Blog

If I Could Drive 1000 Miles

My 2020 Lexus UX 250h is parked on a rainy afternoon at George Doc Cavalliere Park in Scottsdale, Arizona in February 2020

After a month of ownership the Lexus tipped past the 1000 mile mark on the way home from work yesterday. Life is different here, there were occasional times in Portland that would have been a year’s driving for me (most years I drove double or triple that). I upgraded the car for several reasons but I hoped to improve my fuel economy in the process, which was harder than it sounds as my Subaru was getting 32 MPG (about 30.5 in the summer). I expected the little hybrid to beat that but I wasn’t sure by how much given the nature of my commute, but thankfully it’s improved my fuel economy by about a third. This picture is from Saturday, we got heavy rains in the morning but it began to clear in the afternoon so I paid a quick visit to a little city park near our house I hadn’t visited yet, George “Doc” Cavalliere Park.

Singing Soaptree Stalks

A curve-billed thrasher sings from a soaptree yucca flower stalk on a sunny winter morning on the Brown's Ranch Road trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona in January 2020

When I think of flower stalks I think of the delicate stems of the wildflowers I’d see on hikes through most of my life, like daisies or columbine or fairly slippers. The soaptree yucca, on the other hand, has a towering stalk that’s thick at the base like a tree limb before tapering into thin branches at the top. Even so it is a testament to how impossibly light birds are that this bedraggled thrasher only slightly depressed its perch as it sang on a sunny winter morning.

I, Cat Bed

Our cat Boo sleeps on my legs while I rest on the couch, taken on the morning of Christmas Eve in December 2019

I’ve posted a similar picture of Boo before and while this one is from Christmas Eve I could have taken many more like it, as since the fall our sometimes snuggler has been my constant companion. Sometimes sleeping on my legs or behind my head, his favorite is to wedge himself in tight between me and the edge of the couch, where he sleeps now. He’s always changed his sleeping positions over time, and I suspect when the long Phoenix winter relents and releases its icy grip he will return to more southerly regions, with their view from Boo Boxes of backyard birds and the mountains beyond. Until then I’ll enjoy every minute with our philosopher goofball, even if it makes for a crowded couch when all three cats come calling.

Morning Greetings

In the blue light before the sun was up, a northern mockingbird perches on the flower stalk of a soaptree yucca at the Brown's Ranch Trailhead in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona in February 2020

With a headache not yet relenting I was delighted to be greeted as soon as I stepped off the parking lot by the songs of a mockingbird, perched on the flower stalk of a soaptree yucca. Technically the sun had risen but it would be a little while before it cleared the mountains and bathed us in its warm light. For now the mocker and I enjoyed the cool and the blue of the waking desert. I tore myself away in time to reach my target for the morning, a ladder-backed woodpecker, just as the sun arrived.

A black-and-white version of a northern mockingbird perching on the flower stalk of a soaptree yucca at the Brown's Ranch Trailhead in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona in February 2020

The Headache Cure

A male ladder-backed woodpecker looks back at the rising sun from atop a dead tree on the Chuckwagon Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona in February 2020

I woke Saturday morning with a massive headache, initially hoping to fall back asleep but eventually getting up for a gentle hike. On the short drive to the trail the western sky hung on to its pink and purple hues as sunrise approached. Seeking ladder-backed woodpeckers, I arrived at the dead tree where I saw a male last week seconds after the sun cleared the mountains (I would have beat the sun but I got distracted by a mockingbird). He was already in the tree so to put the sun at my back I walked past quickly and quietly, too nervous to even look up to see if he remained. Remained he had, perched at the top before sidling down and hammering into the branches.

My hike was gentle but much longer than planned, my headache fading perhaps from post-woodpecker euphoria or perhaps the Ibuprofen. All the while serenaded by wrens and thrashers and flickers and sparrows as we shared the morning glory.

Double Perched

A pair of American kestrels perch on the tallest saguaro in the area while a Harris's antelope squirrel sits atop the rocks below, taken on the Latigo Trail in the Brown's Ranch area of McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona in February 2020. Original: _CAM9341.arw

A male and female kestrel share a perch high atop the tallest saguaro on a cold winter’s morning in the Sonoran Desert. I was able to watch kestrels in the Pacific Northwest, on rare occasion at very close distances, but there they tended to hover in place above the meadow while looking for prey below, while here the old giants give them a similar viewpoint from a sitting position. On the rocks below them is a Harris’s antelope squirrel, keeping an eye on the neighborhood. It wasn’t bothered by the kestrels, I suppose it’s too big to be carried off by the little falcons. Scattered around are smaller saguaros of various ages and sizes, with a barrel cactus in the middle.