Last night I went back to Valentine Well again, to try for some bats. Vikki Jackson and Mark Johnson came out too and Vikki had her bat detector. We learned a few things. One, there are apparently several bat species in the area that are not coming to the water, or at least not while I’m set up with photography. Most of what I photograph is Yuma Myotis and Pallid Bat. And that is exactly what happened again, last night. Also, it seems that the bats don’t echolocate when coming to water, the bat detector did not pick them up while they were obviously getting a drink and setting off the camera/flash. I only got a couple of good shots and both were of Pallid Bat.
Incoming Pallid Bat. I surely don’t need more photos of Pallid Bats, but it is still fun to capture images like this. Another nice capture of Pallid Bat. This was the star of the show last night! Just before Vikki and Mark left, we could hear a Western Screech-Owl, but did not see it. Shortly after they left, I heard it again and this time is was closer. I finally found it in the beam of the flashlight and could see something wriggling from its beak! I managed to get two shots before it flew off. At first I was thinking it had a small snake (small desert owls are known to put a threadsnake in their nest to control nest parasites), but as it turned out it was a large centipede. I have lots of photos of Western Screech-Owls but none are as interesting as this one! Later that night I found this one too. Judging from the markings, this is a different owl, probably the mate.
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.
I made a trip to Buckeye to stock up at Walmart and on the way there, I birded. There were lots of birds at the Gillespie Dam, hundreds of egrets and herons, two species of cormorants, and lots of pelicans. Astrophotography continues to be hard, with too many clouds. But I have managed to get some done. I also made a trip down to Alamo Canyon, long overdue.
This is Abell 31, also known as Sh2-290. It is a very faint planetary nebula in the constellation Cancer. It is so faint that I cannot see it in any of my images until I stack and process. As far as planetary nebulas go, it is fairly large in view. This is what I got after 8 hours of exposure with the Nebula Booster filter and the 500f4 lens. Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan is now passing through the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, so I tried it last night. At magnitude 10.5 it isn’t very bright. The comet is over 50 million miles distance. The galaxies are on the order of 50 million light years, some are nearly 90 million light years out there. On a walk in Alamo Canyon, I found lots of Miner’s Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata.And also Redmaids, Calandrinia ciliata.Some of the pelicans and one Snowy Egret at Gillespie Dam. Snowy Egret swallowing a fish. Abert’s Towhee at Gillespie Dam. Some of the egrets I saw. At 100mm focal length, this is all could get in one frame. Also in Alamo Canyon, I saw several Empress Leilia nectaring on Gooding’s Vervain. For me, this is unusual for two reasons. I rarely if ever have seen this species of hackberry butterfly nectar on anything and in my experience, not many butterflies nectar at this species of plant. At the parking lot in Alamo Canyon, I watched this Northern Cardinal repeatedly attack its image in a sideview mirror on another car parked there. Then it flew up onto this Saguaro to sing loudly!
The new moon has come and gone, and I had to deal with a lot of clouds, heavy dew, and cold. However, with the new filter I was able to take advantage of some good weather over the last few days and I had great results. Birding has remained extremely slow, nothing but the regular desert birds. I had nine photos printed for the Sonoran Desert Photo Show that is taking place in March. It is always interesting to see all the photos that are on display, I hope there is good turnout.
I tried this once before with the C8 but it is so dim that details were hard to catch when imaging at f6.3. The last couple of nights I used the 500f4 and the IDAS Nebula Booster filter and the results were amazing. This is the Medusa Nebula, or Sh-2 274 or Abell 21. It is a planetary nebula, what our sun will look like sometime in the distant future as it loses its outer layers of gas and transforms into a white dwarf. The Medusa Nebula is about 4 light years in diameter and 1500 light years distant toward the constellation Gemini. Also done with the 500f4 and the new filter, the Cone Nebula, the Christmas Tree Cluster, and the Fox Fur Nebula. The faint nebula is approximately seven light-years long (with an apparent length of 10 arcminutes) and is 2,700 light-years away from Earth. Thor’s Helmet with the new filter. I also used StarXterminator to remove the stars before processing. There are so many stars they overwhelm the image if they aren’t removed. I’ve never been able to get so much detail from the dimmer areas of this nebula. This is the Seagull Nebula, a large emission nebula between the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major. I could not fit the entire nebula in the frame with the 500f4. I may have to try a mosaic someday. You may notice the prominent bluish arc in the lower center area. This is a bow shock from runaway star FN Canis Majoris.I was at Highway Tank a couple of days ago and found this Least Sandpiper. Not exactly an exciting bird to see but it was the first one I’ve ever seen at Highway Tank. This bird puts my species total for Highway Tank at 120.This is a Desert Orangetip, the Pima variety. The Desert Orangetip ranges widely from far west Texas to southern California and into Nevada. The eastern populations are yellow on the upper wing (Pima Orangetip) and western populations are white. One of the earliest spring flying butterflies, this one is nectaring on Fairy Duster.
