Flora Survey Round Two

Oct 1

Flora Survey Round Two

Today marked the second round of the Flora Survey of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Today we went to the Lost Dog Wash and boy…was it dry! So far this year, we’ve only received half the amount of normal rainfall so much of our desert is very dry. We did manage to find one plant that hadn’t been documented, though. We had lots of fun including almost stepping on a sleeping Rattlesnake! We were literally inches from it. We then came across and collected a Javelina skull and a small carnivore’s skull which we guessed might be a baby coyote. They will be used by the Conservancy’s naturalist in her educational programs. She was very excited to get them 🙂

Besides collecting (I’m a Steward), I typically also take photos for the Conservancy’s Facebook Page. Here is a collage of some of those photos.

Sep 21

Another Desert Face

Came across this guy on my walk a few days ago. Shot with my Canon S1 compact in very low light so the quality wasn’t great but one click of a preset in Topaz Labs new B&W Effects and it’s not bad! The software is available for $29.99 for a short time. Worthwhile in my opinion.

Sep 20

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Butterfly Bonus

I may have mistakenly relocated a Queen caterpillar the other day. I thought it was looking for food (my Milkweed had been devoured) but my friend Laura M. told me it might just have been ready to morph. If that’s the case, the caterpillar is probably hunkered down on the new plant. I couldn’t find it the other day but will look harder the next time I walk by his new home.

Anyway….I decided to look for two new Milkweed plants and found some healthy 5 gallon specimens at Black Mountain Nursery (Dynamite very near Tatum). As I was getting ready to plant them, I found quite a surprise! One plant has a chrysalis and the other had a caterpillar…both Queens. Yipee! These aren’t the greatest of photos but they will do as a start to documenting their progress. From now on, I’ll use my SLR to get some good detail. My butterfly education continues! Thanks again, Laura 🙂

Sep 19

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My Trusty Pink Fence Post Driver

Any time I’m using tools, I’m happy and I got to use one of my favorites today….my pink fence post driver! It’s exciting (to me, anyway) to be able to put a steel post into our dry/hard Arizona soil with not too much effort. My project turned out to be tougher than I thought, though. This tree has never been able to withstand the strong winds we get a couple of times a year so it has been tied down for the last 5 years. I got tired of tripping or falling over the wire tie downs so I asked my metal artist friend, Joan Waters, to help me figure out something a little less annoying. We put our heads together and came up with a tree collar with supports. The tough part was trying to get the driver over the poles because they were so close to the trunk but I did it. All in all, it looks a lot better than the wires. It remains to be seen if it can support the tree in high winds but I’m hopeful.

Sep 18

Herping in the Preserve

My first night hike in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve was so much fun (see more pix HERE). I struggled choosing which lens to take and ultimately decided to go with the least heavy and fastest lens I have which is my ultra cheap Canon 50mm f/1.8. Since I don’t have much luck with flash photography, I decided just to have fun. All images are hand held and lit by head lamps and flash lights. It was a great deal of fun not worrying whether the photos would turn out or not! It was the first time I’ve used this lens so it was a good test. It’s actually not too bad for a plastic lens I paid less than $100 for 🙂

Sep 17

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Red Spotted Toad

I went on my first night herp survey this evening in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Our goal was to reach a riparian area that had a spring. We encountered a Black Tail and a Diamondback rattlesnake, a few Tarantulas and dozens of baby Red Spotted Toads. They were only about 3/8ths of an inch….so cute! All in all, a really exciting time.

Sep 16

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Queen Caterpillar Followup

Sadly, I could not find the Queen caterpillar this morning. This is actually the second time I’ve tried to relocate one of them to another plant with more for them to eat. The first time was in 1999 and I put it on another plant in my yard but in that case too, it didn’t stay. It might have been my imagination but when I relocated this latest one, it seemed disoriented. I had visions of it trying to find its way home! 🙁

Lessons learned. First I’m relocating my Milkweed to a non grub infested area of my yard so they can grow large and full of flowers. Second….I will let nature take it’s course from now on!

Sep 15

Prickly Pear in Black and White

I haven’t posted any phoneography in awhile so here’s a recent one.
DroidX capture of Prickly Pear Fruit

conservation photographer

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