Wednesday, February 1, 2012

My Private Little Walk


Welcome to the most perfect day to hike.  It's the reason why we all live here.  Last month, the State Park System of Arizona had a no charge entrance day.....and I went!  Today's hike is in Sabino Canyon.
As you can imagine, there were A LOT of people walking around the park.  And if you're doing photography, you don't want people around you.  So I took the path least followed, and you'll be surprised at what I saw!
I finally got a great stock photo of the Desert Mistletoe.  But a curious thing happened.  During my studies on Desert Mistletoe, I remember a bird in the same pic next to this parasitic plant.  In fact this bird is very territorial and will protect a patch of Desert Mistletoe from others of its' kind.  This bird is called the Phainopepla.
Phainopepla
It will stand on a perch overlooking areas.  The more I moved up the dirt trail, the more I noticed the peculiar habit of this bird.  And the more I walked; the more I noticed a different bird for each "sector" of desert land. The darker colors indicate the male while the greyer tones indicate female.  And what's interesting is that both of these living organisms need each other to survive.  The bird eats the berries and the berries move through the bird's digestive tract eventually being deposited onto other trees.  In December, I wrote about the Cecropia tree and how it also has a symbiotic relationship in nature with the sloth and ants that live in the tree.
So I kept moving......and I noticed a slight movement.  I almost missed it.....

.....and discovered that someone was looking at me.  She was beautiful.  Mule deer live in our Tucson desert.  That may be shocking for some:)

But what was shocking for me was that after the doe moved out of the way, a buck stood up in the same area.  Talk about exciting!
I slowly moved around the deer and enjoyed these creatures surrounded by cactus and other plants native to the Sonoran desert.  Had I been on the road, I would have never seen any of this.  Had I been talking, I wouldn't have seen any of this.  Lesson.  You can go your own way:)  It's better.

It was around 74 degrees that day and a much needed break from the cold temps of Wisconsin.  I love National Park Day.  This film shoot was actually done on January 7th of this year.
How do cactus grow like this?  This Saguaro barely has any root surface!

This is also where I snapped my Desert Cardinal Shots.  I didn't put this one in yesterday so I'll put it in today.
Have you ever prayed to the Gods of the Weirwood? (Game of Thrones reference) Well really, it's an Arizona Sycamore:)
I love free State Park Day. Until next time.....

19 comments:

  1. Bardzo udany i szczęśliwy spacer, a my widzimy piękne zdjęcia z niego. Ptaki i płochliwy jeleń - wspaniałe. Pozdrawiam. *** Very pleasant and happy walk, and we see beautiful pictures of him. Birds and timid deer - great. Yours.

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  2. beautiful shots... One day I'm going to be able to come see that part of the country for myself. It's on my list of things to do... right now, I have to content myself with a few cacti in pots.

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    1. Hey cacti in pots are cool:) When I lived in Wisconsin, I kept several just to remind me of where I wanted to be after college:) because cacti are awesome!

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  3. What a lovely day to be outside and take a walk. The Phainopepla was a great sighting. The cardinal is pretty and the deer are so cute too. Wonderful photos from your walk. Have a great day.

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    1. You have a great day as well. Hope you had a nice sunny and cool day for another walk along the beach:)

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  4. Fantastic series of shots. You captured the beauty of the Arizona I knew as a child.
    ~:)

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  5. What a wonderful place to discover so many beautiful things! Great photos.

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  6. Looks like you had a wonderful walk. Beautiful birds, deer, mistletoe, cactus, and the last shot is breathtaking!

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  7. How cool that you saw mule deer in Sabino! I, too, like to get off the road, and much prefer the quieter trails, where one can actually see and hear the wildlife. Nice post!

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  8. your love of free state Park Day, has made us , readers view those lovely bird pictures..

    Thanks.

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  9. Very interesting about the Phainopepla. Over here we have the Mistle Thrush that has the same relationship with mistletoe. Shame and I'm surprised you have to pay to walk in the park - I'd be tempted to go on a quiet day and pay.

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    1. It was rather interesting. I was prepared to pay for the entrance fee and the park ranger said to keep my money and I didn't understand until he explained it was National Park Service Day and then I smiled. It was like a welcome back gift.:)

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  10. looks like a pleasant walk with so many fascinating discoveries. thanks for sharing your world. it's great to see these wildlife photos through your lens.

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  11. these are great! what a cool bird!

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  12. what an experieince meeting the deer
    I guess warm weather would be nice now
    I might even like the desert having seen all these photos

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    1. But you'd only like this experience in the winter. Summer is way too hot:) Pretty place, but HOT:)

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  13. We have birds that guard thier bery stock over here to, they are called Mistlethrushes :-)

    74 degrees, sounds lovely!!

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  14. That's a very rewarding walk, you saw a lot, shoot a lot and exercised a lot. What better way to have a nice day!

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  15. You sure had a great hike!!! Gorgeous photos and wildlife! WOWZERS!!!

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Thanks for stopping by!