Birds in the Snow (from the back door)

 

After yesterday's Chiricahua adventure that included hours of cold, wet feet, and this morning's hour-long walk in snow and cold wind, I had no desire to bundle up to try for good photographs of birds at the feeders, but it was interesting to see that gusting snow did not keep a gang of hungry house finches from collecting. I ventured no farther than the back door, standing there in my slippers, the door open just long enough for a click!

Later, as the wind was abating, the snowstorm winding down, I opened the back door again and aimed at the feeders. Wasn't this cardinal the clever fellow, though? Posing against the white background!

Frequent Visitors

 

The northern cardinal, a bird that presents itself strikingly against northern snow,

makes a welcome splash of color in the Southwest against a grey and brown backdrop.

The curve-billed thrasher, dull in color,

is equally welcome (despite his grumpy look),

because he sings almost as beautifully 

as the mockingbird.

Let's Get Closer

 

Arizona Range Scene

 

Magic Mountain Morning

 

Looking toward the dawn on a snowy morning

That early morning light was in the west.

There was more color in the west than in the east, too.

In the east, clouds delayed sunrise.

Waiting, waiting for sunrise....

But higher in the mountains, the sun already reached the ground.

And every minute, the light was changing.

The magic was dizzying.

Any moment now --

The SUN!!!

But sun we have almost every day in Southern Arizona.

Snow, now --

Snow is the big story today!

High Grew the Grasses

Look at Sunny Juliet, close to sunset, sitting in this year's tall grass! Good thing she has that bright orange harness so I don't lose her on the savannah! 

 

Even a big ol' barrel cactus can be tricky to spot this year, unless you're right on top of it. 

And Peasy's tree, below -- usually surrounded by cow-trampled bare earth, this year it emerges from a sea of grass. 

Blades of grass as numerous (or so it seems) as stars in the nighttime desert sky. And yet, myriad as they are, they always merit a closer look. 

And now, if you're feeling lonely or altruistic or wise or holidayish or on-the-fence-about-the-hollidays, consider joining the conversation here. Thanks!

Strings of Stars

 

I hope the backlighting of late afternoon sun shows you what I see every day here on dog walks. Most of the mesquites out on the range are untidy shrubs rather than stately trees, but many of them are strung with morning glory vines that look, to me, when the light hits them just right, like strings of stars, each seed pod (having opened to release its black seeds) a five-pointed star. Most of the seed pods appear in pairs. I looked for single pods to photograph, thinking they would show the star effect better, but it's really the overall effect (top photograph), I think, that gives the best impression of what my eye sees.

I'm coming back to add a photograph that is not one of my own but one a neighbor sent me this past summer. It shows the morning glories in bloom in the wash, the vines winding through the green of the mesquite. Very different, isn't it?