Lynx Lake

This is Lynx Lake in Prescott, AZ, part of the Prescott National Forest. We spent a rainy day up there this past week but, fortunately, the rain did let up now and then giving us time to walk around for quite awhile. It’s not that we’re afraid of the rain but I don’t like the cameras to get too soaked.

See the snag on the left side of the above photo?

It was a tree that seemed to attract these cormorants. There were actually more a few minutes later but this is the only photo I got. This guy was top dog in the tree:

Double-crested Cormorant

This is the dam which is at the far end of the first photo.

Flame Skimmer

White-breasted Nuthatch

Great Blue Heron

Pygmy Nuthatch

Red-eared Pond Sliders

It was another bad birding day, certainly no lifers. I hope my bird luck changes soon. As always, it was beautiful up there and much cooler than Phoenix but also very humid.

I guess we had not been to Lynx Lake for 7 years! Here are 2 posts I wrote back then (1 and 2).

We apparently stood in almost the same spot as the top photo in this post back then. Here it is almost exactly 7 years ago:

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Veteran’s Oasis Park

Western Wood-Pewee

On another recent day when we had a reprieve from Phoenix’s heat, we headed to a destination about 30 miles away…Chandler, AZ…and Veteran’s Oasis Park, a new-to-us park. It’s a Chandler City Park with a community fishing lake but it also has several recharge (water treatment) ponds that are very wild. In fact, they are almost too wild to be able to see much wildlife but I’m sure the animals appreciate it. This is a very pretty park.

Black-tailed Jackrabbits galore

Turkey Vultures galore

Flame Skimmer Dragonfly

Desert Cottontail

San Tan Mountains

Killdeer

Great Blue Heron

Common Gallinule

Blue Dasher Dragonfly

They have blinds scattered around to observe/photograph the wildlife but the reeds and other plants are so overgrown that there isn’t much of a view.

From the recharge ponds, you can look out over farmland…from arid desert to green crops.

Homes with a farm view

Late Afternoon Sunlight

Gila Woodpecker, female

A few days ago, when it was unseasonably cool, I wandered over to the Desert Botanical Garden around 5 pm. It was not crowded at all, the birds were happily chirping and eating, everything was blooming, and the sun made it all glow. The Garden is always beautiful but this evening it seemed that everything came together to make it extraordinary. These photos don’t begin to capture the way it looked.

Mexican Fencepost Cactus

Sunflower

Coneflower and bonus bug

Flame Skimmer Dragonfly

Gambel’s Quail nibbling in herb garden

Gaillardia

Lesser Goldfinch

Anna’s Hummingbird

Verdin dining

Queen Butterfly

It was really quite spectacular!

B-flies and D-flies

Mournful Duskywing

The little skipper, above, is a first for my yard, and I love its name. I have now been back from the midwest for a couple weeks and trying to accumulate some birds and other critters for blog posts. All of these skippers have been in my yard lately but I’ve seen few other butterflies around which seems unusual. Hopefully, they will start up soon.

Roseate Skimmer

The dragonfly photos were taken at either Gilbert Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch or Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix…while searching for birds, pretty much unsuccessfully.

Eufala Skipper

Mexican Amberwing

Fiery Skipper

Fall is on its way…can’t wait.

Potato Creek State Park

A variety of natural habitats await the visitor to Potato Creek State Park in northwest Indiana including the 327 acre Worster Lake, old fields, mature woodlands, restored prairies, and diverse wetlands. I know there were a ton of birds there but I was with my 95 year old mother so my opportunities for birding were limited (plus I didn’t take my birding lens back there).

I did get 3 lifers relatively easily so I can imagine what a few hours there would yield.

Black-capped Chickadee

Chipping Sparrow

American Crow

Brown-headed Cowbird, young

It rained 8 inches the day I got to Indiana so there was much flooding in many places. The park suffered damage to some of the trails and the lake was closed.

Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Pondhawk

It was very lush, very humid, and pretty buggy. I’d forgotten that feeling of something cold and slimy flying right into your eye that I used to experience in midwest summers in the woods.

Years ago, I wrote about this same place.