Return of the Roadrunner
Dec. 10th, 2009 11:21 pm
What I did on Saturday
Nov. 22nd, 2009 07:49 pmSaturday was the annual Sunday School excursion to the Wildlife World Zoo near Phoenix. It was a quick turnaround after the Stanford trip last week, but I'm glad I went. The weather was perfect, everyone had a good time, and I got some nice photos.
( Several pictures and a video )
Here's the full set of photos and videos on Flickr
( Several pictures and a video )
Here's the full set of photos and videos on Flickr
(no subject)
Oct. 2nd, 2009 08:10 pm
I went down to the turtle pond today. It's the time of year for dragonflies ...
Signs of spring
Feb. 19th, 2009 11:20 pmNo cactus flowers yet, but there are buds on the beavertail by the Newman Center, and the cholla on the corner across from the office.
I've seen a couple of little lizards in the last few days, skittering across the gravel.
All sorts of things are blooming: sweet yellow-and-black cassia; the little peach tree down on the west end of the campus; water wattle; various nameless shrubs. I may be allergic to at least one of them.
There were no less than three turtles hanging out on the bank of the turtle pond today. I'd begun to wonder whether more than one had survived the winter.
I've seen a couple of little lizards in the last few days, skittering across the gravel.
All sorts of things are blooming: sweet yellow-and-black cassia; the little peach tree down on the west end of the campus; water wattle; various nameless shrubs. I may be allergic to at least one of them.
There were no less than three turtles hanging out on the bank of the turtle pond today. I'd begun to wonder whether more than one had survived the winter.
Zooming at the zoo
Nov. 24th, 2008 09:46 am
IMG_1433
Originally uploaded by ellarien.
On Saturday I was at the Wildlife World Zoo near Phoenix. I took the bigger camera this time, which was something of a logistical challenge but well worth it. (I've never actually taken that camera further than the campus in the year I've had it.) The light was wonderful and the weather was perfect, and the zoom really comes into its own in that kind of situation.
More at the Flickr set here.
I think I may be over the jet lag; I woke naturally at 7 this morning; there was a dream before that in which I was impossibly weak and exhausted, but in real life I feel more or less normal. Normal for the aftermath of a Phoenix run, anyway, so I don't think I'll be staying up terribly late tonight.
A storm must have just brushed by Tucson this afternoon; no rain, but when I got back around 4.30 the sky was gray and the temperature was in the 80s instead of the 100s, which made the slog across campus rather more bearable.
Wildlife spotted between the office and home, not counting mourning doves: one half-inch green beetle, with shiny legs and a duller carapace; four Gambel quail trotting along the boundary of the apartment complex; a cactus wren lighting briefly on a windowsill and flying off again. Wildlife spotted in Tolleson: several burrowing owls, a nighthawk, a distant flight of cormorants; a humming bird at the feeder.
A storm must have just brushed by Tucson this afternoon; no rain, but when I got back around 4.30 the sky was gray and the temperature was in the 80s instead of the 100s, which made the slog across campus rather more bearable.
Wildlife spotted between the office and home, not counting mourning doves: one half-inch green beetle, with shiny legs and a duller carapace; four Gambel quail trotting along the boundary of the apartment complex; a cactus wren lighting briefly on a windowsill and flying off again. Wildlife spotted in Tolleson: several burrowing owls, a nighthawk, a distant flight of cormorants; a humming bird at the feeder.
Tortoiseshell
Aug. 16th, 2007 08:00 am
DSC08654
Originally uploaded by ellarien.
There's a long disused road over the moors on the edge of Sheffield that we call the Sheep Track. Somewhere out there they built decoy buildings in the War, hoping to distract the bombers from the city. (It didn't work, so's you'd notice, which is why most of the department stores are now in 1950s buildings, but that's another story.) These days it's just a rough track over empty moorland, with sheep and tumbledown stone walls and a hazy view over the valleys of the city.
It's lovely up there when the heather's in bloom, but the day we went this year was a few days too early for that. We did meet a small clutch of bright new tortoiseshell butterflies, disporting themselves in a thistle patch.
Bead question, and randomness
Jun. 21st, 2007 08:40 pmI have a question for those of you who bead:
What's the best way to restring a simple bead necklace so that it stays strung? I have a string of rather heavy agate beads; I think my mother did them last, with three strands of fine nylon line, and it held for a number of years, but it's coming undone now. I have access to the usual chain craft stores if necessary -- not that I particularly want to be trekking over there in the midsummer heat.
The next installment of Voyage DVDs arrived. Corny as it is, I'm fond of quite a number of the S3 episodes. The first one, Monster from the Inferno, is not one of my favorites ( spoilers ), but it's good to see the guys again. I just have to remember that I have three quarters of an original novel to write by the end of the year, and not get sidetracked into fanfic again.
I was so hot and tired by the time I got home on Sunday that I forgot about it until just now, but I saw a couple of young bunnies, all big ears and big shiny black eyes, on my way home that afternoon, playing in the grass in front of one of the buildings on the west end of the campus.
