Is it just me, or is there a slightly cross-eyed platypus lurking in my local grocery store’s restroom? A restroom conveniently placed at a critical point on my walks.
Photo Memory of the Week
Posted: 2025 Aug 20
Black-crowned Night Heron, Gilbert AZ (Again)
I have both celebrated this lovely bird and bemoaned its photographic challenges.
As the photo on the left (from a few years ago) and the photo on the right (from a few weeks ago) both show, the black-crowned night heron likes to skulk in the shrubbery, making portraits difficult.
Combined with their tendency to sit still for hours on end, this seems a lot like thumbing their nose at their photographic responsibilities. It’s all the more exciting, then, when one actually emerges from the weeds, so to speak, and Does Something. In the Spring, I guess a young night heron’s fancy turns to sticks. But I’m guessing, too, that the nest under construction is even deeper in the shrubbery.
How to See a Roadrunner
The most-asked question at tourism offices in Arizona?
How can I see a roadrunner?
Tip #1: Go where roadrunners live.
Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Laughing Frequently, Photos of Fauna
Tagged Birds, Desert
16 Comments
Grow, Grow, Thou Winter Rose
In the comments on Falling into Spring, Tom W. challenged/provoked/asked Jim T. to craft a poem about his dagnabbed roses.
Jim did, posting it as a Comment. Thanks, Jim.
Grow, grow, thou winter rose,Thou art not so moroseAs winter’s bitter snows;Thy thorns are not so vicious,As freezing rain is viscous,and never meretricious.
To see more from Jim, check out his poetry page on his blog. I don’t have a photo of a winter rose, but here’s a summer one.
Posted in Another Thing, Feeling Clearly, Laughing Frequently
Tagged Conversations, Flowers, Weather
8 Comments
Snowy Egret, Gilbert AZ
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (which oughtta know), great egrets are 37 – 40 inches long, whereas snowy egrets are only 22 – 26 inches. You might think that size difference would be obvious, even in casual observation. I certainly thought so, until I casually observed some big white birds.
Standing in/near water and hunched down/over, ready to pounce — as they tend to be — great egrets and snowy egrets can be remarkably difficult to tell apart.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame?
Sort of.
Cottonwood Tree, Gilbert AZ
Unlike some evergreen desert plants, the cottonwood trees along Queen Creek Wash take winter seriously: they’ve dropped all their leaves. As I recall, they’ll be fully green again by the time we leave, in late March.
Until I looked it up, I didn’t know that “cottonwood” refers to a genus of 25 – 35 species, whose English names include “poplar” and “aspen” as well as “cottonwood.” A Prairie girl, I grew up with poplars galore, but I had never associated those fast-growing but not super impressive trees with the huge cottonwood specimens that line every source of water in Arizona, even the ephemeral ones. Continue reading
Motorcycle Face
Walking back from my, well, walk, I pass a big motorcycle in the parking lot of a strip mall. On the pavement, two helmets are neatly tucked in beside the back wheel. Tire?
Funny. I don’t remember there being a biker bar in this neighbourhood mall, and neither is there. The bike is parked out front of . . . a nail salon. With the big lens on my camera, I have to back across the parking lot to frame the shot, and then only just.
As a bonus, I get another face for my collection. A little piggy, don’t you think?
Patrick Henry and Me
Hkaagh, hkaagh
Is that a choking noise coming from the screen? Something must be misspelled. Well, it happens. I’m not an accomplished typist. I look up from the keyboard to see what’s wrong.
But what catches my eye first is something I haven’t seen before: my email app has taken a lesson from my phone and is offering me options to correct my (presumed) mistake.
Back-and-frothing