Page 10 – Doug Backlund Travel and Photography

The Big Show Continues

The spring bloom is living up to its name. I’m seeing flowers that I haven’t seen for years due to the drought. This spring, the soil is moist and the vegetation lush. Astrophotography isn’t going as well; cloudy nights have really limited that activity. It looks like I might get one or two good nights before the clouds roll back in.

Here’s one of the flowers I haven’t seen for a couple of years. The Ajo Lilies are starting to bloom and there will be a lot of them. Unlike a lot of the desert flowers, many of which are very small, the Ajo Lily is a big and showy flower.

This is Alkali Phacelia, *Phacelia neglecta*.

Devil’s Spineflower, *Chorizanthe rigida*. Most of the year all one sees of this plant is the dried-up stalk. There are tiny yellow flowers hidden in the spines. The white flowers that show on the edges are Mohave Desert Stars, which are extremely abundant right now.

Wooly Daisy, *Eriophyllum linosum*. There are other species of Eriophyllum too, I think this is the correct species but don’t have a comprehensive key to the plants of Arizona so I may have to revise.

Pygmy Golden Poppy, *Eschscholzia minutiflora*. Not as showy as the popular Mexican Poppy, this species is not all that common either.

Here’s a strange plant, a shrub in the Nightshade (Solanaceae) Family. On a recent trip to Quitoboquito Spring, some fellow naturalists and I saw two of these plants in the Senita Basin. Paul Johnson is standing by one of the plants, it is about six feet tall. Known as Sonoran Nightshade, *Solanum hindsianum*, it is common in Mexico but very rare in the southern Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

A closeup of one of the flowers of Sonoran Nightshade.

At Quitoboquito Spring, we saw this Variable Sandsnake, only the second one I’ve ever seen.

Sonoran Mud Turtles at Quitoboquito Spring.

Perry’s Beardtongue, *Penstemon parryi*.

Flowers and Plants

Spring Flower Show

It is starting, the spring bloom. The diversity is still low, but more and more plants are starting to flower. I expect this will be one of the best spring flower seasons I’ve ever experienced in the Sonoran Desert. I thought I would post a few photos from today.

Desert Evening Primrose,*Oenothera primiveris*

White Easter Bonnet, *Eriophyllum lanosum*

Desertgold, aka Desert Sunflower, *Geraea canescen*s

Astrophotography Birding Photography

More Rain and a Little Snow

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date March 4, 2023
1 Comment on More Rain and a Little Snow

It has been a long stretch of cool to cold, wet and windy weather. Just a couple of days ago, the area got an inch of rain and some snow on the mountains. However, I think we have finally turned the corner on winter and spring is going to take over. This has certainly been the coldest winter I’ve spent in the Sonoran Desert. I entered eleven photos in the Cabeza Prieta Natural History Association Sonoran Desert Photo Show. I found a good place to get photos printed right here in Ajo so I picked out some of my favorite Sonoran Desert photos. All the entries will be on display for the month of March.

What’s that white stuff? It didn’t last long. Snow on Child’s Mountain.

There are more swifts and swallows starting to show up. I still keep trying for a good shot of a White-throated Swift and was rewarded with this one.

After one of the recent storms, I checked Lake Ajo and found this Herring Gull on February 22. This is a pretty rare bird for Pima County and some birders were on the way to see it, but it flew off about 30 minutes after I saw it and never returned.

I have had absolutely no good weather for astro since my last post. This is M63 that I imaged last spring while at Granite Gap. I spent a lot of time reprocessing this image. I think this version is much improved. Also known as the Sunflower Galaxy.

Astrophotography Photography

February Astro

It has not been very good weather for doing astrophotography, or anything else for that matter. Cloudy, windy, cold, and even wet most of the time. I have only managed a few nights of good astro weather. Birding hasn’t fared much better, but I am able to pick up 25-30 species on a good day. I have now seen at least five different Long-eared Owls in the area. They do not cooperate for good photos.

This is one of those “I did it to see what it would look like” astro images. In the upper left is NGC 2537, also known as the Bear Paw Galaxy. It is a blue, compact dwarf galaxy in the constellation Lynx, about 22 million light years away. The narrow galaxy in the lower right is IC 2233. The two galaxies were once thought to be interacting, but we now know that they are separated by vast distances and not close enough, IC 2233 is probably at least 30-40 million light years out there. There are many other galaxies in the background.

