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.
A few days ago, I stopped at the Ajo sewage ponds and counted all the birds for my eBird checklist. I was leaving when I took one last look and saw a gull that hadn’t been there before. A look through my binos revealed it was a Black-legged Kittiwake, quite a rare bird in Arizona and the first one ever recorded here at Ajo. Needless to say, quite a few birders made the trip out here to see it and it stayed all day, so they all got to see it. The following morning, it was gone.
The star of the show for one day, a Black-legged Kittiwake. This Lincoln’s Sparrow posed nicely for me with a nice background. This was at Highway Tank. A young Oregon Junco at the golf course. Yesterday I saw two Prairie Falcons at Highway Tank, one chasing the other. Later I saw this one perched and it let me get fairly close. A Desert Blond Tarantula that was out on a cool morning. IC 410, popularly called the Tadpole Nebula. It is located in the constellation Auriga, about 12,400 light years out there. I used a new filter, the IDAS NBZ Nebula Booster, to create this image. It is a dual band filter that allows Ha and OII light waves to pass but it filters out moonlight and other light pollution, so I can still do astro on moonlit nights, as least for nebulas. It is not going to work on galaxies. It will only work with the 500f4 lens. In this case, this is the first time I’ve imaged this nebula and was able to really see the “tadpoles”. The Heart Nebula, taken during a night with a bright moon, using the new filter. With this new filter and my new software, I’m seeing a big improvement in nebula photography.
I’m still here. It has been a while since I have updated anything. Birding has been good, and the weather has been fantastic. Last night it rained, reports vary but probably around .2 to .25 inches in the Ajo area. More rain is forecast for tonight.
The star of the show this fall, a Rufous-backed Robin at Bud Walker Park. It has been two years since I’ve seen one. This bird has been quite cooperative for photos too. A number of birders have traveled here to see it, some were successful others were not. A Varied Thrush in the town plaza has been getting a lot of attention too. This bird has also been very cooperative for photos. Kestrels don’t usually let me approach very close; this one was an exception. A female at the golf course, there seems to be more Kestrels around this winter than usual. Also at the golf course, a Gilded Flicker posing in nice light. This is Arp 273, pair of interacting galaxies nearly 300 million light years out there. Located in the constellation Andromeda, this is a very small and faint target, but I think it was worth the time I spent on it. They are also known as the Rose Galaxies. NGC 660 is a rare polar ring galaxy. I copied this information from Wikipedia: NGC 660 is a peculiar and unique polar-ring galaxy located approximately 45 million light-years from Earth in the Pisces constellation. It is the only such galaxy having, as its host, a “late-type lenticular galaxy”. It was probably formed when two galaxies collided a billion years ago. However, it may have first started as a disk galaxy that captured matter from a passing galaxy. This material could have, over time, become “strung out” to form a rotating ring.NGC 925 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the Triangulum constellation, about 30 million light years away. Although relatively large in the field of view, it is very faint. All of the galaxy photos I posted are taken with the C8 and a .63 reducer, so about 1200mm focal length.
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. Time to haul it away. While on a hike yesterday, this Loggerhead Shrike posed nicely on an ocotillo. A Say’s Phoebe at Highway Tank.
OK, also one mammal. The weather has cooled down nicely and is perfect fall weather for the Sonoran Desert. It seems every day brings something new. Just yesterday I was counting birds at Lake Ajo when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, it was a Gray Fox out in broad daylight, sauntering by the truck. Now that the full moon is past, I expect to start doing astrophotography again.
The sun was high, so the light wasn’t the best, but I whistled at the fox, and it paused for some photos. At Highway Tank this female Brewer’s Blackbird posed for a nice photo with a nice background. During a hike up McGrady Wash, this Loggerhead Shrike swooped by and landed in a bush. I could see it was eating something, but it was too well hidden to identify the prey. Then it flew into a creosote bush with some of its prey. A tight crop of the image shows this. I think I can see lizard skin. A Hermit Thrush that posed very nicely. This Northern Waterthrush is the first one I’ve ever seen in the Sonoran Desert. It was at Highway Tank. A Lincoln’s Sparrow at the golf course. And a Cassin’s Finch at the golf course. I put in another night at the black light with some friends and got this fly. A nocturnal fly is sort of unusual, so I photographed it. It turns out it is in the genus Ormia. From Wikipedia: Ormia is a small genus of nocturnal flies in the family Tachinidae, that are parasitoids of crickets. Flies in this genus have become model organisms in sound localization experiments because of their “ears”, which are complex structures inside the fly’s prothorax near the bases of the front legs. A mating pair of Robber Flies. A photo of the underwing of a Staghorn Cholla Moth.
