Category: Photography

April in the Sonoran Desert

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 6, 2024
2 Comments on April in the Sonoran Desert

It has been a very cool spring. I actually had frost on the truck this morning! Normally by now we would be seeing highs in the low 90’s. It looks like that will be coming next week. The Ajo area got another inch of rain too. Birding is starting to pick up, just in the last few days, Franklin’s Gulls, Vaux’s Swift, Swainson’s Hawk, and lots of White-faced Ibis have been showing up. I have a lot of new photos to post.

This is NGC 4216, the Silver Streak Galaxy. I have imaged this before (in 2021, see inset), but I wanted to do it again because of a type Ia supernova that recently occurred. It was actually reported back in January but it is still bright enough to show up. All of the nuclear firepower on Earth would seem like a firecracker compared to this Ia supernova, the explosion of a white dwarf. The supernova is marked with two red lines.

This is NGC 4450, a galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, about 50 million light years out there. It is small from our vantage point in the universe, but it is about 70,000 light years in diameter.

Here is Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks (2024), again. It is getting low in the west but still high enough to photograph. It is easy to see with binoculars. I used a 200mm lens this time, hoping to get more of the long tail. It didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, probably due to being only about 10 degrees above the horizon and some stiff wind I had to deal with.

There was another rocket launch from Vandenberg SFB last week. For this one I used longer focal length (135mm). It worked out very well with the sunset. Right click and open in a new window for a larger view. Mercury is seen just above the exhaust in the center, and the booster can be seen falling away from the rocket in the upper left.

In this image the booster is seen in the exhaust plume. Nearer to the rocket are two bright objects that are the jettisoned halves of the protective payload shroud (nose cone), according my message from Launch Alert. It is amazing what can be seen from 500-600 miles away. There is another launch scheduled for tonight.

This morning Vikki and I were birding around Highway Tank when we found this Coachwhip. It climbed up into a bush and I got this photo. First one of the spring for both of us!

Last week, while watching some gulls at Lake Ajo, I noticed they suddenly went on alert, so I looked up and saw this Peregrine Falcon flying around the ponds.

Also from last week, a Lark Bunting at Highway Tank (there were two of them). First ones I’ve seen all winter and first of spring!

This spring there is a lot of this in flower, *Eriastrum diffusum*, Spreading Woolstar.

Dainty Desert Hideseed, *Eucrypta micrantha*. I could add many more plant photos but this will do for now!

Astrophotography Photography

Rocket Launch

This evening a Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch from Vandenberg SFB, shortly after sunset. The timing was perfect for a big show if the launch actually happened. And it did! Mike Venard came out to watch the show with me and we were both quite impressed. One really has to see it to appreciate the spectacular view, but I took photos, of course, and so here some of them are. They don’t really do justice to what we saw though.

Here’s liftoff, at about 7:30 PM. The planet Mercury can be seen in the center of the image, on the left side is the radar station on Child’s Mountain. Taken with a 35mm Sigma lens. The rocket is about 600 miles west heading south over the Pacific Ocean.

The rocket rapidly speeds south leaving behind a wake of exhaust gases (mostly water that has frozen into ice crystals) that are lit up by the sun below the horizon. Perfect timing. The rocket has passed over Child’s Mountain and is heading south at probably around 5 miles per second. The booster can be seen falling away into the Pacific Ocean.

By now, the whole western sky is filled with this. The booster is streaking away toward the Pacific Ocean.

After the rocket was gone, these clouds remained for quite a while, basically man-made noctilucent clouds, very bright and colorful.

I quickly changed lenses to a 135mm for this shot, a close up of the exhaust cloud. What a show! This is the third time I’ve seen this happen, but this was the best one I’ve seen. I posted some photos on Spaceweather.com and see this morning that one is featured in on the main web page, it can be seen at this LINK.

Birding Flowers and Plants Photography

New Flowers and a Mockingbird

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date March 17, 2024
1 Comment on New Flowers and a Mockingbird

This morning I went on hike up Child’s Mountain. It has been pretty chilly the last few days and it still was this morning, until the sun finally came out. My hiking trail is the road that leads to the summit. It is gated and open only to foot traffic. Off road, the terrain is very rocky and steep. The flowers are really coming along, Brittlebush is starting to bloom profusely. About a mile up, there is a flat and there I discovered a new plant for me, growing in abundance.

The new plant, Desert Onion, *Allium macropetalum*, a species of wild onion that is reported to be common and widespread in the southwest. However, according to records in iNaturalist, it is rarely reported in most of the Sonoran Desert. It is not even listed in my book Sonoran Desert Wildflowers. UPDATE: After some discussion in iNaturalist, it has been decided that this plant is Sperry’s Onion, *Allium perdulce* var. *sperry*. Rather than repeat what has already been said, if interested, read the information at this LINK .

The flowers on various plants range from creamy white to a light pink, as this one shows.

