That Confinement Box

Black-crowned Night Heron

I could write about the details.  Become mired in the facts. I learned early on while blogging that I didn't enjoy such things.  I figure I do enough of it every day.  The artist inside wants his blog to capture the magic of our world because quite frankly, the experiences are magical.

Pike's Peak

Everything is explained.  Everything needs an answer.  Everything must fit with this or that.  There is no in between. I get into a car and drive away from people and society.  The further I get, the more my mind relaxes and opens up to the possibilities.

Ladderback Woodpecker

I imagine standing in the grand vistas of the world.  The sunny bright arctic circle.  The snowy dark forests of Canada.  The Egyptian deserts. The Himalayan mountains. The Congolese rain forest.

Vermilion Flycatcher

I imagine that there are people wanting to be standing where I naturally explore. For them, it is also foreign. My foreign.  My familiar.  As a boy, I dreamed of these things.  In my twenties, everyday was different and crazy.  In my thirties, I paid for those twenties.  In my forties, I am alive again. I began to realize that there aren't as many days ahead of me as there are behind.  So I wake up every day with a quick pace similar to that of my youth. However....coffee first:)

Northern Waterthrush-Life bird!

National Geographic magazines exposed me, as a kid, to the world at large.  I read my Ranger Ricks, Arizona Highways, and National Geographics the minute they arrived in the mail.  I built a wooden airplane with my neighbor friend.  We knew it would fly and take us to foreign places.  I sat in the cockpit and imagined flying out of snow covered Wisconsin pastures over tropical waters watching whales breach the waves below.  Maybe I would discover the last dinosaur on Earth.  It was in Brazil hiding within the unexplored Amazon rain forest! (or so the article in my Ranger Rick stated)

Northern Mockingbird

I wanted to escape my hometown as a child.  My 8th grade year, I babysat for my cousins in Flagstaff, AZ.  I left the lakeshores of Wisconsin and discovered the mountains of Arizona. And I knew that I wanted to see the world.  But I had to follow the details.  Study. Work.  Earn my right to dream.

Verdin

Today I still have to study, work and earn my right to dream.  But it has become so much easier.  And it is reality.  I live a life of adventure.  There isn't a formula for this.  I had to feel it inside. And it took me over a decade to discover my inner child again. There is nothing worse than feeling dead from within. That feeling of mundane. What is that?  That's not life and it's certainly not how I want to live.

Head down I-10, take the exit to Tubac and turn right.....blah blah blah.  Boring. Instead, I think, "Head to the open air, away from society onto that beautiful river along the historical DeAnza trail. Follow history.  Follow your heart."   And discover what lies ahead.

Those Special Moments

Ladderback Woodpecker

After a nice day hiking, it's great to sit down at someone's birdfeeder and watch the birds come to you!

American Robin

It's relaxing and fun!  Several of these birds featured today were at feeders while others just plopped out of nowhere for a nice viewing.

Painted Redstart

Everything is starting to green up around here and the wildlife is alive and HUNGRY!

As limbs start budding on the trees, squirrels begin eating the new growth.

Today it was about wings and flight.  I sat lazily at the feeders enjoying the wonderful weather watching the Yellow-rumped Warblers(below) treating themselves to some bark butter.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

There's something very special about watching nature up close. 

On this day, I'd introduce Kathie to Mary Jo at Ash Canyon and Mr. Beatty at Miller Canyon. The photo below is from Paton's House near Patagonia.  All of these places ask for donations starting around 5 dollars.  It helps them feed the birds around their properties.

Lazuli Bunting, Lesser Goldfinch

Sometimes finding birds doesn't have to be difficult at all.

Sometimes sitting from a nice chair with a cold drink is all you need to find those normally elusive little birds.

Bushtits

Some pointers for feeding birds in your own yard.  Orioles love fresh oranges, jelly placed in a container, citrus flavored suet, or just plain ol' hummingbird nector(sugar water).  They even make Oriole bird feeders!

Scott's Orioles

The Scott's Orioles were such a fun find at Paton's House.   The male is above and very colorful.  We found the female below at Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast.

Here you can see a feeder at my Grandmother's house in Wisconsin.  She is wonderful with her birds.

 And she LOVES her Orioles.  Please send positive vibes her way.  She had a stumble over a week ago and while she is doing better, any positive thoughts you can send her way would be appreciated.  While the Orioles pass through Arizona, she awaits their arrival in Wisconsin.  They are, along with the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, just a couple of her favorite birds.  By the end of May, they arrive back into her garden and enjoy her feeders again.

House Finches

Thistle feeders attract your finches and siskins.  Regular seed=the sparrows.  Sunflower seeds attract your cardinals/finches.  And all seed on the ground attracts your doves:)  Peanuts=woodpeckers/nuthatches.  And dried fruits, bark butter=warblers, tanagers, orioles and every bird.  Sugar water=hummingbirds, orioles and bees:) Dried worms=thrushes, bluebirds, thrashers.  Nasty birdbath water attracts them all:)  Your wallet?  Empty:)

Pine Siskin

But the trails call.  And look who we found.  More to come......

