 |
| This is where you start. It's the lowest spot on the entire trail. Shouldn't it be called the trailfoot? |
 |
| The trail beckons. Where does it go? |
 |
| Mary walks fast. I take a lot of pictures of her back. |
 |
| Once in a while I make her stop and turn around. |
 |
| I had never hiked in the desert before this trip. Pretty interesting. No snakes this time...too cold. |
 |
| I guess they don't have creeks here. This is the "wash," which I suppose is an apt name for the low spots where the water occasionally carries the rocks down from the hills. Must be something to see when that happens. |
 |
| There are some definite differences from hiking in the forest. In particular, the rocky desert trails let you know immediately that you should not have cheaped-out on wimpy boots. |
 |
| And you don't need to look for a clearing to find a view. Note the impressive snow-capped mountain in the distance. |
 |
| Mary is sporting a different look on her back. We were overdressed. |
 |
| These fellas waved to us as we passed. |
 |
| We hiked to Taliesin Overlook. Looking the other way, the McDowell Range is behind Mary. |
 |
| The Valley of the Sun on an uncharacteristically cloudy day. |
 |
| On the way back, I stopped to inspect the cacti. These little guys look cute and fuzzy. |
 |
| Don't trust the little bastards. |
 |
| Is this some kind of fruit? Due to newfound wisdom, I'll never get close enough to know. |
 |
| How do the birds get past the spikes to create the hole? And once it is created, how do they keep from getting impaled going in and out? I suspect the the flying is more precise than the Blue Angels. |
 |
| People zip buy on bikes from time to time. I don't like the way they disrupt the horizon. |
 |
| This guy didn't need a plurality of wheels. I can honestly say that a man on a unicycle was the second last thing I expected. (He wasn't juggling.) |
 |
| Hard to tell where to look... at the fork in the trail, the plethora of cacti, or the distant rocky peak, brightly lit by the sun. |
 |
| I think he was glad we were leaving. |
 |
| I was glad, too. We ambled out of the backcountry just before sunset. Not sure I'd want to spend the night there. |
Where was this? I know it's not New York State, but you never said where this Lost Dog Wash Trail is. California? I suppose I could Google "McDowell Range" and find out, but I'm too lazy... ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe trail starts at the northern edge of Scottsdale, Arizona.
DeleteScience Friday's broadcast in Phoenix, Arizona, got us thinking more about a popular desert fixture—the saguaro cactus, a huge plant with a big appetite for water. Did you know that... (from http://www.sciencefriday.com/blogs/03/29/2013/11-things-you-didn-t-know-about-saguaro-cacti.html#path/blogs/03/29/2013/11-things-you-didn-t-know-about-saguaro-cacti.html)
ReplyDelete1. Saguaros are the largest cactus species in the U.S.—they can grow more than 40 feet tall. (The largest species in North America is the giant cardon cactus, which grows in parts of Mexico.)
2. A typical saguaro can live between 100-200 years. (That said, "We are not entirely sure of the true age of some of the largest individuals," says Kevin Hultine, a plant physiologist at Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden.)
3. A fully-grown saguaro can weigh more than a ton.
4. Depending on how much water they amass, saguaros can shrink or swell in girth by 20-25 percent over the course of a year, according to Hultine.
5. Saguaros have an intricate root system. A single “taproot” grows straight down about five feet to access water that’s stored deep underground. A saguaro’s main roots, however, extend like a maze about three inches under the surface to easily collect rainwater.
6. Despite the spines, which prevent hungry animals from feasting on their tissues, saguaros serve as “hotels” for birds such as Gila woodpeckers, which carve out nest holes in the plants. These birds typically wait several months before moving in to give the pulp of the cactus time to dry and create a solid casing around the cavity. "Sagauros are characterized as foundation species because they support so many other species in the ecosystem," says Hultine.
7. The saguaro’s bloom is Arizona's state flower.
8. The saguaro was given its scientific name, Carnegiea gigantic, in honor of industrialist Andrew Carnegie, whose Carnegie Institution established the Desert Botanical Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, in 1903.
9. Saguaros don’t always assume the familiar, forked silhouette of cowboy lore—a small number appear “crested” by a fan-like structure referred to as a cristate. But these "are very rare," notes Hultine.
10. Saguaros are culturally important to the Tohono O'odham Nation. These Native Americans harvest ripe saguaro fruit in the spring to make wines, jams, and jellies. Saguaro wine is ritually consumed during Nawait I'i, a Tohono O'odham rain ceremony.
11. Saguaros—which make for expensive lawn adornments—have become black market commodities, with poachers raking in a few thousand dollars for their hauls. "This has been one of the major traditional threats to saguaro," according to Hultine.
Gila Woodpecker - Melanerpes uropygialis (from http://birds.audubon.org/birds/gila-woodpecker)
ReplyDeleteDescription
A brash, noisy woodpecker of desert regions. Common and conspicuous in stands of saguaro, or giant cactus, it also lives in the trees along desert rivers, and is quick to move into towns and suburbs. This species and the Gilded Flicker are the two main architects of desert apartment houses: the holes they excavate in giant cactus are later used as nesting sites by many other birds, from flycatchers and martins to owls and kestrels.
Habitat
Desert washes, saguaros, river groves, cottonwoods, towns. Generally in dry country, but requires suitable sites for nesting cavities: cottonwood groves along rivers, large mesquites or willows, palms, giant cactus such as saguaro or cardon. Readily adapts to suburbs of southwestern cities. Also dry tropical forest in Mexico.
Feeding Diet
Omnivorous. Diet includes wide variety of insects, also cactus fruit, other wild and cultivated fruit, berries of shrubs and mistletoe, nectar from flowers, seeds, small lizards, earthworms, eggs and sometimes young of smaller birds.
Feeding Behavior
Forages on tree trunks and cacti, in outer branches of trees or shrubs, or on ground. When seeking insects on tree trunks, generally probes or gleans at surface, rarely excavating for food. Often drinks sugar-water from hummingbird feeders.
Nesting
Displays, used largely in aggression, include exaggerated bowing and head-swinging, accompanied by loud calls. Nest site is a cavity excavated in giant cactus or in tree (cottonwood, willow, or large mesquite), sometimes in palm trunk. Cavity usually 8-30' above ground. Both sexes take part in excavating. Cavity in giant cactus cannot be used for several months, as inner pulp of cactus must dry to solid casing around cavity; holes may be excavated one year, used the next. Eggs: 3-4, up to 6. White. Incubation is by both sexes, about 14 days. Young: Both parents feed young. Age at which young leave nest not well known, probably about 4 weeks; accompany parents for some time thereafter. 2-3 broods per year.
Eggs
3-4, up to 6. White. Incubation is by both sexes, about 14 days. Young: Both parents feed young. Age at which young leave nest not well known, probably about 4 weeks; accompany parents for some time thereafter. 2-3 broods per year.
Young
Both parents feed young. Age at which young leave nest not well known, probably about 4 weeks; accompany parents for some time thereafter. 2-3 broods per year.
Conservation
Declined seriously in California portion of range during 20th century. Still abundant in southern Arizona.
Range
Mostly permanent resident, but some move short distances north or uphill in winter. Also makes local movements, concentrating at sources of food when not nesting.