Here is a plant with nearly white flowers. I spent a long time looking at the variability among the plants. There were literally thousands of plants, quite amazing considering I have never seen it before. I don’t think the flowering stage will last very long though.

Here’s another new plant for me, Spiny Goldenweed, *Xanthisma spinulosum*. Like the onion, it appears to be more common in other areas of the American southwest, outside the Sonoran Desert.

Northern Mockingbirds are well known for this flight display. This is the time of year when they are very actively doing this. From a high, exposed perch, the males sing and then periodically fly up a few feet and display the white feathers in the wings and tail. I’ve tried to capture this with a camera before with little success, it is very difficult to maintain focus and the action is fast. Yesterday, I finally got a few photos that are worth showing. I would have liked a little more light on the eye, but this is the best I have so far.

Astrophotography Flowers and Plants Photography

March Update

It has been a while since I posted anything, so here it goes. The weather here has been just perfect, not too hot, not too cold. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of clouds cutting into my astrophotography. All the rain has started another spring bloom that could rival last years. I have to keep reminding myself that it is only early March, once the weather turns warmer, the herps, plants, insects, birds, mammals will all be more prominent. I am really looking forward to it.

This is an Acuña cactus (*Echinomastus erectocentrus acunensis*), an endangered cactus that only occurs in five known populations in the United States, according to my book Field Guide to Cacti and other Succulents of Arizona. I recently was shown where one of those populations is, right here in Ajo. Today I checked it out again and found one in flower. There is a dozen or more cactus in this population, though I have not made an exact count.

This is Silverpuff, *Uropappus lindleyi*. There are a lot of these in flower now in localized areas. I liked how this photo turned out.

Pelotazo (*Abutilon incanum*) is flowering too. A true plant of the Sonoran Desert, it requires warm winters and summer rains. It is not found in the Mojave Desert region.

A late afternoon scene from last week. I was watching for a rainbow to form after some showers passed by but instead got this. The setting sun lit up the mountain known locally as Noah’s Ark in the Sikort Chuapo Mountains, east of Ajo.

I had the C8 out for a few nights and did a test run on M81, Bode’s Galaxy. This came out really nice. Below M81, just above the edge of the frame, is Holmberg IX, a faint dwarf irregular galaxy and a satellite galaxy of M81. A little above on the right side of M81 is a double star that is clearly seen split. It was 100 years ago, in 1924, when Edwin Hubble proved that many of the nebulas seen in space were much further away than previously thought, millions of light years away, and that these were actually other galaxies like our own Milky Way Galaxy. M81, once known as Bode’s Nebula, is one of the billions of galaxies we now know exist.

Birding Photography

Yikes! Shrikes!

This afternoon I was just finishing up birding the Ajo golf course. I came around the rear of the truck and there on the ground, right by the front door, was a Loggerhead Shrike and a Cactus Wren in a deadly struggle. I was quite amazed as I have never seen a Loggerhead Shrike kill anything much bigger than a lizard. The Cactus Wren was nearly as big as the shrike and it was putting up quite a fight. Several times it tried to get its claws into the shrike’s eyes. The shrike never gave up and eventually it killed the wren. I timed it at 16 minutes, but I have no idea how long they had been battling before I found them.

My first few shots were like this, the wren actually seemed to be getting the better of the shrike. Notice how it has it claw in the eye of the shrike.

The shrike is maneuvering for a better hold.

Now it is going for the neck, a typical attack point for a shrike. They are known to snap the vertebrae, but it was having a hard time of it.

The struggle moved out into the late afternoon sunlight.

The shrike gave up on its hold and tried another. It took a few more minutes before it finally killed the wren.

I’ve read that shrikes can fly short distances carrying birds as large as themselves. This shrike couldn’t even get the wren up the first step. I suppose it was exhausted. I took the wren and impaled it on a thorn in a mesquite tree. By then it was getting too dark for sharp photos, and I left the shrike to feed on its prey. Why this shrike would take on such a large bird and continue the attack for at least 16 minutes, even at the risk of losing an eye, is a puzzle. I have read about and seen a few other encounters between shrikes and birds of equal size, the shrike normally backs off. Not this one though.

Birding Mammals Photography

Cat, Canine and Birds

I’ve been keeping busy with some astrophotography but don’t have any images that I’m ready to show just yet. I did have some success with the trail cams at Highway Tank, finally, a Mountain Lion passed through the field of view. I’ve been seeing the fresh tracks of a lion there for a long time.

Here’s a screen shot from a 10 second video of the Mountain Lion. Judging from the number of deer and burros I got video of, this lion is having no problem finding something to eat.

This Kit Fox has been fearless in coming around at night. Yesterday I found a road killed cottontail and brought it back to camp.

It wasn’t even dark yet when the fox showed up for its dinner.

As it turned out, there are two of them, but the other one was shy and didn’t come in.

