Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Where to start?

Lots of stuff going on and so little desire to sit down and write about it. And the longer it goes the harder it is to start.

I left off at Rancho San Antonio. Most pictures I've taken locally since then have been filed into "to be edited" photos. Many haven't been uploaded to Flickr even.

So I guess I'll post a sampling of the family trip to Arizona.

We went down there to visit my grandpa for a week. He always loves having family come visit and although he lives in a 1-bedroom, single-wide trailer, he wanted us to stay there with him. That was a bit much though. The last time even just 3 of us 4 visited, he had a 2-bedroom, 1.5 wide that was much easier to deal with. So we rented a trailer a few streets over inside the same park and spent most of our days over at his place.
Arizona-9
Sunset behind the hill across the main road.

Lots of loud tv featuring Fox News most days. So even though it was well over 90 most days (could have been worse) mom and I often walked around outside looking for anything to take pictures of.
Bee-31
Cool insect munching on one of the many dead honey bees.

Besides insects, there were a few larger wildlife species about, especially bunnies.
Desert_Cottontail-2
Desert Cottontail Sylvilagus audubonii

We saw lots of cacti in bloom amazingly.
Prickly_Pear-5
Prickly Pear bloom
Unk_Cactus-2
Macro of a cactus spine

We also saw lots of birds - also surprising.
gila_woodpecker-2-2
Gila Woodpecker Melanerpes uropygialis

inca_dove-2
Inca Dove Columbina inca

The trailer park was filled with Gila Woodpeckers and a whole variety of doves. There were also several other birds which I'll share in the next post.

8 comments:

titancia said...

Wow...your photos are gorgeous!! They're stunning.

Linda in Erie said...

Very cool! I have never even heard of an Inca Dove. I like their feathers. The cacti spines are wicked and the prickly pear bloom is just gorgeous. Your first photo is beautiful. Our sunsets are cherry pink and it is so different than out west where they are mostly pretty golden colors. It is very striking against the blue of the sky. The large cloud pattern at the top changes as I look at it. I know it isn't but it seems to!

Heidi said...

Thank you Dawn!

Thanks Linda! It's funny to see the color differences of sunsets across the country. California is a light yellow to golden. Arizona is usually a brighter yellow with pink afterglow. New Mexico is deep pinks to purples. I can't recall what it was like in Kansas. I'm thinking pinkish. I remember pink on vacations back east too. I confess, the deep blue was enhanced with some saturation. It was a lighter blue.

Leedra said...

The Inca Dove photo is great!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Neat photo of the Inca dove. I think they look scaly.

Mary C said...

Nice group of shots from the trip. My fav here in your post is the one of the bug eating the honey bee. ;o)

Adam R. Paul said...

Love the prickly pear bloom & especially the cactus spine closeup - ouch!

Very cool that you saw (and phtoographed!) a Gila Woodpecker & Inca Dove - both would be lifers for me.

Heidi said...

Thanks Leedra :)
Thanks Lynne! Me too :)
Thanks Mom - glad you came to tell me to grab my camera for that. The more I look at it, the more I like it.
Thanks Adam - at least that one wasn't so painful. A prickly pear got me. It took two weeks for some of the finer spines to work their way out of my legs.

I think I forgot to mention it in the post - but I know I put it on Flickr - but that Inca was also a lifer for me. I'd seen Gila Woodpeckers before, but this was my first photo of one.

 

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