Well, not actually an alligator, but a beautiful spiny lizard. As we were packing up, we found him snoozing in a sheltered nook under my table foot at Birdy Verde.  The event is in a huge tent set up in a field, and they put a carpet down over the dirt — this dude found a good spot to take refuge from all the bustle.  The nights were still going down to near freezing, and who knows, maybe the carpet covered his hidey-hole.

I think he’s a Desert Spiny lizard, since he didn’t have the barred forelegs of a Clark’s.  But I’m not an expert.  Anyone care to weigh in?

At any rate, there he was, all 9 inches of him including tail, looking a lot like a small alligator.  Tom of Tom’s Bird Feeders (and Reptile Supplies) wrangled him into a box >>, and E released him at the edge of the woods.  He scuttled away, a little sluggishly because of the cool temperatures.

<< This is what the west end of an eastbound spiny lizard looks like.

(Photos E.Shock, click to enlarge, especially the middle one!)

….but not the quadrupedal kind.

One of the main attractions of following the Castle Hotsprings Road through the edge of the Buckhorn Mountains NW of Phoenix is the spring wildflower bloom. This past weekend the succulent plants predominated: Ocotillos were in full swing, and the prickly pear were starting to get the hang of it.

<< one solitary ocotillo bloom leans in close as if to check out the saguaro’s underarms. This one needs a caption, like those dweeby cactus humor books I remember from my childhood. Something like, “Stubble?, umm, I think you missed a spot.” (all photos A. Shock unless noted; click each to enlarge, it’s worth it)

This horizontal Englemann’s pear leaf sprouted buds like shrimp on a plate, instead of just around the top edge (photo E.Shock). >>

It must have been close to peak for the display of Englemann’s hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus englemannii) in explosive, glorious, hot pink bloom. The stems of these spiny succulents are only about a foot tall and their green skin is concealed by both long and short spines, so despite their numbers, the sturdy hedgehog clumps are easily overlooked for most of the year. But their pink-to-magenta flowers are up to three inches across, making flowering cactus stand out on the most brutally exposed slopes of rocky hills and arroyos. <<

They don’t need much of anything to grow or bloom — their preferred medium is stony, desiccated, mineral soil, sometimes in the scant shade of a shrub or larger cactus, sometimes not: they’re happy baking in the full Arizona summer sun, and can thrive in a crack in solid rock that even a rock wren would scorn.>>

<< One hog we found had the hugest flowers I’d ever seen: that’s E‘s man-sized palm for scale, not my girly-paw.

Native solitary bees buzz in and out of the cuplike blooms, sometimes invisible except for waggling stamens deep in the throat of the flowers. Click on the photo below to see a bee-butt poking upward, right next to the apple-green pistil, which hasn’t opened fully into its star-shaped ærial panoply. You can also see the formidable armory of spines on the fleshy, water-hoarding stems. Even javelina are discouraged by them, although I’ve seen otherwise imposing boar javelinas with lips daintily reddened by the petals of the flowers of a “claret cup” hedgehog cactus. This petal-snacking would be considered hog-on-hog predation, except that neither javelina nor hedgehogs are actual pigs.

This past Saturday, E and I took a Sunday drive.  We got out into the desert, to look for things. Normally, April is a good time of year for wildflowers, but due to the late freezes this year’s show is a bit sporadic — some things, like the Paloverde trees, are spectacular.  All over the desert (including in our yard) they’ve been like long-lasting fireworks-bursts of yellow against the blue sky.  But the more delicate, ephemeral blooms have been absent or delayed.  Luckily, in the desert there’s always something to find, showy or not, even when it nearly blends into its surroundings, like the Rock wren on the previous post (have you spotted it yet?).

And like this stone-colored wild burro, grazing in a cobbly wash off of the Castle Hotsprings Road, NW of Phoenix.  She was standing out in the open so calmly we nearly drove by, thinking she belonged to a nearby cabin — we only stopped when we realized she wasn’t hobbled.  We’d seen wild burros up here before on a hike — the Lake Pleasant area is famous for them — but this jenny wasn’t far off the road, and although she was watchful of us, she didn’t run.  Like the Rock wren, wild burros are often heard before they’re seen; our last sighting commenced with loud, unearthly braying coming from a ridge behind us.  When a dog at the cabin started barking at us, this jenny turned and gave it a very loud, nostrilly huff of warning and airy disapproval of its racket, then she moved up the wash in search of greener, quieter forage.

(All photos A.Shock)

It’s been a while since we’ve had a SPOT THE BIRD.

Rock wrens, Salpinctes obsoletus, live among rocks in the arid mountain and desert west.  Here are some rocks.  These rocks are along the Castle Hotsprings Road between Phoenix and Wickenburg, AZ.  There is a Rock wren in these rocks.  If you could hear the wren, it would be singing its spring song which sounds a little like a small mechanized Mockingbird, and also calling “zhe-deeee zhe-deee,” etc (or, if you prefer, “tick-ear”).

Remember, you are looking for a tiny tiny grayish bird among big rocks.  You should be able to click once or twice on the image to enlarge it, although that will make the search a good deal easier.  Answer to be published later.  As usual, no prizes, but I’d love to hear from you when you locate the wren.

(Photo A.Shock)

The Owl Hives are in Chandler.

On Friday night, March 18, the All AZ Clay Invitational Exhibition opened at the Chandler Center for the Arts, displaying the work of more than 40 clay artists from all over the state of Arizona.  Among them is an installation of artefaux by me, entitled Assemblage: Owl Hives.

