There is no frigate like a book

 

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!

Emily Dickinson

Humble Dandelion!

When at length I sink to rest,
And the turf is on my breast,
Humble Dandelion!
Wilt thou when the morning breaketh,
And the balmy spring awaketh,
Bud and blossom at a breath
From the icy arms of death,
Wilt thou smile upon my tomb?
Drawing beauty from the gloom,
Making life less dark and weary,
Making death itself less dreary,
Whispering in a gentle tone
To the mourner sad and lone,
Of a spring-time when the sleeper
Will arise to bless the weeper?

 from Canadian Wild Flowers, by Helen M. Johnson

Where in the world?

If you read this Blog at all, you probably realized that I was displaying selections from my huge collection of photos. I have traveled extensively in the U.S. but not much abroad for the last few years. I will give you one clue to where the above picture was taken, it was taken in Arizona. I didn't know Arizona even had a place this this. But if you look closely at the picture, you will see tell-tale indications of its location.

A Thought

A Thought Went Up My Mind To-day

Emily Dickinson

A thought went up my mind to-day
That I have had before,
But did not finish,--some way back,
I could not fix the year,

Nor where it went, nor why it came
The second time to me,
Nor definitely what it was,
Have I the art to say.

But somewhere in my soul, I know
I've met the thing before;
It just reminded me--'t was all--
And came my way no more.

The Christopher Creek Box

Sometimes places are remembered best in black and white. Some of my earliest memories of camping and hiking are at the R-C Scout Ranch below the Mogollon Rim in central Arizona. The Christopher Creek Box starts just below the boundary of the Scout Ranch in the National Forest. Although it appears to be wild and inaccessible it is only a short hike from a paved highway. Typical of most of Arizona's really nice places, they are off the road just enough to make them difficult to find and to hike to. In the summer, the Box is neither difficult to find nor very difficult to hike to and is usually crowded with swimmers and cliff jumpers.

At the mouth of the Paria

There are places that live in history, not because of anything remarkable about the place as such, but because of historical events that occurred nearby. Take for example Washington's Crossing on the Delaware River. There is really nothing to distinguish this lovely stretch of river from any other, except for the association with George Washington and the Revolutionary War. The mouth of the Pariah is different. It is a unique location. It is one of the very few places anyone can cross the Colorado River in Northern Arizona or Southern Utah. I suppose you could use a boat to cross the river or to cross Lake Powell, but there are few roads that would support that sort of crossing. There are really only a few places, at the Boulder Dam on the new bridge or across the top of the dam, on foot at the bottom of the Grand Canyon there are two bridges near Phantom Ranch and at Navajo Bridge (two bridges also) near Lee's Ferry. Historically, there was Pearce's Ferry, now under Lake Mead, and Lee's Ferry. Lee's Ferry is at the mouth of the Paria River, about a quarter mile from where this picture was taken.

Desert Soils

I am not sure you can classify the desert soils as dirt. The absence of water results in little or no chemical weathering of the soil. As you can see from this cross-section the topmost layer is hard and cemented with caliche (salt). The white band at the top of the soil layers is the cemented portion of the soil. Normally, geologists would define soil as the loose uppermost part of the bedrock, but in the desert the soil can be as hard as the subsurface rock. This particular picture demonstrates the mountain and basin desert of southern Arizona. The rocks and clay are typical of the intermontane basins.

The Arizona Bobcat

When I was in high school, our school mascot was the bobcat. Here is a really good introduction to the bobcat.

The picture above was taken on a cloudy day with a long 300 mm lens. This is the best of several shots.

Harris Hawk

Parabuteo unicinctus is one of the most strikingly prominent birds of the Arizona-Sonora Desert. Like this specimen, these birds are extensively used in falconry and is notable for its cooperative family group hunting behavior. John James Audubon gave this hawk its name to honor his financial supporter Edward Harris. 

From time to time in the Phoenix area there are postings in the neighborhoods about a missing cats and dogs. I don't suppose those same people who lose their animals notice that we have a pretty healthy population of large raptors here in the desert. 

Northern Cardinal

As a birder and a photographer, you dream about taking pictures of colorful semi-rare birds. No, I am not doing a series about the animals memorialized by Arizona sport's teams. It just happens that I found some fantastic picture opportunities and diamondbacks and cardinals were just sitting around waiting for their pictures to be taken. This bird has the unoriginal scientific name of Cardinalis cardinalis. Once we were driving on a back road along the Ohio river and spotted a cardinal. We stopped our car, which had Utah license plates at the time, and sat there watching the bird fly around. Soon one of the locals stopped his truck to ask us if we were lost. We said no, not at all, we were watching the cardinal. Since cardinals are a little more common in Kentucky than in Arizona, the pickup truck man drove away slowly shaking his head.

Diamond Back Rattlesnake

There is a reason why Arizona's Baseball Team is called the DiamondBacks. Its scientific name is Crotalus atrox and it is one of thirteen rattlesnake species in Arizona. The common name for this snake is the western diamond-backed rattlesnake. You may be surprised to learn that diamond-backed rattlesnakes are not purple.

According to the Pima County Public Library, most people who are bitten by rattlesnakes are in Pima County. Rattlesnakes seem to bite more commonly around Labor Day, probably for the same reason that the most commonly bitten individuals are drunk males with tattoos. Usually, the number of people bitten in the state runs around 180 to 200 each year. From 2002 to 2006, there were 1,912 rattlesnake bites and only four fatalities.

According to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, rattlesnakes are among the most highly specialized organisms on the planet. Quoting from their website, "Their venom — in fact a toxic saliva — is among the most complex substances known: a mixture of enzymes unique to pit vipers that destroys blood or paralyzes nerves. And the delivery system is equally amazing — the snakes' fangs are movable hypodermic syringes. Rattlesnakes are also among the few animal groups with dual visual systems. In addition to their eyes, they have sensory organs in their upper jaws which can actually “see” infrared images. They can detect the heat from a candle flame 30 feet (9 m) away. These animals merit admiration more than fear."

I have seen hundreds of rattlesnakes over the years. My first sighting was almost my last, I almost stepped on one just below the top of the Mogollon Rim. It is a good idea to keep alert and watch where you are going in the desert, in fact, that is pretty good advice anytime, anywhere. 

Costa's Hummingbird

One of the birds to be featured on a U.S. Stamp, the Costa's Hummingbird is one of the more spectacular birds of our Arizona-Sonora Desert. I cannot tell you how hard it is to get a good photograph of a hummingbird. This picture was taken on a day when the temperature was rather low for the desert and the hummingbirds were not quite as active as usual.