Eye of the Roadrunner

Photo by Ned Harris

This is the one bird I can always identify correctly. (Sorry, Ned.) Signature bird of the southwest, the Greater Roadrunner is extremely well-adapted to our fair desert. Although the eyes are 'on the side', they can focus in well in front, giving the roadrunner the needed field of vision* [*scroll down to the predator/prey charts] to catch prey - like snakes, lizards, small birds, rodents. Great camouflage, too! 

Food chain

Phainopeplas like to eat ....

desert mistletoe berries and then....

deposit the seeds on other plants. 

All photos from Ned Harris. Click on them for a larger view.

It's a gall!

Photo by Ned Harris

Okay, it's a stretch as a pun, but the photo shows a fine example of a creosote gall nevertheless. A fun description and photo (from an inquiring mind in Tucson AZ), as well as info about the bug that causes these galls to form, are here. Look at creosote anywhere in the canyon and you are likely to find one or more of these in various stages. And now you know they aren't fruits.

It's a boy!

Photo by Ned Harris, 2/14/11

Ned writes: Adult male Cooper's Hawk about to escort a Red-tailed Hawk away from the nest above the dam. Note the adult plumage: Blue-gray upper parts and rufous-white horizontally barred underparts. It is a male because of the gray cheeks.Anne says: click on the photo for a larger image.

It's our fault

Sabino Canyon fault, photo by Carol Tornow

Text by Peggy 'cool as dirt' Wenrick: This photo shows an exposure of the Sabino Canyon Fault.  The canyon itself has eroded along this fault since it has been exposed at earth’s surface.  The reddish material in the lower portion is fault breccia (bre cha), formed as rock is broken and/or crushed by forces along the fault.  The reddish color is caused by groundwater circulating in the fault zone, rusting (or oxidizing) iron minerals and cementing the broken rock particles.  The rocks [brownish-black] above the fault were plastically deformed rather than broken and show sinuous bending with little oxidation.

Both samples from the site above

Both sample photos from Peggy Wenrick

Peggy: The samples illustrate the crushing and cementing that occurs. Anne says: Do take a look at the Wiki site on breccia. It's very readable. Thanks, Peggy, for sharing your expertise.

All about galls

Photo by Angie Perryman

Looks like a gall on a catclaw acacia. Look here for everything on galls, including some very galling photos.

What's brewing?

Brewer's Sparrow, Photo by Bob Wenrick

I had the audacity to ask Bob if this really is a Brewer's Sparrow, since I couldn't find it on the Cornell site. Googled and found this site, though, to show Bob does know what he's talking about!

Four gems!

Photo by Angie Perryman

If you haven't been to the gem show, Sunday is the last day for the original event. You may catch a glimpse of some gems from Sabino Canyon, including Bob Porter and Marge Kesler. The orange-shirted gem is Mike Hunerlach, USDA Mining Geologist and Region 5 Liaison, who also helped with the Forest Service booth.

Butterflies flutter by

Photo by Ned Harris

This is a male Sara Orange Tip, seen on the Wednesday Bird and Nature walk.

The buck stops here!

Photo by Bob Wenrick, 2/9/11

During Ned's Bird and Nature walk yesterday, this fine buck made an appearance around the Lake Trail. Join the fun next week 2/16/11. Meet at 8.30am in front of the visitor center.

Clear water

Photo by Angie Perryman

Still plenty of water in the creek for great photos, garnet panning, and polar bear swimming! This was taken by the picnic area near stop one.

Home in the desert

Photo by Ned Harris

Click on Prairie falcon. I've written this before and I'll write it again: this 'all about birds' site is great! I'm content looking at the icons for a quick summary of the basics, but they've got all the information you need to become knowledgeable about our feathered friends.

yin yang

Reflections, Photo by Carol Tornow

Sun coming over the range caused this pool to be half light, half dark. This is located before stop 8, looking downstream.

Perpetually Stone-Faced

Cochise, photo by Carol Tornow

Canyon-regular Dan (aka Brad Pitt) showed Gayle and me this stone profile of Cochise at least a year ago. (Maybe the tram drivers mention it, but, as I've never taken the tram down, I don't know for sure.) You can see this if you look left as you are coming down from top of the road, well before you get to stop 8. (Isn't nearly as obvious on the way up.) Thanks to Carol for capturing this great 'still life'.

