Friday, November 14, 2008

Scouting for the Atascosa Highlands CBC


Yesterday my friend Jake Mohlmann and I explored some remote and little-known areas south of Tucson in preparation for the Atascosa Highlands Christmas Bird Count, which we are organizing and compiling, set for Monday, December 15. This view is from an area called Wise Mesa, looking westward over Ramanote Canyon to the Atascosa Mountains. We're about at a mile in from the east edge of the circle looking towards the center, which is beyond the mountains. Click on the photo for a larger image.

To learn more about the Christmas Bird Count tradition, go to the National Audubon Society website.

We also went into upper Peck Canyon, where we were pleasantly surprised by flowing water and nice riparian habitat. We found an Eastern Phoebe at this location.

This is a Great Spreadwing, Archilestes grandis.

And this is a Black-necked Garter Snake

2 comments:

  1. Keeping busy I see! We miss you and hope to see you whenever you are around. Someday we need to visit Arizona. Now that gas prices are down, it is much more of a possibility to visit AZ. My parents are moving to Utah around the 17th of December. They are buying a house in nearby West Point, UT. Just 10 minutes up the road. It backs up to a horse pasture that has the sweetest horses in it. They come right up to the fence and let you pet them and geed them apples. So cool!

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  2. Hi Rich,
    Julie sent me here to check out your blog. It is great. I am getting the kids off to school and I will look at it more later. I am pretty close to you in Oro Valley and I just wanted to say hi.
    Have a great day.
    Anna

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