The photos below are what we saw.
Our
canyon bobcat was making his rounds during the late afternoon
and I was close to my camera and was able to get him as he
worked his route along the canyon rim.
I tapped
on the kitchen window and Bob turned to see what was making the
noise and I was able to catch his face.
Our
canyon hawks are almost always on the wing and are very hard to
photograph. I spotted one of the hawks in a palm tree on
the rim of the canyon and was able to photograph him before he
bolted into the breeze.
On our first night in
Tucson we were blessed with clear skies, clean air and a full
moon. We watched the moon rise over the Santa Catalina
mountains and were thrilled at the awesome sight. I was
able to use my Sony A1 camera and 400mm lens to capture the
image above. The moon had not yet fully cleared the
saddle in the ridge and highlighted the cactus and brush on
the skyline. The saddle was over 5 miles from our
viewing location in Oro Valley, AZ. In the photo above,
the camera was set in "Program" exposure mode and the camera
attempted to make the (mostly dark) scene light thus
over-exposing the moon.
Switching
the camera to "spot exposure" mode allowed the moon to be
correctly exposed, but turned the mountains into dark
shadows. But, this mode allows showing the profiles of the
trees and brush on the crest of the ridge.
The moon
rises fast and only a few seconds passed between this photo and
the previous. I think I like this photo better because it
shows more details of the craters on the surface of the
moon. Note the surface roughness of the moon is visible at
the edges of the disk.
Only
seconds passed and the moon cleared the ridge. The surface
roughness of the moon is clearly visible.
Spring
had finally come to Sonoran Desert and the walking around the
desert we could see that the local cactus were starting to
bloom.
The
blooms came in several colors and in general the colors tracked
the species. These blooms are very fragile and last for
only a few hours before they shrivel and collapse.
We took
our electric unicycles out for a ride in my sister's
neighborhood and spotted an owl resting in a nearby tree.
We noted the location and returned later with the camera.
We spotted the father owl resting during the day and generally
ignoring us.
The
female owl was sitting on a clutch of eggs in a nearby
mesquite. The female was more aware of her surroundings
but never opened both eyes at once. These owls are
nocturnal hunters and normally sleep during the day. These
are big birds and their nest was "substantial" in size. My
Sony A1 did a great job of doing a "spot focus" through the
branches and finding the owl's eye.
The
local Barrel Cactus were in bloom producing bright buds
intermixed with sharp, red spines.
The ants
were busy gathering nectar from the open buds.
A tight
shot of one of the cactus flowers showed the loose pollen and
insects working for food.
Tucson in
the spring is usually quite nice but this visit it was rather
cold and windy. It did turn hotter on our last day, but it
was still windy. We completed our actions in Tucson, said
our goodbyes and headed out over the Continental Divide to Las
Cruses, NM. The following day we traveled on to Ft. Davis,
TX to meet up with our U500 camping buddies.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 203, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use without attribution.