March 28, 2020

Quarantine wildflower hike

During the covid-19 pandemic, Erin and I took a day off and went out to the desert to check out the wildflowers. It hasn't been an extraordinary year for wildflowers, and we're probably past peak, but we found what I thought was a good diversity of flowers. Desert marigold was the showiest and perhaps the most abundant flower, along with the smaller pincushions in the genus Chaenactis. It was an overcast day: good flat lighting for documentary photos but not for prize-winning images. We hiked the Sendero Esperanza trail from the parking to the ridge where it meets up with the Hugh Norris Trail. Not many butterlies out and about.

Posted on March 28, 2020 06:46 AM by scottolmstead scottolmstead | 41 observations | 1 comment | Leave a comment

January 3, 2019

Snow day in Tucson - January 2, 2019

After seeing reports and photos of extensive snow east of Tucson on Facebook, I hiked up the Douglas Spring Trail in the Rincon Mountains with Erin, Tom, and Katelyn. We didn't make it out of the house until late morning and it was still an incredible winter wonderland snowscape with extensive snow down to the Tanque Verde Wash. The temperature hovered around freezing all afternoon but when the clouds parted briefly much of the snow began to quickly melt. At the start of our walk I went 20-30 minutes without hearing or seeing a bird; bird activity seemed to be clustered into a few mixed-species flocks, including a big group of 70+ Chipping Sparrows. I found a Fox Sparrow up near 1100m, the best bird sighting of the walk.

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sparverius/albums/72157677298820888

Posted on January 3, 2019 04:43 PM by scottolmstead scottolmstead | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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