A Brief Escape

• 

• 

• 

Say’s Phoebe

We’ve been very good during this loooooong quarantine, only doing essential shopping and initially walking in a closeby park, which we quit doing because there were plenty of social nondistancers. But one day last week I met a friend at Rotary Park in Scottsdale, where we sat six feet apart, and talked and watched the critters fly around and other people walk around. It was a lovely day and nice to have a break in the monotony.

We sat by the Butterfly Garden but only saw a couple of butterflies.

• 

• 

Gulf Fritillary

• 

• 

• 

This little Lesser Goldfinch was the star of our visit, being very brave and seeming to enjoy our attention:

• 

• 

A good time was had by all. Then a few nights later, this was the Flower Supermoon, the last supermoon until April 2021:

And…just so I can file these 4 photos away, Tony and I went to Reach 11 in Phoenix right at the beginning of the quarantine. We easily socially distanced because there was hardly anyone around including birds and other animals:

Cactus Wren

Round-tailed Ground Squirrel

What Lies Beneath

Ring-necked Duck, female

Do you think life will ever be the “old normal” again? I don’t…

Phoenix Sonoran Preserve

Much like the McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, the Phoenix Sonoran Preserve, located in North Phoenix, has over 18,000 acres of beautiful desert views including 36 miles of exciting multi-use trails. The wildflowers were just beginning to bloom but the tons of Chollas were glowing in the sun.

We were at the Apache Wash Trailhead where a mountain biker crashed into a rattlesnake that same day and was bit. We did see an ambulance but didn’t know about this until seeing it on the news that night. It’s rattler season.

Black-throated Sparrows

The female Black-throated Sparrow is the nest builder (you can see her gathered materials in her bill) and a breeding pair is very territorial so the one on the nearby cactus must have been her mate.

Cactus Wrens, Arizona’s State Bird

These two were also together so I imagine they are mates, too.

Painted Lady Butterfly

Mexican Poppy

Scorpion Weed

Brittlebush

There were really pretty views here.

A perfect plump Saguaro after all our rain

It was hazy but in the distance, we could see Four Peaks, 42 miles away, as the crow flies, still covered with the recent snow.

The day before, we drove around trying to get a good view of Four Peaks with the snow, away from houses and buildings. This was taken somewhere north of Fountain Hills…

It’s been in the 80s the last couple of days; the snow has all melted. Spring is coming to the desert.