It is hard to believe that it is already February. It is also hard to believe how much rain the Ajo area has been getting. The ground is soggy and the mountains are green. Barring an unwelcome spell of freezing temperatures, there should be another spectacular spring bloom of flowers. Already, some are showing up. Birding has been very slow but there are signs of migration, friends in town reported seeing a Rufous Hummingbird today!
I have added more time to the Dolphin Head, I’m up to about 6 hours of exposure now. Using the new duoband filter sure makes this pop out. This is Ten-mile Wash a day after the heavy rain last week (January 22-23). Some areas around Ajo got nearly 4 inches. I’ve been coming to Ajo for almost 10 winters now and have never seen the wash with flowing water. This morning it was running again, after another inch of rain last night. Ten-mile Wash is about 1/2 mile from my camper. This morning Vikki Jackson and I hiked up McGrady Wash. We saw one butterfly, this Sara Orangetip. Fortunately, it landed a few times and let me get some photos. It has been a long time since I have had any good butterfly photos to show! Some consider this to be one species within the Sara Orangetip complex, the Southwestern Orangetip. A Canyon Wren that eventually came close enough for some photos. We also found this flowering plant, Pseudorontium cyathiferum, common name Deep Canyon Snapdragon. It is the only species in the genus Pseudorontium. It is native to the deserts of northern Mexico and adjacent California and Arizona. I’ve never seen it before, apparently it is not very common in Arizona according to records in iNaturalist. The leaves are hairy and glandular, the flowers small. Another view of Deep Canyon Snapdragon.
Although I haven’t had many good nights for astrophotography, I do have a couple of images to show. I spent many hours on each one, including the taking of images and then the processing. It was so cold one night I just quit. Now, the weather is back to more normal temperatures but tonight looks like it will be too cloudy again. And the moon is getting bright but with my new nebula booster filter I can still shoot for another week or so, assuming I get any clear skies. As always, a larger image can be seen by opening in a new tab or window.
Harold Lower and his son Charles were amateur astronomers and skilled telescope makers in the 1930’s. Harold reported that by utilizing red-sensitive film and a deep-red filter, he and Charles had encountered considerable success in imaging dim emission nebulae. Among these objects was a previously unknown nebula in Orion which decades later was given the catalogue designation Sh2-261. In honor of its discoverers, this nebula is commonly known as Lower’s Nebula. I have read that this is a difficult nebula to image, but I tried it last night and am very happy with the results. It is found in the Orion constellation. The Strawberry Nebula, Sh2-263, also located in the Orion constellation. This one took many hours of imaging to get this much signal. I could probably use a lot more. The nebula includes both emission and reflection nebulas. In our daily lives, we bask in the light of one star, look at all the stars in just this one image!At Highway Tank a few days ago, this female Common Goldeneye and a Redhead were new species for me at this eBird hotspot. I didn’t get any good shots of the Redhead but the Common Goldeneye came out nice. I now have 119 species at Highway Tank.
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.
Since I’ve started using eBird for my bird sightings, I now have an easy way to tabulate all my sightings from last year. That’s assuming I remember to use it. I generated a report, and it came in at 262 species for 2023. However, I noticed that I did not report Sharp-tailed Grouse or Common Tern and I know I saw those species at some point in 2023. So, I probably missed a few other species too. That brings me to my New Years Resolution, do a better job of documenting my sightings and see how big of a list I can come up for 2024. Maybe this will give me some enthusiam for a birding trip to somewhere I can pick up lots of species, like south Texas or Florida. We will see. On the local scene, it has really cooled down here. I have not had many good nights for astro, lots of clouds.
