Friday, March 9, 2012

A Race Against The Sun

I ran and ran to get here.  The sun was already in its decline because as you may or may not know, I have this little issue known as work.  It interferes with my travel plans every single day! Several weeks ago, I posted on the Great Horned Owls.  When I returned to the area where the nest was, this is what I found.  The Red Tailed Hawk had returned and reclaimed the nest.  The Owls....gone.
But when one door shuts, another opens and my observations begin again.  As I got closer to this hawk, it would screech out a warning.  I stayed my distance and respected the air space around the tree.
Here I catch her with my longer lense screeching at me.  It can be rather chilling.  Why was the bird doing this?
Pull back from the situation and have a look.  Nest in left tree.  Guardian on the right.  I was disappointed that my Owl friends moved elsewhere but was granted the gift of an angel in flight.  A quite shocking thing to see in a mostly brown desert wash.  A large Great Egret flew above my head....and a rare sighting it was!
Another gift from birding alone.  It was solitary and flew high above the trees in a descending fashion.
The Great Egret
As the sun set, I knew I only had a matter of time to get out several more shots.
And as this large bird descended, I was reminded of the grace and beauty that surrounds us everyday.  And today was yet another unintended special day. I ran out of work.  Literally....ran.
And like this bird, I landed exactly where I was supposed to be.  Here.
Night  began to cover the skies.  I left the trail and headed back into Tucson with another sighting!!!  Javelina!  The world stopped and watched the families cross the street slowly. The desert is full of life. We just have to look closer than most people to "see" it.  And then.  The sun faded from the sky.  

14 comments:

  1. Another very interesting post! And what a beautiful egret! I always feel privileged when witnessing such scenes myself, and i you write there is so much to discover if you know how to look!

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  2. Javelina, you're a great person, fancy seeing that. Brilliant photos.

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  3. Thank you for sharing your wonderful pictures from your world!!
    Love to visit your site!!
    Your comments on my blog are appreciated.

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  4. great pics! sounds like a good birding day indeed.

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  5. oh, you were given some great surprises. :)

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  6. Beautiful captures! I'm so glad you rushed to get these photos...well worth it!

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  7. Great observations on life in the desert. You captured the grace of the bird in flight in your beautiful photos.

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  8. Such fantastic photos of beautiful creatures!

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  9. You had some wonderful encounters there, Chris. Definitely worth running out of work for (as a freelancer, running out of work means something altogether more unwelcome to my husband!!) and I love the Great Egret and Javelina photos :-)

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  10. Such exhuberance Chris!
    I love the way nature pushes your buttons.......i'm just the same :-)

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  11. Incredible bird shots...National Geographic may be your next career! But I think those javelina are heading to my house.

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  12. what is a javelina? Looks a little like a warthog, but not much.

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    1. LOL!!! You sound like most people who hear the word "javelina" for the first time. Sounds like a pig....acts like pig....but....surprisingly....it's a large rodent that walks around at night looking for neighborly scraps. Get in their way and they'll bite you:) But usually you can smell them from a mile away first so you don't have to be worried about being charged and running for your life:)

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  13. All that running paid off - for you and for us. :-)

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