Boolie

Green Valleys

I have this romantic notion of photographing every saguaro I can see from the trails, however there are a lot more of them than there are of me so until that changes I’ll have to settle for my favorites. I’ve had my eye on this saguaro for a while, in this little area the skin has hardened around the areoles but deep in the pleats the skin remains supple. While the Valley of the Sun isn’t known for being green, Portland certainly was, and for me the hardened skin looming over the soft flesh is an homage to the lush Willamette Valley nestled beneath the Cascades, the few areoles with spikes sticking out standing in for the occasionally irritable volcanoes.

The Night Owls

Two night owls, one on each side of the camera. One of us has excellent vision, one of us doesn’t get dizzy when standing on a high ledge, both think mushrooms and green beans are disgusting. My favorite image from a set right as a mountain started to block the setting sun.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: November 21, 2023

At Least Bear Thinks I’m Funny

Bear and I enjoying a water break at The Amphitheater.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 16-55mm f/2.8
🗓️: November 22, 2023

Goodnight Kiss

A little last light at day’s end kisses the McDowells goodnight.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-200mm
🗓️: October 8, 2022

Pup in Boots

A few days ago I took Bear on a short hike in dog shoes to see how he’d do, it took him a couple of tenths of a mile to find his stride but then it was full steam ahead. Whenever we hike this trail he stops for a while to watch the metallic animal sculptures placed in the desert, the mountain lion in particular confuses him as the shape suggests danger when his nose is clearly telling him there is none.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony-Zeiss 24mm f/1.8
🗓️: November 25, 2023

Lovers in a Dangerous Time

A pair of mourning doves on a crucifixion thorn, one of the most common desert birds and unlike the white-winged dove, year-round residents.

Small Cat, Big Bed

Trixie snoozing in Bear’s bed in the spring of last year.

Who Can It Be Knocking At My Door?

As arctic conditions grip the desert with overnight lows in the 40’s and 50’s, a throwback to a cold New Year’s Day in 2011 when I was watching a bittern work a frozen channel on the auto tour at Ridgefield. Unfortunately for the vole living its best life in the tall grasses, a bittern neither knocks nor cares if you answer. In some ways they remind me of roadrunners here in the desert, both relentless hunters with diverse palettes relying on surprise, the bitterns via stealth, roadrunners via speed.

📷: Canon 7D | Canon 100-400mm
🗓️: January 1, 2011

Symbiosis

Sperm whales often sleep vertically with their heads below the surface but here they poke their heads above the desert floor, providing antelope squirrels protection from their many predators while relying on them as lookouts for orcas or peg-legged hikers with a look of mania about them.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: November 21, 2023

Surprise Test

Though I see them frequently in the neighborhood I rarely see roadrunners in the local preserve and have never photographed one there. So of course as I took a quick hike to test out a camera so newly arrived I hadn’t yet set it up to my liking, the first animal I see is a roadrunner posing on a boulder. So lovely to see, as their name implies while they can fly they prefer to walk, and can really scoot when they want to.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: November 21, 2023