Arizona Too Earl Plato
In an Arizona state nature folder we read that the Red-tailed hawk is a common resident around Phoenix. My daughter, Diane, saw them this February. She knows her hawks. My research tells me that they migrate south from Arizona. Curious. Yes, they migrate south from my area in Ontario but why in a warmer state like Arizona? This is the largest of our Buteos and feeds mainly on rodents and yes snakes too. Diane photographed what she believed were Red-tails. Too hard to confirm as photos were too small. But I believe her,
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Ouch!
Flash Back Ouch! By Earl Plato
Ouch! I had reached down to touch the Prickly Pear cactus and reacted with a cry, “Ouch!.” Son Paul and I were at Point Pelee on the east trail. A few yellow flowers growing close to the sandy soil caught Paul’s attention. We had discovered several Prickly Pear cacti plants. Yes, here in Canada’s most southern point. The Audubon Guide reads, “Care should be taken in handling it, since the barbed glochids can be more troublesome than the typical spines of most cacti.” I know by painful experience several small barbs attacked my fingers almost as if they jumped from the cactus.
Daughter Diane O’Brien and family just returned from a week in Arizona. Great photos including those of the cacti- Seguro, Barrel and a variety of these spiny plants. Those in their compound were regularly watered and looked healthy. And yes, there were many Prickly Pear cacti with in the confines of a large cacti garden. Late January 2009 in Arizona there were no yellow flowers in bloom on the flat, fleshy green pads.
Ouch! I had reached down to touch the Prickly Pear cactus and reacted with a cry, “Ouch!.” Son Paul and I were at Point Pelee on the east trail. A few yellow flowers growing close to the sandy soil caught Paul’s attention. We had discovered several Prickly Pear cacti plants. Yes, here in Canada’s most southern point. The Audubon Guide reads, “Care should be taken in handling it, since the barbed glochids can be more troublesome than the typical spines of most cacti.” I know by painful experience several small barbs attacked my fingers almost as if they jumped from the cactus.
Daughter Diane O’Brien and family just returned from a week in Arizona. Great photos including those of the cacti- Seguro, Barrel and a variety of these spiny plants. Those in their compound were regularly watered and looked healthy. And yes, there were many Prickly Pear cacti with in the confines of a large cacti garden. Late January 2009 in Arizona there were no yellow flowers in bloom on the flat, fleshy green pads.
Bye Bye Pine Grosbeaks T tRAIL wOOD
Trail Wood#10.09 by Earl Plato
Edwin May Teale continues: “ As we watch, we see the birds tear apart and toss about the brown lumps of the fallen fruit. Apple seeds form one of their favorite foods in the years when they come south. As they feed, their movements appear deliberate. And as we work closer, advancing cautiously a slow step at a time. We learn something else about them. This is their exceptional tameness.
A soft, short whistle a kind of “Cheeee” that shows their relationship to the other finches, continually from among the feeding grosbeaks. This call has been described as having a little roll in it. He full song of the males, the song of their breeding time, is said to resemble that of the purple finch but to be wilder and sweeter. It is a melody made up of warbles, whistles, and trills. It is sometimes loud, sometimes soft, sometimes ventriloqual.
A quarter of an hour goes by while we watch hese visitors from the north. Suddenly, as though on signal, they all take off together.
Edwin May Teale continues: “ As we watch, we see the birds tear apart and toss about the brown lumps of the fallen fruit. Apple seeds form one of their favorite foods in the years when they come south. As they feed, their movements appear deliberate. And as we work closer, advancing cautiously a slow step at a time. We learn something else about them. This is their exceptional tameness.
A soft, short whistle a kind of “Cheeee” that shows their relationship to the other finches, continually from among the feeding grosbeaks. This call has been described as having a little roll in it. He full song of the males, the song of their breeding time, is said to resemble that of the purple finch but to be wilder and sweeter. It is a melody made up of warbles, whistles, and trills. It is sometimes loud, sometimes soft, sometimes ventriloqual.
A quarter of an hour goes by while we watch hese visitors from the north. Suddenly, as though on signal, they all take off together.
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