Riding Out The Storm

I really enjoy the hikes during some of our softer monsoon rains.  These pics today aren't spectacular but they are interesting.  The cooler temps allow the birds and animals to come out and play.  Well if play meant eating:)  Some of the things that I love to see on my walks are how the hummingbirds, in their natural state, fly and hover over water to capture bugs.  An update from yesterday.  A beautiful morning in Montosa Canyon with some fantastic wildlife shots.  No luck on finding the hummer but that's okay.  I had a scary run in with drug runners and that was unexpected but I'll write more about that later.  Everything is okay once I was with my birder friends who weren't far off.  These pics today are from Sweetwater after one of our gentle monsoon rains.

A hummingbird hawking

This act is called “gleaning,” “gnatting” and “hawking.” Hawking looks like aerial acrobatics made of erratic twists, stops and whirls as they chase invisible bugs.  The thing I like about Tucson is that you can see hummingbirds doing things naturally without feeders.  These were tricky shots to get but I had so much fun watching them.  This was the closest that I've been able to get to them while they are in this mode.  It's hover...zoom....hover.....zoom 4 miles.....hover....zoom back....zoom up....zoom down:) By the time, I get the manual on focus, it's too late:)

The views are wonderful.  The cloudy weather a relief from the blasting sunlight.  And it's a great reason to get out and breath some of that rain cooled air:)

"Ah-AWWwwww!".  Where oh where are you now Mr. Gambel?  You never know where they are standing watch.   In the trees, on a fence, or in this case, on top of a huge dirt hill looking down at me:)

Or the American Coot.  She didn't mind me getting too close while on her nest.  But the male did:)

And finally!!!  The Night Heron shot was nice because these guys tend to hide.  But since no one was on the trail, I was able to get an okay shot of this beautiful bird.

It was great getting out in Tucson for some hiking.  No canyons today.  No mountain tops yet(those are coming up:).  Just a nice walk nearby our home:)  More tomorrow....