lunamothkd's Journal

A record-breaking snowy winter means that this year's landscape is going to be markedly different from the way it was in 2018. The lakes (Upper and Lower Lake Mary and Mormon Lake to some extent) are full (or full-ish) which means that water now covers areas along the lakes where meadows grew last year. The rocks that were exposed last year along Upper Lake Mary are now completely underwater, and there are a number of different groups of ducks and geese dabbling and diving in Mormon Lake.

I'm excited...to kayak on Lower Lake Mary this year, but I'm most excited to see what this means for the flora that will be sprouting soon and well into the winter season, and to see what types of fauna the water will attract.

Before and after I took my trip to NYC for my sister's baby shower, I did not make too many observations.

What is clear now, however, is that the weather is shifting...Even more so than in NYC.

What I hope is that (although I do not particularly enjoy driving in the snow) the pattern that we are currently seeing with the rain and snow early in the season will continue. Last winter and autumn were incredibly dry so it would be nice if Lower Lake Mary and Mormon Lake have water in them next summer as a result of the precipitation we receive now until then.

Despite the snow and the now cold nights, there are still a few things in bloom. I was going to skip taking pictures, but then I figured it would be nice to make a note of what blooms into winter. The insects that were observed were understandably sluggish, but some of the plants were still looking relatively glorious despite their having to survive through the now freezing nights.

My neighbor lent me a book to read and I went to the lake to start reading it.

The trip was also a way for me to test out my new portable hiking chair and read outdoors in a new location without having to search for two suitable trees to hang my hammock from on days when I just want to lounge someplace beautiful instead of walk/hike/bike/drive.

The plains coreopsis domination has ended along the area of the lake where I choose to sit, and there is now an abundance of (but not nearly as many) curlycup gumweeds and blue gramas (among other things).

It was a windy day, so I could comfortably sit in the sun for about an hour at a time without having to retreat to the shade of the tree where I hung my day fannypack. Butterflies, grasshoppers, birds, and the pages of my book all battled against the wind from time to time, but with sunglasses on to block my eyes from the gusts, all was well.

Between reading, I would stare at the lake and the blue gramas and think about how nice it is to see them in their youthful state since it answered my question about what these grasses were when I collected their dried skeletal remains on my winter hikes last season. I love it when I get an answer to my silent questions or to my silent wishes...like when I fantasized about doing a night hike from the west to the east side of Van Courtland Park in New York City on one of my day hikes through the area and then my little cousin's summer school project unexpectedly allowed me to take her into the woods to observe the ecosystem in the area...At some point on our hike to the west side of the park, she lost her homework packet, and when we were ready to head back to her home, I gave her the option to either take the train back or for us to walk back (keeping in mind that night was fast approaching). To my silent delight she chose the latter and I got to share with her the increased volume of the woods on a summer night, anecdotes about Native Americans roaming through the area hundreds of years ago like we were currently doing to the light of the moon, the fact that some plants spread their seeds by sticking to animals (as she found out when she brushed against a bush that had her freaking out for a moment), and the fact that there are stars/celestial bodies that are visible in the sky (even though they were not very abundant or very bright since we were in NYC, she saw a few of them and she had never seen anything in the night sky before). I was incredibly proud of her bravery and developed a deeper level of admiration for her when we emergeged from those woods. She was scared but marched onwards anyway, and fortunately, I was familiar with those woods...I got my wish in a very beautiful way...

That day on the lake was full of warm memories...most likely triggered by the book that my neighbor lent me (a story about the German Occupation) and the context of me having the book (my neighbor lived in Germany through the German Occupation and shared some stories from that time with me as she was also reflected on her life the other day due to the fact that she is now moving closer toward the end of her days here on Earth). That context reminded me of many things...one of which was, as I looked out at the lake, Assi Ghat in Varanasi and the bookstore that Mia-ji recommended...I won't go into what that memory eventually led to. But ultimately, I felt a great sense of gratitude.

At some point during my reflection/lounging/reading, I picked a stalk of blue grama to use as a bookmark since I did not want to crease the pages of a borrowed book and did not remember that I had a bookmark in my pack that also doubles as a ruler. Today, my cat found it when I rested the book on her spot that I created on my desk. She immediately pulled the stalk out of the book, dragged the plant to the floor and ate the grass heads...Her breath smelled really nice afterward...but now I'm googling whether blue grama is safe for cats...I have no definitive answer, so I will keep both eyes on her.

I've always loved hummingbirds, but this summer, my love for them has grown even stronger.

