Mike in the Wild

While photographing birds is a fun hobby, identifying and categorizing them is a science.  I wish I had paid more attention to the classification of animal life during my mandatory junior high school biology courses.  My interest in birding, and specifically in the flycatcher family, has given me a deep dive into avian taxonomy. When you start paying attention to birds and their names, you run into new and unfamiliar words like passerines and empids .  I  noticed quickly that these words were being associated with a number of birds that were called flycatchers.  Growing up in the northeast, I was familiar with blue jays, chickadees and robins but not at all with this new species.  When I embraced this new pastime here in Arizona, one of the first birds I shot was a male vermilion flycatcher.   Scarlet like the very familiar cardinal, he's one of prettiest and brightest birds in our desert.  It turns out that he's not only a flycatcher, but he's...

Most cities in the desert southwest discharge treated wastewater or effluent back into the aquifer as a way to preserve their precious commodity.  Several communities even rely on this underground storage - a natural filtration system -  for their municipal water supplies.  The fast-growing city of Gilbert in the far southeastern corner of the Valley has created a unique environment around their public works in the form of a riparian preserve. Spread over 110 acres, seven ponds take turns collecting water before it seeps into the ground.  These shallow bodies of water attract plant and animal life - mostly in the form of birds.   A network of densely treed paths and trails crisscross the property providing miles of habitat for mammals and even more species of birds.  Many migratory species including flocks of Canadian geese and dowitchers will spend the winter here.   Meanwhile, desert birds like towhees, thrashers, quail and verdins make their homes...

Botanical gardens abound in the desert, almost in defiance of the preconception that life doesn't thrive in arid climates.  Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, Arizona's oldest and largest, takes the idea to another level.  It makes a point to feature not just native Sonoran Desert flora, but plants from all the dry landscapes of North and South America, southern Africa and Australia.   Spread over close to 400 acres, the park's paths meander through endless collections of cacti, agaves, trees, bushes and flowers.  The preserve owes its existence to mining magnate Colonel William Boyce Thompson, who donated his winter house and its surrounding garden to the arboretum in 1928. Nestled along Queen Queek, below scenic Picket Post Mountain, the park is an easy one hour drive east from central Phoenix into Tonto National Forest.  It features various biomes, including a eucalyptus forest, an expanse of the Chihuahuan Desert, a grove of fruit trees and a man-made ...