Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
As Bear and I approached the end of our hike, perched high on boulders beside the trail were several volunteers greeting visitors to the park. They patiently answered questions they must get asked over and over and over, like “What trails are good for beginners?”, “Are there really rattlesnakes here?”, and “Why didn’t the eagles fly Sam & Frodo to Mordor?”
📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm+1.4X
🗓️: November 9, 2025
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 world is often beautiful but rarely kind, as all the little creatures fed to this young hawk discovered, and eventually the hawk learned too. From what I could see only the legs and a pile of feathers remained, as honey-colored ants recycled what little soft tissue and fluids remained. Bear and I didn’t hike this trail again until weeks later when the only signs of this once beautiful life were a few feathers scattered on the desert floor.
📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 105mm macro
🗓️: October 27, 2023
The Woodpecker Hotel is one of my favorite saguaros, quite the survivor to get this old and this big. I wonder how many animals owe their lives in part to the giant, from what must be hundreds of woodpeckers who were born in its arms to countless creatures who fed on its flowers and fruit. I hadn’t planned on photographing it on this occasion as Bear and I headed back to the car but I couldn’t resist when I saw the hawk perched on top.
📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 16-50 DX
🗓️: February 15, 2024
This young Harris’s hawk and its sibling had learned to fly short distances but it was still early days in their development. It was working on learning to balance as it moved about the tree, flaring out its wings and holding the pose until it was confident it wouldn’t fall.
📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: June 8, 2024
A saguaro skeleton, battered and broken, still makes for a nice perch for a backlit Harris’s hawk.
📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: April 14, 2024
📷: Sony A6600 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: June 10, 2023
A Harris’s hawk pops open the escape hatch at the top of mature saguaros.
📷: Sony A6500 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: February 20, 2022
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
People often wonder how tall saguaros can grow as it can be hard to grasp from pictures. The rule of thumb is the old giants can grow so tall as to almost touch the moon. So, pretty tall. You do have to be careful though as some saguaros use a technique known as heightening, where they convince a desert denizen to perch up top to make them look taller.
Boolie 