Blog

Good Old Rock, Nothing Beats That

A common side-blotched lizard perches on a boulder in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona. Original: _A672027.ARW

The mating strategy of common side-blotched lizards is referred to as rock-paper-scissors as, like the childhood game, each of the three strategies tends to win over one but is often defeated by the other. This one has chosen rock, which is good as rock always wins.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm+1.4X
🗓️: May 11, 2024

Solar Powered

A black-and-white photo of our dog Bear lying in the sun on the carpet of our living room on February 16, 2025. Original: _Z723907.NEF

A desert dog needs his time in the sun to recharge.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-70 f/4
🗓️: February 16, 2025

Looking for the Easter Bunny

A Harris' hawk perches on a saguaro on a cloudy spring afternoon on the Latigo Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 13, 2025. Original: _A678444.ARW

A week ago the temperature late in the day was predicted to be right on the border of where I won’t take Bear hiking, so I took him for a long neighborhood walk in the morning and went out by myself in the afternoon. I do enjoy being able to go slowly and soak in all the details of the desert but it makes me sad to hike without my buddy, so this was only the second time this year I went alone.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm+1.4X
🗓️: April 13, 2025

The Tortoise & The Bear

The Tortoise & The Bear.

I finally saw my first desert tortoise! I love seeing how Bear reacts to new species but he wasn’t remotely interested in the blinking boulder, soaking up the warmth before the sun dipped behind the McDowells. They join bobcats and (initially) rattlesnakes on Bear’s list of “yeah, whatever”. Apart from The Elephant, it’s the only animal I’ve met in the desert who might be older than me.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-70 f/4
🗓️: April 6, 2025

Missing Entries

A black-and-white shot of a distant Weaver’s Needle as shadows fall across the foothills. Taken in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 19, 2023. Original: _RAC4307.ARW

A telephoto snapshot of Weaver’s Needle when I was teaching Bear to hike and having fun documenting how different it was compared to walking Ellie in Portland. I looked in my hiking journal to see if I had any notes about the day but there was a big gap, with the next entry coming a month later noting “I’ve been hiking a ton since December, but they have been dog walks with Bear in the preserve and I haven’t been documenting them. Which is a shame, and I regret it.”

From then on I wrote up our walks in the desert just like any hike, which is fortunate as almost all of them since have been with him.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm + 1.4X
🗓️: February 19, 2023