Tag: Arizona

Pup in Boots

Our dog Bear sits while wearing dog shoes on the Camino Campana Interpretive Trial in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 25, 2023. Orignal: _A671173.ARW

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

Symbiosis

A Harris's antelope squirrel looks out from a boulder in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 21, 2023. Original: _A670099.ARW

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

A greater roadrunner perches on a rock in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 21, 2023. Original: _A670090.ARW

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

Morning Prayers

A Harris's hawk silhouetted on saguaro blossoms at sunrise, surrounded by bees. Taken on the Latigo Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 10, 2023. Original: _RAC6918.ARW

A Harris’s hawk silhouetted on saguaro blossoms at sunrise, surrounded by bees. A feeding frenzy often follows when the giants bloom though I didn’t get that sense so much this year. To be fair I wasn’t able to get up early very often on the weekends this spring, on this occasion I struggled to sleep and decided to make the best of it. It was a planned short hike, soon it was back home to join my wife and Bear for a hike in a county park.

📷: Sony A6600 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: June 10, 2023

The Sonoran Alligator

Patterns in a fallen saguaro remind me of an alligator, taken on the Cone Mountain Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 9, 2023. Originals: _Z720577.NEF to _Z720612.NEF

I’ve seen several new species this year while walking Bear, from a gray fox to a chuckwalla to this, the Sonoran alligator. Like it’s cousin in the marshes and swamps of the American South, our desert variety has eyes and nostrils at the top of its head, allowing it to lay still submerged beneath the desert floor. It was quite relaxed around Bear as the wildlife strangely often are, it smiled for the camera and showed off its fearsome maw but it was more curious than alarmed. Even so when I heard its stomach rumble I made my apologies and we continued down the path.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 105mm macro
🗓️: November 9, 2023

The Sonoran Squid

A dying cholla that looks (to me) like a squid sits in front of a landscape destroyed by fire on the Saguaro Nest Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on September 29, 2023. Original: _Z729570.NEF

Normally I enjoy seeing new species but this one made me sad as the only reason I saw my first Sonoran squid was because a fire destroyed its habitat. It still has a little green, as does the barrel cactus and saguaro behind it, but they are the walking dead.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 105mm macro
🗓️: September 29, 2023

Where a Desert Once Stood

A look east towards Four Peaks after an earlier forest fire burned the area, including a dying saguaro. Taken on the Saguaro Nest Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on September 29, 2023. Original: _Z729557.NEF.

This summer as I left work far in the distance I saw greenish smoke that usually means the desert is burning. The closer I got to home the closer the fire seemed to home and indeed as I cleared Troon Mountain I could see smoke billowing from the part of the preserve where Bear and I often walk. We prepared to evacuate but didn’t have to as the wind carried the fire away from us. I avoided the trails for a long while since burned areas are pretty sensitive but after seeing they were open, made a visit in the fall to see if I wanted to bring Bear back yet.

At first nothing was amiss but then I hit the burned part and there’s a wide swath of the desert that is completely charred. There are sandy areas with no plant life and exposed holes of the many small animals that once lived here. Some plants like this saguaro still had patches of green but they are the walking dead. We have enough other trails and enough time during my leave of absence that I’ll keep Bear away for now.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 105mm macro
🗓️: September 29, 2023

Saguaro Sandwich

Our dog Bear stands in front of a saguaro while the shadow of another saguaro falls across him on the Latigo Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on October 31, 2023. Original: _ZFC8034.NEF

Bear sandwiched between two saguaros on the Latigo Trail. The other day while making the long gradual climb back to the car on a western leg of this trail, he was so tired he let me take the lead, a first I think! Yesterday on a loop I stopped after a mile and doubled back to the car since he was flagging, so today I’ll give him a rest day and we’ll go for an easy walk in the neighborhood.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 24-70mm f/4
🗓️: October 31, 2023