While on a hike yesterday, this Loggerhead Shrike posed nicely on an ocotillo.

Birding Photography

Common Poorwills

Sunday night Charlie Miller and I went for a night drive, mostly to see if we could get more Northern Saw-whets to responds to calls. We had no success with that. However, on the roads there were Common Poorwills. I think these must have been family groups, as there would be several close to together, then none for a distance. Also, some of the birds were incredibly tame, I think I could have picked up several of them, but I didn’t try that. I suspect that these were the young ones, probably just out of the nest. One just sat on the road as we drove slowly by. I took a photo out of the truck window, looking down.

One of maybe eight that were sitting on the road. We could hear more. It was hard to accurately count them as most would flush then land again up ahead with other poorwills. This is nearly a full frame image.

This one was in the vegetation just off the road.

This is a slightly cropped image. I was so close that I couldn’t fit the entire bird in the frame.

I photographed this one from the truck window, shooting almost straight down. It never flushed, even as we drove by.

Birding Blacklighting Insects Photography

A Northern Saw-whet Owl

Last night, Charlie Miller came out to join me for some black lighting for insects. He got here about dark and almost immediately heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl calling. Of course, I couldn’t hear it, but he guided us to where it was and soon we were standing under it. I could hear it quite well then. It stayed high in a pine, I was able to get some photos. That is the first saw-whet I’ve seen in a long time. The black lighting was kind of slow but we got some interesting things. As always, a larger image can be seen by right clicking and opening in a new tab.

The Northern Saw-whet Owl. Charlie was sure he could hear two but we only saw one.

A few days ago, I went up by Government Hill for a hike. Two Prairie Falcons started harassing me, I got a pretty good shot of one flying straight at me.

In a muddy stock pond, I saw this clump of Broadleaf Arrowhead, I thought it made a nice photo.

Hypoprepia miniata, Scarlet-winged Lichen Moth. As the name suggests, larvae feed on lichens.

Parthenice Tiger Moth, *Apantesis parthenice*. Will be a new South Dakota record for BugGuide.

A Western Wood-Pewee posing on a lichen covered branch.

Insects Photography

Old World Swallowtail

Today my brother Ted was here, having come up from Rapid City to work on the communications tower north of my campsite. We were sitting outside visiting when I noticed a different species of swallowtail flying around. At first, I thought it was an Anise Swallowtail. It landed and I got a few photos. Later, I was checking the photos and determined that it was actually an Old World Swallowtail, also referred to as Baird’s Swallowtail, which is the subspecies that occurs in this area. This is a lifer butterfly for me! The Old World Swallowtail is found across Asia, Europe, and western North America, nearly the entire palearctic region. It is the only species of swallowtail in most of Europe. There are over 40 recognized subspecies. Unlike the nearly identical Anise Swallowtail (for which the larval food is plants in the Parsley family), the larvae of the Old World Swallowtail feed on various species of sagebrush and sageworts.

I got more photos, some showing the underwing and abdomen. The Anise Swallowtail has a mostly black abdomen; the Old World Swallowtail has a yellow abdomen with black stripes. There are other differences too but are more subtle and not as easy to pick out.

A nice frame filler! I surely didn’t expect to get a lifer butterfly out here in the Slim Buttes, but I did.

An Anise Swallowtail from the Black Hills, for comparison.

Photography

Doc Hodge

Today I went for a long hike, off trail and down canyon. I ended up at Puckeroo Spring. I wanted to see if I could find the old Doc Hodge house. Doc Hodge was what we would call a naturopathic doctor nowadays. He was apparently friendly with the Sioux and learned about their methods of treating disease and injuries. He lived in a house in what is now Doc Hodge Draw. There is a Doc Hodge Spring too. I could see the remains of the house in Google maps and wanted to see it for myself. It is on private land, so I just looked from high spots along the fence line with the National Forest Service property. I can find almost nothing on the internet about Doc Hodge, and no photos of the old house. I did find this comment in an article in South Dakota Magazine.

Untamed Harding County
April 19, 2016
By John Andrews

Scott B Besler said:

In reply to Wayne Rosby’s question about the Doc Hodge place. Doc Hodge was an herbal doctor to whom many swore loyalty for curing illness and aches during those early years in Harding County. The Hodges had a ranch there along with Doc Hodges hospital/infirmary. The ranch stayed in the family for a number of years and is now part of the Lermeny ranch. My grandmother gave Doc Hodge credit for his treatment of my mother when she was a young girl and contracted Scarlet Fever. She said his herbal treatment lowered her high fever and may have saved her life. I too am obviously happy about that or I might not be here.

It just happens that I met Wayne Rosby and his wife, Dorothy, a few days ago. Charlie Miller stopped in with them and we had a nice visit. Dorothy is Charlie’s sister. At the time I didn’t even think to ask them about Doc Hodge’s house.