Canyon reds

Red rocks, near the top of the road

Red reeds, probably Smartweed

Red bird aka Northern Cardinal

Now if we could only get some of that red heat back. All photos by Carol Tornow, who has no heat at all at her house.

Double decker

Click on photos for larger view

Photos and id by Bob Wenrick

Look closely at the building materials. The nest on the bottom (see the hole?) is likely from a verdin, the next on the top (made of gray-colored sticks) is likely made by a phainopepla. This is a little past the Lake trail entrance where we take the kids (past the big photo-op rock, too), on the same side as both. Or just ask Bob.

What's a pincushion?

Photo by Daniel Manrique

According to the wildflower site I use most often, 'desert rodents' eat these pincushion fruits. I know a naturalist (or two) who eats them as well. Not spicy, even though they look like little peppers. Be careful when attempting to harvest them. Daniel, who knows his pincushions, is off to Thailand soon. Happy trails.

Hope you are lichen this!

Photo by Angie Perryman

This greenish stuff is lichen, a symbiotic relationship between an algal species (which photosynthesizes) and a fungus. (Algae is actually the plural, alga is singular; but let's stick with the more common usage.) Here's the story, courtesy of Ned: Alice Algae took a lichen to Freddie Fungus, but now their relationship is on the rocks. 

Cat scat and where it's at!

Photo from Walt Tornow, 1/26/11

Walt writes: Last Wednesday, Jim Barnett and I came across this large fresh specimen while hiking the Bear Canyon-Sabino Canyon loop. It was in the higher back-country on the Bear Canyon trail before going down to Sycamore junction. Very exciting to know that they also like to roam and hunt in the higher part of the mountain range, not just where we do our programs. Anne comments: looks very different from the example posted here.

 

We don't miss this!

photo by Carol Tornow from 2009 (?)

Walking the road, I am happy not to see this anymore. I'm sure you'll agree, no reed is good indeed.

A deer was here!

Photo by Carol Tornow. 

That's my reasonably educated guess, anyway. That lovely yellow whistle is a bit more than 2.5 inches long.

All the poop that's fit to post

Mt Lion, looks fresh

Deer, looks fresh, too

Thanks to Bryna for these photos from 1/21/11. Both piles were found on the same side of the creek as the other poop and tracks, but look more recent. If you go out for a poop sighting, be sure to take a friend to keep an eye out for the creature(s) who left it.

Today's limerick

view from bridge one, photo by Carol Tornow

Once there were stands of arundo.

Volunteers took them out by the ton-do.

You can now see the trees!

The birds and the bees

In the canyon can have much more fun-do. 

Ferns of three for you to see

Cheilanthes lindheimeri or Fairy Swords

Pellaea truncata or Spiny Cliff Brake

 Astrolepis sinuata or Wavy Cloak Fern

In my recently corrected fern post, Joan mentioned a third fern that's common in the canyon.  Carol Tornow (all photos, 1/17/11) and I discovered all three just past the big turn around (where new restrooms are being built) heading toward bridge one. The wavy cloak fern is very neat. Well, all three are neat. Go check them out!

Tracks and scat! Or: Now for some poo!

Nice looking whistle!

Track photos from Carol Tornow, 1/15/11

Photo from Maggie Rathert. What, no whistle?

Scat is apparently under some brush in the same general area as the tracks (east side of the creek, just south after crossing the dam bridge). Go check it out! Don't forget your whistle.

Tracks!

single print, with quarter for scale

two deep ones, looks like a jump (from the table?)

single

Thanks to Maribeth for circling these mountain lion prints so that we could easily find them and show them to the kids today. If they haven't already been obliterated, you can find them, too, on the east side of the creek. Cross the dam bridge and cut over to the picnic tables (south). There are more tracks circled, but these were the best for iphone photography. All photos from Glenn Feuerbacher (and his iphone) 1/14/11. Thanks, Glenn!

But I do know a sunrise!