Here’s a tighter crop on the Bear Paw Galaxy, one can see how it gets its name (except a bear would actually have 5 toes). Maybe there are 3 toed bear-like creatures on a planet orbiting one the galaxies stars. Or some intelligent life form shooting images of the Milky Way Galaxy and wondering the same things.

I’ve imaged the Leo Triplets and each of the three galaxies in the triplet, but this is the first time I’ve tried the Leo Quartet. Each of these galaxies is very small in view, much smaller and fainter than the Leo Triplets. Also known as Hickson 44 galaxy group, these are interacting galaxies. Located in the constellation Leo and about 80 million light years out there.

The Tiger’s Eye or NGC 2841. I have imaged this before and am just adding more exposure. Lots of distant background galaxies, none of which show up in Stellarium.

NGC 2683, also known as the UFO Galaxy. As with the Tiger’s Eye, I’m just adding more exposure to a previous image.

Despite the lousy weather, spring is starting to show, I saw my first Mohave Desert Stars a few days ago. A sure sign of spring!

Astrophotography Birding

Owls and the Comet

I went owling a few nights ago. I didn’t expect to get much but I did get what I expected, Western Screech-Owls and Great Horned Owls. I only heard the Great Horned Owls but I played some screech-owl calls and had a pair come in close. The weather has been just about perfect lately. Of course now it is the full moon time and I haven’t been doing any astro. Back when it was still dark enough, I imaged comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) again, this time with the 500 f4, giving a much wider field of view.

Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) as it appeared awhile back. I imaged this around midnight, giving it enough time rise higher in the sky. I could easily see it in binoculars when the sky was dark but now with the bright moon it would be hard to see. A few more days and it would be worth looking for it again.

Lately there has been an invasion of Sage Thrasher. One morning I stepped outside the camper, and I saw one, so I got my camera and bird songs, it didn’t take long before I had three Sage Thrashers right here at camp. I saw two more yesterday.

I had two Western Screech-Owls calling and got photos of both. Their plumages are different enough to recognize that they are different birds.

It has been a long time since I’ve photographed Western Screech-Owls. It is fun getting out there at night and finding the nocturnal birds.

Astrophotography

More Astro and the Green Comet

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date January 25, 2023

The last few nights have been clear, cold and good for astrophotography. Just in time for the return of the moon. I’m done for now, having put everything away until the next full moon passes. I suppose I could get up in the early mornings and shoot but it is too cold to make that very enjoyable.

M82, the Cigar Galaxy. I added more exposure to what I had from last year. I think I’m getting close to showing an overprocessed image, trying to show the red tendrils of glowing hydrogen emitting from the core of the starburst galaxy.

The Monkeyhead Nebula in Orion. Another one that I’ve imaged in the past and am just adding more exposure to it.

Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) is approaching Earth for a close encounter on Feb. 1st. Right now, it is easily seen in binoculars in the area between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. It doesn’t get high enough until nearly midnight, MST. The press has been promoting this a lot as a “the green comet”. Comets in general glow green when near the sun so this one is not unusual at all. What is unusual is the anti-tail, the comet appears to have 3 tails now, the dust tail, ion tail, and an anti-tail. It will continue to brighten and should be easy to see in another 2-3 weeks.

Astrophotography Photography

January Astro

It has been a strange month, starting out cloudy a lot of the time, then rain, now cold. It is cold enough at night to take a lot of the fun out of being outside doing astro. I’m still doing it though. A couple more nights to go then the moon will take over for a while.

I’ve put in parts of three nights doing Thor’s Helmet, again. This time with the C8. I did some pretty fancy processing to make it look this good. I’m starting to think I need new software rather than a new camera!

Same with M78. My favorite nebula showing interstellar dust clouds and reflection nebulas, in the constellation Orion.

This is the Headphone Nebula, officially Jones-Emberson 1, a very faint planetary nebula in the constellation Lynx. I have wanted to try this one for a long time. Last winter I planned on it but could not even find it, it is far too dim to see in the scope and even long exposures are barely enough to show it. I figured out where it is this winter. At the center is a very blue **white dwarf star**, leftover from the shedding of the outer layers of gas from the dying star.