The high temperature on campus today was nearly 106F, which is the hottest it's been yet this year. I don't know if that's why the apartment seems to have briefly lost power at some point during the day; I had to reset the clocks on the coffee maker and microwave when I came in.
What's the best way to restring a simple bead necklace so that it stays strung? I have a string of rather heavy agate beads; I think my mother did them last, with three strands of fine nylon line, and it held for a number of years, but it's coming undone now. I have access to the usual chain craft stores if necessary -- not that I particularly want to be trekking over there in the midsummer heat.
The next installment of Voyage DVDs arrived. Corny as it is, I'm fond of quite a number of the S3 episodes. The first one, Monster from the Inferno, is not one of my favorites ( spoilers ), but it's good to see the guys again. I just have to remember that I have three quarters of an original novel to write by the end of the year, and not get sidetracked into fanfic again.
I was so hot and tired by the time I got home on Sunday that I forgot about it until just now, but I saw a couple of young bunnies, all big ears and big shiny black eyes, on my way home that afternoon, playing in the grass in front of one of the buildings on the west end of the campus.
The high temperature on campus today was nearly 106F, which is the hottest it's been yet this year. I don't know if that's why the apartment seems to have briefly lost power at some point during the day; I had to reset the clocks on the coffee maker and microwave when I came in.
Hawaii birds
Jun. 3rd, 2007 03:53 pmWe spotted some unfamiliar birds on our morning walk last Tuesday; they seemed fairly unbothered by our presence, which is how I managed -- at the farthest stretch of my rather feeble 3x zoom -- to get these shots.
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Crested Cardinal Ala Moana Park, Honolulu |
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Unidentified bird Some kind of finch? Ala Moana Park, Honolulu |
Morning in Tucson
Jan. 24th, 2007 09:23 amI popped out for some emergency groceries before breakfast; it's a bright, cold morning, with frost clinging to shady slopes here and there. Arriving home again, I happened to glance up and see a small hawk perched atop a utility pole, sharp against the sky. I don't think it was a redtail, which is what we usually get around here in the winter; it was too small and too grey, but it was definitely a raptor and not a pigeon.
Exeunt, pursuing a bear
Jun. 16th, 2006 09:07 amI was sitting in on a lecture just now. The outside door was open, with the blind drawn up a couple of feet to let in the morning air and the remains of the breakfast buffet spread out nearby. Suddenly there was a cry of 'Bear!' and a shaggy brown rear end and leg were briefly visible. Everyone grabbed cameras and ran first to the windows and then outside, where indeed a sizeable brown bear was strolling through the woods and across the path.
No good pictures to show, alas; I got one hopeless blur and one shot of a nose and hindquarters on opposite sides of a tree.
'Bear with me,' the lecturer said when we finally reconvened and settled down.
No good pictures to show, alas; I got one hopeless blur and one shot of a nose and hindquarters on opposite sides of a tree.
'Bear with me,' the lecturer said when we finally reconvened and settled down.
Desert Museum
Dec. 26th, 2005 08:36 pmToday, I went with friends to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, out to the west of Tucson. It's a fascinating place, part zoo, part botanical garden, concentrating mostly on the species that belong in the local environment. The drive out there is spectacular, over Gates Pass where the road winds through the mountains and the saguaro grow tall on the red-rock hillsides, and the weather was perfect.
We watched Harris's hawks free-flying, swooping low over the heads of the crowds and backwinging to land delicately on the tops of tall cacti, lured back by a docent with a supply of fresh-killed rabbit. Otters swam gleeful laps, one of them showing a decided preference for the backstroke, and a family of bighorn sheep burlesqued on a rocky ledge.
Hummingbirds zipped and chittered among the shrubs in their aviary; we discovered that the best way to see them was just to sit in a quiet corner and watch them dart by. Caught at the right angle of light, their feathers glow with irridescence, purple and red and green. One went by so close to my ear that I could hear the buzz of its wings. In the larger walk-through aviary, the ground was alive with tiny mice, scurrying among the slightly larger inca doves; cardinals and orioles hopped among the branches and a quail scurried across the path. It was warm enough that I had shed most of my layers early on, and it was pleasant to sit in there, on a stone bench in the shade, listening to the stream.
Agave seed heads stood black and dead against the sky, in an amazing variety of shapes; the mountains made a backdrop of hazy blue-grey outlines.
I even found a cactus flower!
I continue not to be very good at photographing live animals, but I'm rather pleased with the prairie dog and the ocelot. ( below the cut )
We watched Harris's hawks free-flying, swooping low over the heads of the crowds and backwinging to land delicately on the tops of tall cacti, lured back by a docent with a supply of fresh-killed rabbit. Otters swam gleeful laps, one of them showing a decided preference for the backstroke, and a family of bighorn sheep burlesqued on a rocky ledge.