Sunrise 1/12/11

Many thanks to Joan Tedford for correcting the fern i.d. from my post on that topic. And to Robin for correcting me about wolfberry. (Berries aren't poisonous after all.) I've fixed both posts for posterity. The photo above really is a sunrise, though.

Still life

Puffball and shoe

Thanks to Peggy for the photo, thanks to Bryna for the shoe. (Well, for both shoes, actually). We encountered this softball-sized puffball in the riparian area above the dam. I like the fact that they (and all fungi) aren't even in the same kingdom as plants. Plants, I eat. Fungi, not so much.

Ferns in the desert

2 species in this photo from Peggy Wenrick

According to Joan Tedford's latest list, eleven species from the fern families can be found in Sabino Canyon. Who knew? (Besides Joan, that is!) The fern-looking one above (roughly triangle-shaped, to my eye) is Cheilanthes lindheimeri or Fairy Swords. he other one is Pellaea truncata or Spiny Cliff Brake. Thanks to Peggy for the photo and Joan for the updated id. We saw these on the nature walk this morning on - you guessed it - the Bluff trail. Joan says there is a third species in this corner on the Bluff trail. She writes: "The other one just to the right of that group is Astrolepis sinuata or Wavy Cloak Fern." Look for it next time you are out. Thank you to all the plant lovers who keep me honest and learning.

Mountain lion sighting!

Mountain lion at the Desert Museum

Post from Carol Tornow: If you have been in the canyon lately, you know that mountain lion activity is once again on the rise. A mountain lion was seen by several visitors on Monday, along the road just beyond mile marker 1. This same lion initially moved toward a small group of visitors picnicking along the creek in that area. One very unusual aspect of this encounter was that it occurred at about 1:00 in the afternoon. Also, the visitors reported that the lion's rib-cage was clearly visible, indicating this is a very hungry, and possibly desperate animal. As we know, this is only one of at least 3 lions in the area. Please be extra cautious in the canyon, and stay alert. Anne says: Don't approach, don't run. Make yourself big, throw things, scream and shout.

Resurrection plants

Photo from Peggy Wenrick

There are two species of this spike moss (genus Selaginella) in Sabino Canyon; the bright green one is more common, the whitish one generally grows taller. This photo was taken on the Bluff trail. Well adapted to the desert, just a bit of moisture makes them lush and vibrant. Take a walk and seek them out.

It's alive!

Note the dark stuff. It's holding the soil below. 

Desert dirt is very cool! Peggy Wenrick instructed the Wednesday Nature Walk on cryptogamic soil. (Crypto = hidden, gamic = usually: reproduces sexually, from the Greek for 'marriage') She even had a handout! You'll have to settle for a link. Basically, these crusts are living soil, composed of cyanobacteria (aka blue-green algae), other algae, cyanolichen, and mosses. Each species helps bind the soil. This takes a LONG time. Potentially more than one hundred years to form soil like in these photos. Take home message: STAY ON THE TRAIL!

Both photos by Peggy Wenrick

Click on the photos for larger views. Note the fruiting bodies (mushroom-like, filled with spores) in the lower photo. Once you know what you are looking for, you can find this soil all over in the canyon. Thanks, Peggy! You are as cool as dirt :-)

Pincushion Family Reunion

Photo by Peggy Wenrick, 1/6/11

We saw these clustered under a cholla on the Esperero Trail on the Wednesday Nature Walk. Pincushions don't do as well in full sun, so you'll usually find them under other plants. Fruits look like mini chili peppers and are edible (but not spicy).

In Sabino Canyon with Bob Wenrick

I regret that I only found out about his website today. Here's the Sabino Canyon portion. Spend some time on the slide show(s) of your choice. You won't regret it.

In the bird world

Male Broad-billed Hummingbird

This beautiful male is currently dominating my feeder. In the bird world, when there are sex differences, the males are 'always' (I'm sure there's an exception that proves the rule) more colorful.

Looking forward to seeing this!

Anna's Hummingbird on Nest

Click on this beautiful photo from Bob Wenrick to see a larger view. The nest is about the size of a golf ball. Eggs (assuming there were some under her) are about as big as those tic tac mints.