Mike in the Wild

I awoke to the sound of breaking glass coming from outside my bedroom window.   Even though it was 12:30 AM, I grabbed a flashlight and headed outside in the direction of the noise, towards my neighbors' house.  I knew they were out of town, and I would have wanted them to similarly keep an eye on my place while I traveled.  When I reached the end of my driveway, I could see a pair of bright eyes across the street reflecting the beam of my flashlight.  On a slope below where my neighbors kept their trash bins, a bear was staring directly at me.  And then it turned, climbed up the slope, and sauntered away down the street.   Just a few weeks later, I would have an entirely different bear story that occurred very much closer -  not a hundred feet away but a mere six feet from my front door.  My summer had begun several weeks earlier with lots of bear sightings in my Prescott neighborhood.  There were stories of a big one that kept get...

Bugs are something to reliably count on seeing every summer evening in Prescott, at least for now.  Luckily they're usually not the annoying ones: houseflies besetting your face, mosquitoes biting your ankles.  Instead more colorful, less hyperactive nocturnal insects creep out of the shadows.   When the porch lights switch on after twilight, it only takes an hour or so before moths appear on the scene.  These lepidopterans share a large family with skippers and butterflies, varieties that I mostly see during the daylight hours.  The nocturnal moths are just as attracted to my home's lights during colder temperatures in the fall and spring.  While many are colorful, it's their wide variation in size that's most notable, ranging from a tiny couple millimeters to almost the width of a hand when the polyphemus moth pays an infrequent visit. If monsoon rains have drenched the landscape, June bugs - despite the name, it's usually July when they start sh...

Prescott National Forest is a wonderland of activities for outdoor lovers, encompassing a vast range of mountains and grasslands in north central Arizona.   The Bradshaw and Black Hill Mountains may be the two most prominent ranges in the federally-managed lands, but Granite Mountain is probably the most distinct.  Close to the town of Prescott, the range is named after a sheer granite face in its southwest corner.   The higher elevations of the range are protected as a wilderness area, a place where peregrine falcons regularly nest.  But lower in the forest, a man-made lake is the center piece of Granite Basin Lake Recreation area.  Even though it's a small body of water, people still manage to boat on it and fish in it.  As for me, the wooded areas of both deciduous and conifer trees create an irresistible habitat for birds. There are the normal assortment of pine and oak tree-loving birds, like scrub jays, titmice, bushtits, nuthatches and ...

It's that time of year, when the night time temperatures in the highlands of central Arizona reach freezing.  The green leaves of many trees are changing color and, interestingly, some of the needles on ponderosa pines are turning brown and dropping in their semiannual routine.  Enjoy these several pictures of a quiet morning walk along Willow Creek between Camp Emmanuel Pines and Trail 332, a final homage to many of my 2017 visits to the Prescott area. A neighbor's aspen or birch tree in its autumn glory. Willow Creek as it cuts through a ridge near Camp Emmanuel Pines. View along Willow Creek with dry-needled ponderosa pines. Colors along Willow Creek. A deer paying close attention to me along Willow Creek. Deer with autumn color and light along Willow Creek. Deer with autumn color along Willow Creek.  Adieu Prescott.  The mild desert temperatures are calling.

Prescott National Forest encompasses the highest peaks and mountain ranges that surround the population centers in the heart of Yavapai County.   But unique in this environment lies a serene body of water, Lynx Lake. At 55 acres, it's not as big as Phoenix's reservoirs or the damned lakes along the Colorado River, or for that matter even nearby Watson and Willow Lakes.  But ringed with ponderosa pines and offering miles-wide views of the nearby Bradshaw Mountains, it's a cool and scenic recreational escape for heat-weary desert dwellers living just an hour south. Boating, camping, hiking and fishing are just a few of the activities that Lynx Lake offers.  Bird watching is especially good, as various water birds, including cormorants, ducks and grebes call the area home.  On a lucky day, bald eagles and ospreys can be spied fishing along with human anglers.  Near a German-themed seasonal restaurant, wooden boxes house nesting western bluebirds while humm...