Nov 27
There are some Buckwheats blooming right now. This, I believe, is Wrights Buckwheat. Two other much smaller buckwheats, commonly called Skeleton Weed, turn red as they age. I’ll bet you’ve noticed these small plants along the trails in the Preserve and along roadsides but have you taken a really close look? They have tiny very similar flowers to this Buckwheat but the same Pink Pollen!
Nov 25
Happy Thanksgiving from the Marcus Landslide Turkey! He and many other wonderful rock faces are scattered around in the area of the Marcus Landslide. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, this area may open officially at this time next year. It’s fairly easy hiking and is especially lush with vegetation there so it’s bound to be popular with Photographers, Birders and Lepidopterists.
Nov 24
The Marcus Landslide area of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve has wonderful rock faces. It’s also one of the most lush areas of the Preserve making it especially appealing to Photographers, Birders and Lepidopterists. Rumor has it that this area could be officially open this time next year. Yea!
Oct 17
Hiking season with the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy is in full swing so come out and join us! There are fitness hikes and educational hikes…..generally one of each on the weekends. This morning, we learned about Holes, Tracks and Scat in the Desert from leader Len Marciz. Excellent! (Droidx image)
Sep 2
Another HDR shot of the Desert Tortoise I encountered on Tom’s Thumb Trail last Sunday. He was moving during this exposure sequence so it was difficult to merge the exposures perfectly. This resulted in lots of ghosting but after tedious cloning and fringe removal and reducing color saturation, I did it. What a face 🙂
Aug 31
A summary of the Wildflowers I spotted on Sunday’s hike to Tom’s Thumb. Learn more about these and other Wildflowers in the Preserve in WILDFLOWERS and more.
Aug 30
I hiked the north access trail to Tom’s Thumb yesterday with a goal of seeing what was blooming. I spotted several flowers (check tmorrow’s post) but I also came across this guy! There are lots of Desert Tortoise in the Preserve but they’re really good a hiding so this was a treat! The lighting was mixed so I used my Canon SX 1 to capture two exposures and combined them in Photomatix.
Jun 16
After the 4th fire engine went by our neighborhood, I looked out the window and got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I saw the smoke on top of the mountains. I jumped in the car and just 4 miles away I got there in time to see them dropping slurry and water on the ridge that includes Toms Thumb (scroll down for video link). Because of the expertise of our firefighters, the fire was contained to just 200 acres. Whew! The probably cause was electrical sparks from construction on a house at the base of the mountain. Wildfire is a constant threat in the summer and with two thirds of Scottsdale being either Preserve or natural area open space (NOAS), these fires can be a real threat to homes. The last fire that came dangerously close to the neighborhoods up here was in 1995, the year we moved here. That fire destroyed thousands of acres of pristine desert. A real heartbreak. VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/user/ezpixels
Video captured with Canon SX1 IS
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