Today I started photographing my visitors and have been enjoying the fact I now have the ability to identify their individual faces. For the sake of not overloading my profile with everyone who I have photographed, I have selected to upload a few individuals here, but words cannot describe the joy they have all brought to my patio!

The other day I went outside to watch an eventful monsoon downpour that involved heavy rains, some hail, partially clear skies and the ever-fresh scent and feeling of rain-cleansed air. After the rains ended, I was immediately surrounded by hummingbirds who curiously fluttering in circles to take a closer look at me while I admired them. As I watched them watch me, a thrilling feeling of joy washed over me that felt like a wave of electricity coursing through my veins.

Each day as I stand at my door or window watching the tiny birds eat, chirp and engage in feisty acrobatics, I find myself entering into a sense of flow, losing track of time from the pure enjoyment of just admiring their beauty.

I feel honoured to have these little-ones stop by every day and I am more than willing to have a pot of nectar boiling every afternoon in order to keep them happy and coming back all summer.

It has been a few days since I returned to the US from my trip to Canada to visit several of the national parks. The Rockies were incredibly beautiful and the area is full of interesting wildlife...most of which, I did not take pictures of due to suffering from an internal conflict that goes against my desire to capture everything that I see.

On the day that I was driving to Radium Hotsprings with an empty tank of gas, panicking and hoping that I would make it to the next gas station, it was understandable why I did not pull over to photograph the wildlife along the side of the road, but every time besides those stressful two hours, I could have easily pulled over like everyone else and took some amazing photos of the bear, deer, and other beautiful creatures that wandered about nearby.

Why did I choose not to? Because it feels unfair. If I were a black bear strolling through a field of dandelions minding my own business (looking gorgeous but not searching for attention), I would surely panic when five cars pull up next to me and start clicking away...This is the same dilemma that I experienced when in India and the urge to photograph everyone I saw was quite strong. How much do you interrupt, disturb, invade the privacy of, others in order to capture a photograph?

In India, I experienced the interesting phenomena of a few people asking to receive money from me to take their photos if I was spotted doing so (it was a system of advanced begging that had developed from some people's experience with tourists), and in one of the national parks, I was harassed by some birds begging for my chips while I tried to picnic on a bench (a system of aggressive begging that develeoped from their interactions with tourist)...both of which, I feel are a direct result of too much outside interruption that I do not want to be a part of.

So, I'm working on finding a happy medium. Keeping my distance and only photographing wildlife if it will not disturb them in any way. This means a lot of missed shots, but it also means that a healthy respect is maintained for other living beings and that some of my best observations will be privately stored only in my memory...But, it is not all bittersweet...the nice thing about flowers and plants is that they tend to be stationary (on a non-windy day) and there seems to be less chance that I am disturbing them as long as I watch where I step.

The creeping mahonia was no longer in bloom and the valerian and wax currant were dwindling in their number or fresh blossoms, but there was still much to see on the trail.

As expected, the legumes (I still do not have a definite ID on these) that were just starting up when I visited last time were more abundant this time around and there were lots of signs of new types of flowering plants to come.

Lots of butterflies and little flying insects can be spotted along the trail at this time and the hummingbirds were very active and curious as well. I was followed by hummingbirds for my entire walk. For the majority of my walk, I could only hear them twittering around me, but when I was close to reaching the trailhead on my way back to my car, they decided to show themselves. A couple of them flew directly in my line of sight and then closer and closer to me as I rested on a rock. One particularly curious hummer chose a spot on a wax current bush directly in front of me to perch and observe me observing it, and because it hung around for quite some time and also came back to the same spot after defending its territory from another hummer, I was able to take its photo with my phone. The fact that I got the picture felt like a real accomplishment because I spent at least 5 minutes trying to get my scope attached to my phone in order to take the photo and then at least another three minutes trying to locate the spot that the bird was in with my legs arranged in just the right way to serve as a tripod.

After the trail, I took a short stop at the Lake Mary Narrows, which is now open for the season. Free admissions to wander around that area is now on hold until next winter.

Take-Aways:
1) Remember to bring my tripod next time.
2) Fully charge all equipment before heading out (I tried to use my microscope camera to photograph some really tiny bugs only to find that the battery was dead. My watch battery was also dead.)
3) With all of my attachments, my phone turns out to be comparable to my regular camera for documenting observations, plus it obtains coordinate information for all photos. Having my two cameras together is perfect.