The Flame Nebula, actually a part of the Horsehead Nebula complex. With the C8 this is about all of the Horsehead Nebula that will fit in the frame. The huge bright star is Alnitak. Alnitak is a blue supergiant with two companion stars, all three appear as one.

I took an afternoon hike on Black Mountain and while coming down a steep arroyo I discovered this Desert Bighorn skull. This is certainly the largest ram specimen I’ve seen around here. I’m going to check on the legalities of possessing something like this and if it is OK, I will go back and salvage it.

Astrophotography Birding Photography

Time for an Update

It has been a long time since I’ve posted anything, due mostly to not having much to post. It has been poor for astrophotography and not much for new birds. Of course, this time of year is very slow for herps and butterflies. So, I just go for hikes, read books, find what birds I can and try to get some good photos. This is turning out to be a fairly wet winter and the hope is that the spring bloom will be a good one. As always, right click and open in a new tab to see a larger image.

This is NGC 1961 in the Camelopardalis constellation.

The distance is around 180-200 million light years, and its apparent size is 4’x3′; it is the largest member of a small group of ten galaxies. At this size, it is very small for astrophotography so I’m pleased with how it turned out. None of the stars in this image would be visible to the unaided eye and most would be invisible even with binoculars.

It is also classified as Arp 184 (Arp is the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies). The strange shape of this galaxy has never been completely explained. There is no trace of an interaction with a companion. There are other background galaxies about which I know nothing, the distances must be much greater.

What’s that? Apparently a hybrid Mexican Duck/Mallard. That’s a hen Mallard behind it. This bird showed up at Lake Ajo for a few days then left.

One of the few Sage Thrashers I’ve seen this winter. This one posed nicely for some photos.

This is the winter for Lark Sparrows in the Sonoran Desert. I have never seen so many in this area.

Yet another photo of a Green-tailed Towhee, which are pretty common this winter too.

Sagebrush Sparrows are in lower numbers than I’m used to. I’ve only seen five of them so far.

A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher showing the underside of the tail, a key characteristic to differentiate from the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher.

Astrophotography Birding Uncategorized

Birding and Astro Update

It has been very typical Sonoran Desert winter weather, daytime highs in the 60’s and lows in the 40’s. Perfect, in my opinion. On New Year’s Day the forecast is for rain. I’ve been on a search for Black-chinned Sparrows, which I usually can find in the mountains around the area, but so far, I haven’t found any. The Ajo Mountain Loop Road in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is the best place to find them, but it is closed for repair until mid-January. I’ve been having some nice hikes though.

I was hiking on Child’s Mountain when I came to a large canyon, so I tried a Canyon Wren call. This one came right in. I get a thrill every time I can get a nice photo like this!

On my hike up the slopes of Black Mountain (searching for Black-chinned Sparrows) I found another wintering Gray Vireo.

I had to try the Horsehead Nebula again. Good nights for astrophotography have been somewhat limited. The few I’ve had have been with the 500 f4 lens mounted on the Losmandy. Next round of astro will be with the C8.

The Jellyfish Nebula in Gemini. It has been a long time since I tried this one. It is a difficult object, very faint and in a rich star field. Some astrophotographers use software to remove the stars and artificial intelligence software to enhance the image. Images seen online that look really artificial are just that. AI software tends to add artifacts and other issues that I don’t really like. So, I avoid doing those things. This nebula, IC 443, is a huge supernova remnant. It is about 70 light years distant and from our perspective, larger than a full moon, but much too faint to see. The bright star in the upper right is Propus, also known as Tajat Prior, and also as η Geminorum.

This dark nebula is variously known as the Vulture Head, Baby Eagle Nebula, and officially LBN 777. It is located near the Pleiades.

Astrophotography Birding

Ajo CBC and Cold Weather

I know that the folks back in South Dakota aren’t going to have much sympathy for me here. But it has been pretty cold for this area, and it has been a long-lasting cold snap as well. The end is near though as a warming trend is finally coming. Daytime highs in the low 50’s will soon be in the upper 60’s and 70’s. The Ajo CBC was held on Friday, and I had my usual unit. A Spotted Towhee was probably the best bird for me, and I got the other two species of Towhees as well, Green-tailed and Canyon, all within 100 yards of each other. Another good find was a Canyon Wren, and I got some nice photos of that. Astrophotography has been slow and cold. Quite a few cloudy nights and the nights that were clear had heavy dew that later froze on surfaces.