Archive for June, 2008
Flickr
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve finally got so many digital photos that I’m slowing down the computer–and this b-log refuses to upload any more. With Kt’s help, I have a flickr.com account, and slowly but surely everything will be moved over there. I’m not so vain as to think any of the photos is anything like good, but maybe the odd one or two will please!
This is not a flicker, though it’s saved on flickr.
Mobbed
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s that time of year when you can’t step outside without something getting fussy. Even so harmless an act as hanging up the laundry gets the Gila Woodpeckers yelping, the Cactus Wrens grating, even the normally demure Verdins chipping. This morning the mob was reinforced by a scolding, buzzing Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, a bird I hadn’t seen in the yard for months.
Welcome, Monsoon!
Posted by: | CommentsMonsoon season truly is the desert’s second spring, and the more welcome of the two, following as it does on these past few weeks of blistering heat. Traditionally, the season has been marked meteorologically, its start defined as the third consecutive day with dewpoints above 55 degrees Fahrenheit; but this year, for reasons unfathomable, the monsoon begins “officially” today, June 15.
We’ve all been joking that it had better rain this afternoon, since it’s on the calendar now, and lo and behold, the humidity is way up to 11% and there are clouds just visible across the border with Mexico, so maybe it will happen. Or maybe not. But we’ll all of us, birds and people, be grateful when the heavy rains and the cool evenings come, next week or next month, to break this summer we’ve been living through.
Cliff Swallows
Posted by: | CommentsImbued with the modernist faith in progress, I long believed that “we” were becoming ever more respectful of the world around us, and that the bad old days were truly old. But enlightenment is not a forever thing, and more and more I think that we are slipping back, back, back: terns hosed off their nests in California, cormorants shot in Maine, raptors tortured by pigeon enthusiasts in Oregon…. And now 186 Cliff Swallows killed by “an angry boat owner” in Oklahoma. Wonder what the chances are of the culprit’s paying the $93,000 fine?
MEGA: Rufous-tailed Robin on St. Paul Island
Posted by: | CommentsA Rufous-tailed Robin was discovered last night on Alaska’s St. Paul Island. There is a previous report from Attu, but this one–well seen, photographed, and documented–should turn out to be the first accepted for the ABA Area.