Mexican Spotted Owls

For more fun, head over to Birding Is Fun! where you'll find my latest write on birding in Panama!

Trusting From Within

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Recently on a photo shoot for Altrusa(literacy group helping children get involved with reading), I found myself taking shots of random kindness.  I don't like people posing for the camera as I consider it "fake".  So with the zoom lens, I snapped shots from far away to get those heart warming moments without being noticed.

Altrusa wanted me to get shots of the kids having fun at the event. 

It transported me to another time.....my own childhood.  But it made me think. When and where had I switched over to "jaded"?  It wasn't my 20's.  But sometime in my early 30's, I lost sight of the adventure. Every day blurred into the other. One monotonous bore after another. Go to work.  Pay the bills.  Wake up and do it all over again. 

When I see this young lady smile, I see pure wonder and imagination.   However epic treks into the bird/wildlife world with a new camera made me engage that creative side again.  Plants and gardening were the gateway drugs into this world:)  And only recently do I feel like this little girl again.  I've got the whole world in my hands:)

Children trust and love unconditionally.  

Thanks to the tricky birds(like gnatcatchers), I am quick with my camera for those special moments.  Don't blink!  Or you'll miss it!  Parents always speak about those special moments with their children. It's the one that makes them cry because it touches the heart. It lasts for just a moment and makes teaching kids (or parenting them) worth it all. Then they go back to their savage ways and that pure magical moment quickly vanishes!  But it's that moment of perfection we all remember for life:)

Ladderback Woodpecker

Whether I'm out in nature or doing a photo shoot, I'm really learning a lot about myself and others.  It's very healing.  Of course, I do slip back to my old ways and a negative moment may surface, but I'm finding ways to stay positive and let the bad roll off my shoulders....and it's like every moment is perfection.

How do we build such a callous attitude towards others over our lifetime?   Maybe we were hurt.  Maybe we are afraid. Maybe this life is all too overwhelming and stressful......

Bronzed Cowbird

But maybe the parenting(or lack of) of the Bronzed Cowbird(above) has it right.  The female doesn't raise her own.  Instead she places her eggs into the nests of other bird species. Her babies will be raised by other parenting birds......and yet retain their own identity after all is said and done.  And that is how I look at my own life now. There is so much to learn and understand from people and critters about our natural world!  I'm like a kid in a candy store.  Granted, it can be a scary feeling because I want to see everything now!

Harris Hawk

First flight.  First sight.  Believing that we can do better each day.  Making that difference.  Everyday we wake up, there is a new challenge that awaits us. I am so appreciative for my friend and mentor Kathie for making each day a fun game. Instead of it being another day that is forgotten and blurred into the other, it has become one adventure after another.  She made me remember what I had forgotten.  Of course, I am also appreciative for our spouses.  They are supportive and understanding about this hobby of ours.  Sometimes they come with us and other times they stay home while we count birds in crazy places.  When I'm out in the field, all the stress vaporizes into thin air. There is a healing and wonderful feeling that comes from being out in nature.  I must trust that inner voice as it leads me down this path.  For the first time in my life, I don't have the answers.  Just this insatiable hunger to know more.   What will tomorrow bring?  I don't know, but stay tuned for more:)

Tumacacori

Setting The Table

Get ready for a post full of random thoughts from an AM car ride to work:) And it's about how we began and where we are now.  Keep in mind the question, "How does one set the table?"  And as a side note before I get started, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be working at the Butterfly Magic exhibit in the afternoon at the Tucson Botanical Gardens on October 8th.  Come and stop by!  I'd love to meet you and show you around Southern Arizona's only tropical butterfly exhibit. On a side note, I'll be on vacation this next week heading out to some far away places after the 8th.  I'll be sporadic on blogger as I hopefully discover more incredible things. But until I return, I have lots of fun finds coming your way everyday.

As a kid, I dreamt about magical gardens, meeting strange new people, finding incredible creatures, and learning about what was beyond that next star.

Ladder Back Woodpecker

In college I would feel like I wasn't doing enough.  Not traveling enough. Not knowing enough. I thought it was something I had to fly to by plane, train or automobile.  I didn't know how to start.  I just threw myself carelessly out there. 

But as the years advance, it's about learning the subtle strokes of the painting.  The things we overlook in our lives. The things I now wish I could slow down more. 

Spotted Towhee

It's not being first at the finish line.

House Finch

There is so much chaos and noise all about the world.  We wonder sometimes, "What if?"

Mexican Jay

What if everything was perfect and all we had to do was find that inner calm?  But it's not, is it? We have friends and family who suffer from sickness and terrible situations. It's that chaos that affects us all.

