Mike in the Wild

Spring's arrival in the Arizona desert shows itself in many ways: temperatures flirting with the nineties, innumerable cactus flowers, blooming palo verde trees, and nesting birds.   The colors of the flora are a visual delight while the warm and dry climate is usually pleasant enough for lots of outdoor activities.  But sometimes our avian friends are an affront to our hearing, especially when it interrupts our sleep. Northern mockingbirds are one of the most common birds in Phoenix's neighborhoods.  Normally their endless varieties of calls are a beautiful and melodious soundtrack to the outdoor landscape.  But in the spring their tweets seem to take on a frantic, incessant rhythm as they try to attract mates.  At one point, their songs start to puncture the calm of night, seeming to invite doves and grackles to the sleep-depriving cacophony. Nevertheless the noisy season is a celebration of life as many birds breed throughout the area.  In time for Easter, mallard duckli

By now, most seasonal visitors to Arizona's deserts have decamped for cooler climates north.  Any recreational vehicles you see on the state's highways are either heading in that direction or toward a pleasant seaside coast.  Likewise, many birds have taken weather cues and migrated to chillier breeding grounds. I thought I had exhausted all my chances of uncovering new, unseen-before winter visitors on the area waterways after I discovered my first canvasbacks and common mergansers in January.  But the season had one more treat in store for me after I ran into some buffleheads on Watson Lake in cooler Prescott this past week. While I did actually photograph a pair of males on nearby Willow Lake last year, this year I finally got to see a female along with what might be her breeding partner.  This species of duck doesn't tend to flock in any sizable numbers, and while they don't necessarily mate for life, individual males and females tend to breed and migrate togeth

Arizona is home at least part of the year to almost twenty species of hummingbirds, more than in any other state in the union.  Most of these birds can be found in the far southern part of the state where high mountain terrains create ideal environments for a number of breeds whose range is mostly in Mexico.   Several hummingbirds migrate through the state between winter homes in Latin America and breeding homes in the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest.  A species I've written about and photographed that makes this very journey is the rufous hummingbird.  Indeed some of my favorite posts have been about his summer stops at my Prescott home.  Now it turns out that at least on one occasion another migratory hummingbird has laid over at my home, but this time it was in sweltering Phoenix. When I caught the birding bug three years ago I photographed every bird I saw.  At the beginning, most pictures were poor but in the end they were helpful in identifying species.  I regul

"Wahk, Wahk, Wahk," from high in a neighborhood palm tree usually means a Gila woodpecker is sounding an alarm.  Emanating a bit closer from my backyard's wall, this squawk indicates he's specifically eyeing the sugar water in my hummingbird feeder.  Last year, I posted several shots of the bird using his long, slender tongue to slurp nectar.  (Click here for link.) However this year, the species is attracted to a new source of nutrition in my yard - aloe vera blooms.  After many years of planting seasonal flowers in my garden beds, I transitioned to vegetables for several years.  But last year I decided to plant permanent, low-water use succulents, choosing aloe vera plants as focal points for my new landscaping.  Many varieties of aloe do well in Arizona's deserts, which isn't surprising since the aloe vera originated from the arid Arabian peninsula.   In addition, hybrid forms of aloes have been developed that are even more drought and sun tolerant tha