitchen window so I can still enjoy my feathered friends even when I don't feel like braving the elements.

The Cardinal and the Pyrrhuloxia usually visit together. One will fly in, grab a couple of seeds and then be chased off by the other and so they go back and forth, back and forth.

The Northern Mockingbird pushes all the other birds away when he visits and stands proud to have his meal.

But even the mockingbird takes cover when this guy swoops in.

All these photos were taken at my kitchen sink - very distracting and guaranteed to make washing the dishes take twice as long!

Refreshment

Happy New Year everyone.
It is a rare thing indeed to fall asleep to the sound of steady rain falling on the roof when you live in the desert but this week that is exactly what happened. In the morning we woke up to a washed, refreshed, rejuvenated world. It was still raining and the mountains were swathed in mist.

Later as the mist cleared we could see just how close down the snow had come. Phew, that was close!

All the plants were draped in precious jewels of water. True wealth in the desert. Worth more than all the diamonds in the world and so much more beautiful.

You could almost imagine that you could see the cacti swelling as they absorbed all the delicious water. What a wonderful treat. Rest assured, when we hit the hottest part of the year I will be posting some more pictures from this morning just to cool myself down!

The Best of 2012

Sorry for the long absence, you know how it is once the build-up to Christmas kicks in, everything else tends to fall by the wayside. Anyway here I am, having survived the festivities, reviewing the year which is about to draw to an end. I did this last year and was able to be very disciplined, selecting one image for each category. This year I have not been so good but what the hell! I like all these images so here they are..........

First off plants, well sort of. One fungus, one lichen and one old friend that I wanted to commemorate before he returned to the earth.
This fungus literally popped up over night during the rains and it just struck me as so incongruous in the middle of the desert.

I am a sucker for lichens, they are so fascinating and take so many different forms. It makes me inordinately happy to have them flourishing in my yard.

 

My old friend is an ancient saguaro skeleton who often keeps me company as I watch the sun slide below the horizon. He is a very good listener so I wanted to include him even though, strictly speaking, he is no more.

And so onto those without backbone. I know my entomologist friends will feel jipped that I have clumped so many thousands into one but hey, my blog, my rules :)
This Ant Lion was right outside my front door one morning. It's a good job I took the photo when I did because five minutes later when I checked on him he was being devoured by a spider!

For many bugs are the stuff of nightmares and when you see this character you can kind of understand why! This is a Robber Fly and he is pretty much as nasty as he looks!

Mammals next. For cuteness it is hard to beat the diminutive Pocket Mouse. This one had just finished hoovering up crumbs from a granola bar that Dominick had eaten. Check out his stuffed little cheek pouches!

I have always maintained that the Harris's Antelope Squirrel was my favourite mammal but this little fellow runs a very close second. The Round Tailed Ground Squirrel is a very shy character and it took me hours of patience to get this shot.

For reptiles I have chosen the same individual as last year, just because she is so beautiful. This is Stumpy, our resident Gopher Snake.

 

For pure showiness the Desert Spiny Lizard is tough to beat. How could any self-respecting female lizard possibly resist this handsome chap?

A new entry in the reptilian arena this year and an absolute gem was this gorgeous Western Banded Gecko who ventured out one night during the monsoon season when I was lucky enough to be around.

The amphibian division is represented once again by the statuesque Sonoran Desert Toad. This particular individual decided to take a swim in my pool so I had to fish him out and rinse him off. Hopefully he didn't absorb too much chlorine.

And so finally to our feathered friends (fish don't really show up too often in my yard unless they are on our barbecue - sorry ichthyologists!) First off the terror of the skies for all the little birds, our friendly neighbourhood Coopers Hawk who likes to sit outside my kitchen window looking as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Until you notice the feather belonging to his last victim attached to his beak!

And of course the true tyrant of my yard - The Broad-billed Hummingbird who reminds us all at every opportunity just who this land really belongs to.........

I have mentioned many times how much I enjoy photographing the Thrashers and this is one of my favourite photos of them this year.

Another personal favourite, the Pyrrhuloxia a wonderful subject to photograph

So that is it, another year in review. I hope that 2013 is filled with everything you wish for and don't forget to look at the wonderful world around you, it will never fail to astound.
HAPPY NEW YEAR.