Hummingbirds zipped and chittered among the shrubs in their aviary; we discovered that the best way to see them was just to sit in a quiet corner and watch them dart by. Caught at the right angle of light, their feathers glow with irridescence, purple and red and green. One went by so close to my ear that I could hear the buzz of its wings. In the larger walk-through aviary, the ground was alive with tiny mice, scurrying among the slightly larger inca doves; cardinals and orioles hopped among the branches and a quail scurried across the path. It was warm enough that I had shed most of my layers early on, and it was pleasant to sit in there, on a stone bench in the shade, listening to the stream.
Agave seed heads stood black and dead against the sky, in an amazing variety of shapes; the mountains made a backdrop of hazy blue-grey outlines.
I even found a cactus flower!
I continue not to be very good at photographing live animals, but I'm rather pleased with the prairie dog and the ocelot. ( below the cut )
Yesterday I went with some families from my church to the Wildlife World Zoo in Phoenix. The weather was flawless all day. I got to feed bits of apple to a lory parrot perched on my arm; it nibbled away the flesh with its sharp little hooked beak, leaving the skin and core behind. There were swans, both black and white; flamingoes, elegantly two-tone in salmon and pale pink; exquisitely spotted ocelots; colourful parrots; oryx with yard-long horns curving to needle-sharp points; dainty gazelles with smart dark stripes along their sides; monkeys brachiating effortlessly across their mesh-roofed enclosures; snoozing hamsters; thick-furred fennec foxes with big ears; prairie dogs setting lookouts atop tall rocks. The kids romped with baby goats in the petting area and fed grain to the giraffes at the tall feeding station.
As a photographic expedition, it wasn't a huge success for me, between the low winter light, the cages, and the fact that my camera batteries ran low halfway around the zoo, but I'm rather pleased with the giraffe shots.
Afterwards, we adjoined to White Tanks Park for hotdogs, and then went for a fairly gentle hike, only a mile there and a mile back, on a trail that wound among the bushes, rocks and cacti, mostly in the shadow of the mountain. I'd forgotten the way low light draws glowing outlines around a saguaro on the skyline. Some of the boulders bore ancient native pictographs, pale stylized scribbles of snakes and flowers and less identifiable things.
Towards the end, the trail turned steeper, and involved a bit of scrambling over the rocks. The destination turned out to be a waterfall, in the sense that my local Rillito is a river; no water to speak of, but an impressive rock cauldron, with a chute down maybe forty feet of cliff, to suggest that it must be quite something when it rains.
As a photographic expedition, it wasn't a huge success for me, between the low winter light, the cages, and the fact that my camera batteries ran low halfway around the zoo, but I'm rather pleased with the giraffe shots.
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Afterwards, we adjoined to White Tanks Park for hotdogs, and then went for a fairly gentle hike, only a mile there and a mile back, on a trail that wound among the bushes, rocks and cacti, mostly in the shadow of the mountain. I'd forgotten the way low light draws glowing outlines around a saguaro on the skyline. Some of the boulders bore ancient native pictographs, pale stylized scribbles of snakes and flowers and less identifiable things.
Towards the end, the trail turned steeper, and involved a bit of scrambling over the rocks. The destination turned out to be a waterfall, in the sense that my local Rillito is a river; no water to speak of, but an impressive rock cauldron, with a chute down maybe forty feet of cliff, to suggest that it must be quite something when it rains.
Butterflies and Cotton Flowers
Nov. 22nd, 2005 06:48 pmThis afternoon I went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens with a couple of friends. I spent nearly an hour in a greenhouse full of tropical butterflies and moths; huge brown moths; shimmering blue butterflies like dancing pieces of sky; zebra-striped butterflies; fluttering wings in black and white, scarlet and orange and brown and patches of irridiscent green.
Afterwards we spent another couple of hours wandering around the gardens, in a mild, gently clouded afternoon. There were cacti the campus doesn't have, and flowering vines, and a few outdoor butterflies, and a ramada of interestingly insect-eaten native woods. And then there was the cotton plant, obligingly illustrating every stage from flower to fluffy white cotton to empty flour-lobed pods. I'd had no idea that cotton had such lovely flowers, white and pink-flushed, delicately veined and furled.
I took lots of photos, of course, and a few short bits of video. The way LJ is lately, I'm not going to try posting them right now. I'll probably get to it later, though.
Afterwards we spent another couple of hours wandering around the gardens, in a mild, gently clouded afternoon. There were cacti the campus doesn't have, and flowering vines, and a few outdoor butterflies, and a ramada of interestingly insect-eaten native woods. And then there was the cotton plant, obligingly illustrating every stage from flower to fluffy white cotton to empty flour-lobed pods. I'd had no idea that cotton had such lovely flowers, white and pink-flushed, delicately veined and furled.
I took lots of photos, of course, and a few short bits of video. The way LJ is lately, I'm not going to try posting them right now. I'll probably get to it later, though.