Well, it is the desert. It has been hot. No rain in the forecast. Maybe I should have stayed in Granite Gap awhile longer but I’m here and I’m staying. For the last week highs have been around 100, record heat for this time of year. Tomorrow, it cools down and it should stay that way now. Birding has been great; one just needs to get out early before the heat builds.
This Ruddy Ground was at Highway Tank. This is the first one I’ve found on my own. I’ve seen a couple of others after following reports from other birders. A Slate-colored Fox Sparrow at Highway Tank, this morning. An Eastern Phoebe at Highway Tank, it has been there for a few days now. Quite a rare bird in the Sonoran Desert. A Cooper’s Hawk strafing the pond. I got out with the blacklight one night. This is Hemiphileurus illatus, Lesser Triceratops Beetle, a species of rhinoceros beetle. Adults and larvae feed on other insects and insect eggs. A close crop of the head showing the horns that give this species the name of Lesser Triceratops Beetle. This strange insect had me puzzled as to whether it was a moth or a bug. It is a bug, a Hemipteran, Scolopsella reticulata. It is a species of planthopper, and the only member of its genus found in North America. I can find very little information about it. There are only 12 records in iNaturalist.
I left Granite Gap on Monday and drove to Ajo. Before next week is over I may wish I had stayed at Granite Gap, it is going to get hot again! I suppose I will survive. I’m glad I came here though, last night we got a California Kingsnake, a species that I’ve only seen dead on the road once before. This one was smaller and easily photographed and handled. Birding has been pretty good too. There is an invasion of Red-breasted Nuthatches, and they are turning up in places where the species has never been reported, like Ajo. Previous to yesterday, there were no eBird records of Red-breasted Nuthatch in the Ajo area, I’ve now seen three.
This is the first Red-breasted Nuthatch I saw. It was in Bud Walker Park. Yesterday Greg Gilson found this Palm Warbler at the golf course. This morning, five of us were treated to see it as it was still here. Another first for the Ajo area. Greg also saw a Golden-crowned Sparrow yesterday, but we could not find it today. Here’s the California Kingsnake. It is very similar to the Long-nosed Snake, but the snout is shorter and the black bands go around the entire body. The white patches are wider at the bottom too. A pair of Western Diamondbacks we found under some old plywood at the golf course. I went to Highway Tank one day and found this lion track with a coyote track superimposed over the left toe. While out for a hike at Granite Gap I came across this plant, something new to me. It is Stinging Serpent, Cevallia sinuata. The leaves are armed with spines that emit formic acid. The plants were past flowering, this is a seed head. Another image that shows the leaves of Stinging Serpent.
It just won’t cool down out at Ajo. It did for few days but then the heat returned. It looks like maybe next week it will start to cool down again. It has been very nice here at Granite Gap. I have lots of hummingbirds at my feeders, but only three species so far.
I don’t think I’ve ever posted a photo of my campsite here at Granite Gap. I’m backed up to some big rocks and a few juniper trees, it gives some shade in late afternoon and protection from southwest winds, which is the prevalent wind direction here. State Highway 80 is about 300 yards behind the rocks, but there is very little traffic. This Bewick’s Wren posed nicely for me a few days ago, right outside the camper. This morning I came back from my hike and found this Painted Redstart behind the camper. I’ve never seen one here before. I suppose it is a migrant from the mountains heading south. A large robber fly, sucking the juice out of an unidentified insect.
I’ve gone as far south as I’m going to. Now I’m heading west. I stopped at Valley of Fires for a couple of nights. There was only one campsite open and it was directly across from the restrooms/showers. Not a good spot, people coming going all day and night. Now, I’m at Granite Gap and as usual, it is quiet and peaceful. I’ve been here since Sunday. It is a little hotter than I’d like but it is tolerable. Cool weather is on the horizon.
I keep the cooler in the shade of large juniper behind the camper. Last night, I went out to get some food and was startled by the buzzing rattle of a startled Black-tailed Rattlesnake. I didn’t have my flashlight as the full moon put out plenty of light. I didn’t have any trouble spotting the snake about 5 ft. away, backed up against the rocks behind the cooler. Naturally, I got the camera and put on the flash and took some photos. I’ve got three species of hummingbirds coming in, this one is a juvenile Broad-tailed Hummingbird. One very pugnacious Rufous Hummingbird. Most of them are Black-chinned Hummingbirds. Males are difficult to get a photo of that shows the black and violet gorget. This one turned out pretty good. This Warbling Vireo has just caught a leaf-footed bug. A Cassin’s Sparrow that was surprisingly cooperative, usually they are very sneaky outside of the nesting season. Indian Rushpea, Hoffmannseggia glauca. Several Native American tribes ate the tuberous bulbs raw, boiled or roasted, including Pima, Apache, and Pueblo.