>> Assemblage: Owl Hives (photo and piece, A.Shock 2011)

The piece is composed of a variety of related, archeologically-themed elements, and is intended to be viewed on its own æsthetic merits.  But, if you read this blog regularly, parts of the installation will look familiar to you, since I’ve posted bits and pieces of it before, in progress.  Also, in the Assemblage, you may recognize a tie-in to the fictional posts that appear here irregularly: according to the signs, the piece is purported to be on loan from the august but mysterious Ganskopf Foundation.  In addition, the ubiquitous and insinuating Dr. Darius Danneru has graciously provided an excerpt from a recent article, supplying authoritative and scholarly, if prolix, context for the piece.  <<

I hope you can stop by the Chandler Center for the Arts’ Vision Gallery anytime before April 16, when the show closes, to see what the Arizona clay community is up to, including three pieces by Don Reitz, from the CCA’s collection.  More info below, or click on Three Star Owl events.  (Photo E.Shock>>)

Exhibition Dates, Hours, and Location:

March 18 – April 16, 2011
Vision Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday, 10 am – 5 pm, Saturdays, Noon – 4 pm
at: Chandler Center for the Arts
MAP/Directions
250 North Arizona Avenue
Chandler AZ 85225
For more information call 480-782-2695.

Here’s cheers to all of the Three Star Owl friends and clients who came by, old and new (nice to meet you, Doriot!), to the San Diego Bird Festival this weekend.  And many thanks to Karen Straus and the volunteers and organizers of the San Diego Audubon Society for all of their good care and hard work.

<< wall art, Campland on the Bay (photo A.Shock)

As always, there were fascinating people to meet, new things to do (more on that later — it involves a friend, two raptors, and a jackrabbit!), with the added bonus of barn owls calling overhead last night.  Now it’s time to pack up a soggy wet tent/office (the rain held off until last night), hop in the truck, and head back across the desert to home.

See you next time, San Diego!

…by the dawnzerly light?

<< Here’s one of the local Cooper’s hawks preening in the pre-dawn light above my tent “office”.  Every morning at EXACTLY 5:48 by the alarm clock, the pair begins their day by skrekking KIK a couple of solo kiks, then rolling out a long stream of duo kik kik kik kik kik kik kiks.  But the crows are up a few minutes earlier, also clacking and giving their hollow caws. (Side note: crow is okay, but raven is better, if you’re lucky enough to live where it live.  I missed raven when we lived in St. Louis, although there there are two species of crow, American and Fish; it almost makes up for being ravenfree).  The crows are nesting too, and fly into the palms with beakfuls of sticks.

American crow (all photos A.Shock, click to enlarge!) >>

I haven’t had a chance to bird the campground systematically, but casual encounters besides crows and coop’s are yellow-rumped warbler, a common yellow-throat who sings every morning on the other side of the fence, mallards who stroll about the campsites like cats, snapping up dropped hotdog buns and popcorn, a white-crowned sparrow or two, ruby-crowned kinglets scolding fussily overhead, and Anna’s hummingbirds, a hen of which kind was moments ago diligently gathering spiderweb from the plank fence just feet from where I’m eating breakfast.  She took her time — eventually I got the photo on the left. <<

>>Cooper’s hawk in the morning sun.  It was being hassled by the crow above.

Today I’ll be at the San Diego Audubon Festival at the Marina Conference Center on Mission Bay from 11am until 5pm, or maybe a little later.  If you’re in the vicinity, come on by: there’s still both beastie and wazzo wares to check out, and other artists and exhibits to enjoy!

Here is the Office, Three Star Owl‘s nest away from nest on certain roadtrips, complete with cot and a TV tray table that serves as a desk, and a battery-powered lamp or two. <<

And here is the Cooper’s hawk who nests here each time I’ve stayed in this RV Resort.  It’s eating something fairly large, with pink feet — like a pigeon — and feathers and tiny shreds of meat are dropping down onto the empty campsite below.  Attracted by the predatory event, a gang of crows is circling, cawking, but the Coop’s is plucking calmly. >>

From 11am to 5pm on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be at the San Diego Audubon Bird Festival in the Marina Conference Center on Mission Bay in San Diego, with wazzo-ware and beastie-ware in small but delectable quantities.  Come on by!

Just under two years ago, we were in Christchurch New Zealand, finishing up our month-long tour of both islands. We had turned in our campervan, and spent a night or two in the city before flying back to Aukland and then home to Arizona. It was early winter, later in the season than now, rainy and cold; our enormous hotel room was heated only by a space heater — an inefficient plug-in radiator — making it no warmer than the campervan had been in snowy Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park. We had booked blind into a hotel in the central business district for which we had no expectations except convenience and economy. But from our room, we found we had unexpectedly great views of the Christchurch Cathedral, right across Colombo St.

Here are two images I took then, before the structure, weakened by the September 2010 earthquake, succumbed to the 6.3 magnitude Canterbury quake which devastated the city yesterday. The spire was toppled, and the roof collapsed; at the writing of this post, there may still be victims inside. Google “Christchurch Cathedral” and you can see the awful contrast in the pictures the search will turn up. Many more buildings, and the people in them, were lost, of course, but these images were most vivid to me, being a place we’d seen.

Christchurch Cathedral (both photos A.Shock 2009)

My only connection with this vital, lovely city is our brief visit, but today I’m thinking of its people, many heading into winter with shattered shelter or workplaces. The New Zealand Red Cross is not currently taking donations of goods or volunteers, but here is their website for more info or in case you want to keep in touch with their efforts as the situation develops.