Arizona Wild Bird Photos

IN NO WHERE DESERT ARIZONA

12/08/2002 Sun up at 7AM sun down 5:30PM
WOW, if the days get any shorter I can't work fast enough to get any thing done.

At 5:30 AM it 45 degrees.
At 8:00 AM it was 60 degrees.
By noon it was 68 degrees.

That's why I live in Arizona.

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It sure was a nice day on Sunday 12/08/02 and the road in was was difficult to keep an eye on with the clouds and views available to me.

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However it's not a good road so if you don't drive very carefully you can really get in deep.

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In case you can't see that cut out here's a close up.

Every time it rains we loose about 6 feet of the road.

As you can see by the tire tracks on the left some already drive in the wash.

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Well, after much manual labor, I am getting the rocks in place and the water lines in the ground.
At my age I had almost forgot what manual labor felt like, but now I know
. It's when you can't get out of bed the next day
without feeling pain in every joint and mussel you have. Maybe I need to do this a little more often.

OH well, maybe 2 more loads of rock will do it.
I'll crank up me 83 Ford 4 door car/truck.

How's that for a trunk full of rocks?
I do have super heavy duty coil springs, shocks, and 6 ply light tires on the old rig, but there's still a limit
as to what I can/should do with it. I would guess I have approx. 1000 pounds in there.
I know some of these rocks are a 100 pounds each. I brought one home for my patio and it weighed 106 pounds.

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Well the ground is waiting for me to start digging and placing the rocks in place so I had better get started.

I have ready wasted about 4 hours driving around on the desert finding and picking up the rocks. If I start out for place by 5:30 it takes me 1 1/2 hours to drive there from home, 4 hours to pick up rocks, 1 hour for well needed R&R & 2 bottles of Gatorade I'm ready to have at it once again.

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I guess I had better dig the trench for the water pipes before I unload those nasty old rocks.

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As you can see by the long shadows it's about time to pack up and head for home.

By the time I dump those rocks it will almost dark.

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Another day - another load of rocks.

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Looks like I am ready for a water test.

And now for those rocks, from the trunk to desert floor, what a JOLT.

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And there they are, 4 trunk loads.

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C1 = Cactus transplanted I'll never get all of those thorns out of my hands.
C2 = A new water supply.
C3 = Dripping water area.

As you can see there are those long shadows again so I am heading out of here.

If you look by the amber turn light on my car's front fender you can see a black water bottle, that's my old dripping water holder.

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Bird up date while I was working. The Verdins are pecking at my oranges on the seed tray. Many Sparrows on the ground Black-throated, White-crowned, and a few others I cannot ID at this time. Also the Gils's are still coming to the seed try for the oranges. My working and moving around didn't seem to bother these birds.

Next 3 images are of the Verdin
I would think to see a Verdin out here on the flat desert would be most unusual.


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White-crowned Sparrow

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This is a new bird for "No Where Desert Arizona" since I started this project.
Any guesses as to what it is??

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Well, if you said Sage Sparrow, you are correct.
They are really fun to watch.
They run quickly from place to place with their tails straight up.

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Another rare one for my desert site is this very nice looking Prairie Falcon.
Seems it has taken over for my watch bird the Red-tailed Hawk.

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Gila and Verdin

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Well, until next time this is all there is.

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E-mail Earl at: onthedesert@aol.com

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