Well there was a bunch of racket going on outside this afternoon and it was a medivac chopper landing about 100 yards from my home. While watching the excitement I spied this Gila woodpecker on this saguaro cactus so I was able to get a few pics. They usually don't cooperate very well but I was lucky this time.

 

 

He was obviously loving the nectar of these flowers which by the way is Arizona's State flower. 

The males have this bright red spot on their head.

 



 

I then noticed some movement on another part of the cactus and saw this tiny Elf Owl. As you can see this little guy was not happy with the woodpecker hanging out close to his cactus abode. 

 

Then the little guy gave me some dirty looks and then went back inside.

 

Have a great day....

Had some early morning guests this morning.

These critters are known as collared peccary or javelina. They evolved in South America and migrated north, only recently arriving in Arizona. Javelina bones are not found in Arizona archaeological sites and early settlers made infrequent references to their occurrence. In the United States, the collared peccary only occurs in Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. Adult javelina generally weigh 35 to 60 lbs, the male being slightly heavier than the female. New born javelina weigh about one pound. These animals can be quite dangerous and are best left alone. They are considered a game animal here in Arizona. There are both fall and spring hunts for javelina. I don't personally care for the taste, to me they are just a pain in the ass. LOL. Have a great day!!

I took this picture earlier this week in my front yard, This Coyote appeared female and was rather rough looking but that could be due to the change of the season causing her to molt if you will. There were some things out there for her to munch on and that helped to calm her fears of me because I wasn't looking to harm her. She did however remain ever so weary of me and that's a good thing. Don't need them losing their fear of humans, then it becomes a problem that will indeed lead to a bad out come for the animal. Out here it's more often a problem because folks think they are doing the animals a favor and nothing could be further from the truth. these animals have thrived long before you or any of the so called save the earth liberals and they did just fine. Okay, I'm off my soap box for the night. I hope to have more great shots to share in this next week. If anyone has something in mind they you'd like to see, by all means send your requests and I will see if I can accomodate them. Life is good!!!

 These were taken this past Monday up at Gates Pass in Tucson, Arizona. This is looking Northeast from the parking lot of the Pass.

 This is the same day looking north west towards the Pass itself.

 This is outcrop is known as BeeHive Peak and is located in the Drexel Heights/Bilby Road area of the neighborhood.

 

This is the Scientific description: Summary:Abandoned in Tucson Mountains, Pima Co, AZ, Basin-and-Range province. Replaced by informal tuff of Beehive Peak. [Author uses original spelling "Beehive rhyolite" of Brown (1939).] Unit also previously called "biotite rhyolite" by Bikerman, Damon (1966, GSA Bull., v. 77, p. 1225-1234). Tuff of Beehive Peak is light-gray to tan massive welded dacite ash-flow tuff; characterized by abundant small angular fragments of Cretaceous sandstone and intermediate-composition volcanic rocks. Previously interpreted as an intrusive rock by Brown and Bikerman, Damon. Informal name "tuff of Beehive Peak" is proposed because these rocks are of local occurrence (a few square km), have been referred to by various names, and are dacite rather than rhyolite. Age relations of tuff of Beehive Peak are uncertain with nearby postcaldera lavas due to lack of exposed contacts. Thickness of tuff is locally 250 m. K-Ar biotite age of tuff of Beehive Peak is 60.2 +/-1.8 Ma though may be only minimum age, therefore, assigned Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary age.

However for those of us that grew up in the area it's just plain old BeeHive peak. Climbing it was always a gamble but reaching the top was well worth the effort.

 

This was Jake's day up at Gates Pass with me and this was his new Birthday present to himself which was an Fender American Strat in Fiesta Red. This was right out of the box. We had intercepted the UPS man at a circle K on our way into town and ask if by chance he had the package. He did and well the rest is history. It's a great addition to his fine collection of instruments that he uses on  weekly basis during the shows he plays in weekly in Tucson.

 

 

Have a great Weekend!!!

Well we got snow on and off most of today. It started around 11:00 A.M. and continued for about 1 - 2 hours. so I decided it was a good time for a photo op so i left my cave and took some pics in the yard first then ventured out to check the nearby hills.

  These first three were taken in my front yard at about 12:30 this afternoon

 This windmill is on the Chilton Cattle Ranch right here in Diamond Bell. And it is still a working ranch. the Sad story is that it is after all of these years the ranch is up for sale. It has been around for many decades. We can only hope that whoever buys it continues to use it as such.

 These next two photos were taken about 3:00 in the afternoon and as you can see the snow was going away down here in the lower elevations. This view is looking north from Diamond Bell to the Tucson Mountains.

  This is looking up towards the Sierrita Mountains
at the same time. By 5:00 this afternoon the snow began coming done even harder that it had during earlier in the day. We now have snow out in the yard and it is about midnight. Will try to get more pics in the morning. Enjoy.....

Well it's been a while since I have updated the blog. The monsoons are finally over and the weather is getting to be more user friendly so it's time to come out of the cave and start taking pictures.

This is a Gila Woodpecker. This one is a male. The males have a red spot on top of their heads. You can barely see his. They are neat looking but they cause lots of damage to homes out here.

 

 

This Turkey Vulture was in my front yard giving me the eyeball. I decided I had better get up and move around to let him know I wasn't dead I just looked that way.

 

These pictures are from the last two days out here at the ranch. This is usually the best time of year for these pictures due to the change of weather from summer to fall. The wind flows bring in the high cirrus clouds making for great pictures.

 

 

If you look closely you can see Kitt Peak Observatory on the top of the mountain on the left.

 

Kitt peak in this one too.

I hope you enjoy them. I will be adding more soon.

A day Atop Kitt Peak...

The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope is the largest solar instrument in the world. It was dedicated in 1962 an is still in use today. The angled shaft goes another 200 yards into the mountain and this is where the focal point is located for the best pics and observations of our sun.

I am sorry I don't have the names of all of the different scopes at this time I will try to get them at a later date. This one is due south of the Solar scope.

If iremember correctly this is the Myall scope and it is the further most northern of the scopes on the mountain.

This is a picture taken fron the northern pull out on top of the mountain. This was taken by my daughter Emily.

This is a picture also from the northern pull-out looking twards the northwest.

This is my contributing assistant photographer, Emily my daughter. We had a great time just hanging out on the mountain.

Kitt Peak has both daytime and night time tours. My son and I were able to participate on a night time tour, about 12 years ago, and got to view different objects in the solar system using a 16 inch scope in a dome equiped room. It will blow you away. My wife's Aunt Judy was able to arrange a behind the scenes tour for us and it was great. We were able to get some inside photos that most folks don't get to see. When ever I come accross them I will make it a point to post them for all to see. Here is a link to the tour page so if you should ever be interested in attending one of these tours it will be well worth it.

http://www.noao.edu/outreach/kpvc/Hours.html

May the force be with you.....