Magnificent Hummingbird

Life is short.  I watched a Civil War show on PBS that showcased just how many people lost their lives during this difficult time in our country's history.  I thought about it more.  It has been well over a hundred years since the event but as a child, I remember that there were older people who had met these survivors and actually had conversations with them.  The last confederate survivor died in 1956.  My Great Grandparents was born in 1899. They came from Germany.  One set of Grandparents were born in 1911 and 1914....which was around the time the automobile was created and introduced to the world. My Grandma lived on dirt roads with horses being the main transportation to and from her village.  Her parents died of Scarlet fever.  She was 14 and moved in with her aunt on the farm.

They are all gone now. The personal stories of the Civil War, WW1, WW2, and Korean war vets have almost completely faded from our current society.  One Grandmother remains and I want to keep her alive forever.  My parents grew up in the 50's and 60's to a different world.  One where cars and the "American dream" would develop further.  You just had to follow the plan and success was guaranteed.  I grew up in the 70's and 80's.  I am the last generation of the group who could ride bikes and play with neighborhood kids before getting snatched up by a stranger.  And in the 80's began the electronic age with Atari.  Kids would begin to stay inside their homes and play video games all day. And it was safer for parents since now they had to worry about society stealing their children out of their own backyards.  A made for TV show called "Adam Walsh" would expose the horrors of child abduction. And so it would begin...obesity. I told you this was random:)

Nuthatch

The 90's seemed a peaceful time of happiness and prosperity. It was the time of suburbs and loss of more habitat.  But at the turn of the century so much would come crashing down around us.  Chaos. Anger.  Loss. Faster electronics making people move faster in their everyday lives. Fruit orchards around the Bay area of California would be replaced by Silicon Valley and the suburbs.  Faster faster faster. 

Vast areas of land as the human population swells are now having to be marked as sacred.  Do not touch.  Land which seemed endless is now measured by the google mapping system of Earth.  Every square inch is being carefully scrutinized to own or protect.  So where does that leave us today?

Acorn Woodpecker

Our younger generations are much more educated on the preservation of nature than I was when it came to  protecting the environment.  But there isn't a sense of security like there was decades ago.  There are no guarantees and if things keep going as they do, a lot more will change.  This isn't political at all.  It's just that it's been happening all along in such subtle ways.  And I wonder about these young students of mine as they raise their families.  What will their kids face 20 or 30 years down the road?  Will all of this still be here for them?  It's not a question of when because it's now.  Today some countries and their states are making the difference and preserving spaces.  Some are not.  The difficulty is that we are all linked to one another environmentally.  We've done it with technology but now we have to do it with Mother Nature.  There is a movement but it is patchy globally.

Because what one place does, affects the other. Mexicans burn their land away which is habitat for the hummers in winter.  What if they don't have that habitat anymore?  Will they come back to Southern Arizona?  It's happening. As I sat in my 45 minute car ride to work, this is what I thought about today.  Is "setting the table?" a proper question to ask when most of us don't even sit down at a table for dinner anymore?  

Pecking Around (Woodpecker Style)

Acorn Woodpecker

Somedays, you just have to go with the flow.  Whatever Mother Nature presents; she presents....sometimes in abundance.  Today it was the entire Woodpecker population.....so I went with it.  There are many more out there, but here are the 3 common ones you'll find around Tucson, Madera Canyon, and Southern Arizona.

Arizona Woodpecker

Each one has unique markings. The Arizona Woodpecker was found off on the trails around Madera Canyon.  They worked in pairs of two and generally had a group of them in the same area on different trees. They tended to be more "shy".

The Acorn Woodpecker(above) was more "aggressive" and "independent".  I would usually see just one here and there.....but they were also everywhere and could be pushy sometimes with other birds:)

Look closely at the pic and you'll see two of them on the tree.  All woodpeckers like to listen to the tree and that's fun to watch.

I silently walk the trail and hear the "tap tap"....

I think it's a woodpecker but a party of Jays fly outta nowhere.  One leads the way and watches guard as the others settle into their areas.

I home in on the "tap tap" and find this Arizona Woodpecker(above) on the Arizona Madrone.

But that doesn't stop others from going onto the other various trees around the Madera Canyon area.

I listen and listen.  I hear a rustling in the leaves.  Is it another bird?  A new one I have not discovered?

No.  Just one of the many squirrels looking for food on the ground or in the trees.

The entire day I hike and all I see are woodpeckers......

.....eventually I leave the park after a nice 2 hour hike.

Gila Woodpecker

I arrive home and hear a "tap tap" on my Oak Tree.  I begin to laugh because I get the message.  Today was meant to be about Woodpeckers.  I just hadn't planned on it being about Woodpeckers.

I think this particular Gila Woodpecker has my favorite markings of the 3 woodpeckers presented today.  They're all very cool to watch and have around.  They aren't like the Green ones I've seen elsewhere but they are all fascinating.  What's your favorite of the 3 presented?  Acorn?  Arizona? or Gila?

Gila Woodpecker

And here is yet another common Woodpecker in Southern Arizona....the Ladderback Woodpecker!

So I lied...that's 4!  More tomorrow...:)