I was birding in The Thicket a few days ago and I always check the tree where I saw a Gray Fox a few years ago. There was one there, again. It does not seem like a regularly used tree but if one keeps checking, sometimes it works out. I have not seen many Sagebrush Sparrows this winter. I went out Pipeline Road a few days ago and found that area to be my best bet. Yesterday I had eight. I keep checking carefully for Bell’s Sparrow but so far, I have not found one. Another Sagebrush Sparrow. I’ve been having unusually good luck with Kestrels this winter. Usually, I can’t get close enough for a good photo. I have managed to get in about 2 hours on this scene in the constellation Auriga. There is a lot to look at here. On the left is the open star cluster M 38. To the right of M 38 is a smaller open star cluster, NGC 1907. The largest and brightest nebula is known as the Spider Nebula (IC 417) and the smaller one below is the Fly Nebula (NGC 1931). I want to put in a lot more time on this but for now, here it is.
As I mentioned in my last post, I wasn’t feeling too well. It wasn’t a cold, it was covid. I picked up some home tests and tested positive Sunday, the 17th. Today, I am still testing positive, but I feel a lot better. It was pretty rough for three or four days, followed by gradual improvement. Anyway, ten days later I’m still positive for covid. I don’t expect it to hang on much longer. I have felt OK for the last 4-5 days, good enough to get out for some birding.
The entire Sonoran Desert and many other areas around Arizona got significant rain last weekend. From reports I’ve seen, rain around Ajo and the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument area varied from 1.5 to 2 inches. It rained enough to generate runoff, Highway Tank is full again.
This morning, I saw this American Kestrel sitting on the road. It let me get quite close, but the sun was not positioned well for photography. At any rate, it seemed like it was eating something, but I couldn’t see any prey.As it turns out, it was eating “grit”. I’ve never seen a raptor do this. It is a common behavior for seed-eating birds, the grit goes into the gizzard and helps to grind and digest the hard seeds they eat. I had to do some digging on the internet to find out what is going on with raptors. The insects and meat raptors consume is partially digested in the crop by strong acids and the indigestible materials are regurgitated as pellets. What they do need is some small stones to help clean the crop, which can get full of fatty tissues from their food and can hinder the function of the organ. Owls do not have a true crop; I don’t know if any owl species ingest grit. One of two Gray Vireos I found this morning. These are the first Gray Vireos I have seen this winter, the winter storm up north must be pushing a few more of them south. Barn Swallows also made an appearance over the last few days. I’ve seen as many as eight at the ponds. This one was flying low over Highway Tank.
It has been a long time since I posted anything, so here goes. I had some good nights for astrophotography. Birding has really slowed down, but I’m still taking photos. The most exciting birds have been a Herring Gull at the ponds, but it didn’t stay long enough for anyone to drive out to see it. And at Highway Tank, during a Cabeza Prieta Natural History Association field trip, we saw three Red Crossbills, a very rare bird for the Sonoran Desert. After three years of not catching a cold, flu or covid, I have now come down with something. I think it is a cold but can’t get tested for covid until tomorrow. At any rate, I don’t feel like doing much today.
Later this week it looks like very good chance for rain, and it is badly needed. Fingers crossed.
One afternoon I looked out and saw this Loggerhead Shrike perched on top of the astronomy mount. It let me get very close. An American Pipit at Highway Tank. One of the three Red Crossills at Highway Tank. A distant photo of all three, two males and a female. After getting a drink they flew south. This is a dark nebula, Sh2-239. It is a star forming region in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. It takes a lot of exposure to capture these dark nebulas but I find them fascinating and worth the effort. I’m not even sure this one has a name, but the dark nebula near the top is shown as B209 in Stellarium. The B stands for Barnard. The galaxy in the upper right is IC 359, which is what I had to use to find this dark nebula. Framing is always difficult because these dark nebulas are nearly invisible until the images are stacked and processed. VdB 14 and 15, reflection nebulas in the constellation Camelopardalis. Both are illuminated by two super giant stars. These are very faint too, took me hours of exposure to get this much. Here’s an easy one. I couldn’t resist it one night, the Horsehead Nebula. Compared to the nebulas above, this one is easy to do. Only about 2 hours of exposure and the processing is very fast. All of these astrophotos were taken with the 500f4 lens.