Today, I came home from my two-day trip to Tucson and received a warm (according to my interpretation) welcome from a new hummingbird friend. I had set out my hummingbird feeder in early April in anticipation of the tiny birds' arrival and they had started making morning visits (announced by loud chirping) about a week ago. They had not had face to face interaction with me until today, however, so when a little one flew up to my face while I was taking a short rest on my patio, ate from my feeder and rested on the feeder's little perch for a few seconds before flying away and then returning a few minutes later to feed again, I was thrilled!

Making a tiny new bird friend was an additional treat after returning home from a wonderful trip where I was fortunate enough to have two "just learned about this and now I see it" experiences. My Creosote Gall Midge lesson came from stevejones here on iNaturalist and after learning about black bears at the Sonoran Desert Museum, I was fortunate enough to see my first wild bear scurry across the street and up a hill when I pulled off the road for a few minutes while driving down Mt. Lemmon at dusk (I cannot remember why I stopped, but it was most likely because I was considering the spot as a location for washing my eyes, which cannot tolerate any sunscreen or sweat near them for too long before they start to burn).

I was not fortunate enough, however, to capture the moment on camera. As I sat in my car in amazement and gratitude that I had not gotten out of the car as the bear hurried by, I savored the moment because "my dash cam will get it..." I thought. My dash cam did not get it. Hours and hours of driving footage was caught on camera, but as if it was stolen by devious aliens, about 30 minutes was non-existent from my replayed footage. Just my luck! It had to be the one minute that my bear friend decided to make its appearance! I did manage to capture some footage of a part of my hand while trying to replay and save my bear sighing after it happened though...

The Museum (where I spent over 5 hours on May 8th) was an incredibly useful resource for learning about the flora and fauna of the Sonoran desert. Although I generally find zoos and other places where animals are held in captivity to be incredibly depressing, I found it very useful to be able to see some desert-dwelling creatures that I had not yet seen in the flesh. Seeing the animals and some plants with labels put things into perspective. Having a live example of the size of a fox, a bear, some insects, reptiles other creatures (as well as kneeling on the ground with my arms halfway in salt water to pet the stingrays for fun) provided knowledge that was worth way more than the 19 dollars or so that I paid in admissions. I must donate more money to this cause!

Being a new resident of Arizona, seeing saguaros thrive on the hills in Tucson and feeling the heat of a 107-degree day and the city lit up at night from atop Mt. Lemmon was a delightful experience. As my picture of Arizona becomes clearer and clearer with every new city that I visit in this state, my appreciation of the beauty and diversity of the desert deepens. I am falling in love with Arizona and the story of the seed that germinates to a full plant that flowers beautifully and fragrantly and then bears fruits that ripen sweetly in incredibly harsh conditions. I am amazed by the animals that survive in these environments (including the humans who ride their bicycles up hills in weather that I could barely function in).

I am grateful that I chose Arizona to be my home (sorry Kauai and Washington State--I'll just visit) and I am even more grateful that I chose Flagstaff specifically...because although it does not boast the amazing cacti and reptiles that southern Arizona rightlfully feels proud of, I can function effectively in this climate and the Coconino Forest and the surrounding area is full of immense beauty (like the rest of this state), and even a simple stop to enjoy a magnificent sunset can lead to even more amazing things, like an observation of a Western Blue Flag and an amazing moth (that I only got a fuzzy picture of) trying to extract nectar from that iris at the very same moment that I am taking a picture of it.

I got my field microscope in the mail recently. Yay!

And after overcoming the frustration of installing the software on my computer and figuring out how it works, I took it out for a test run today.

Even though I chose a relatively easy spot to try out my new equipment, I was quickly reminded that the outdoors is not the same as the controlled environment of my office desk. The wind on this 70 some-odd degree day felt wonderful on my skin when I was standing in the shade, but, with my level of experience using my new digital microscope, it made photographing anything a somewhat arduous task.

I did manage to get a few photos of some flowering plants growing under the shade of a tree though...and that's at least a decent start to getting comfortable with my new equipment!

Since there is no real way for me to verify the following statement as a human being who did not study meteorology, it can only be considered speculation, but...those heavy winds that we experienced here the other day (just in time for me to test out my new hat) may have blown in, or stirred up, some much-needed precipitation here.

Yesterday and today have both brought rain and snow, which is a much-welcomed gift after a mostly dry winter. I hope that the soil and wildlife (and also to my sinuses) benefit from this moisture and I look forward to seeing what the precipitation does for the wildflowers in the area.

Due to a dead phone battery and a camera shipped off for repairs, I decided to do this walk in more detail on another day and only traveled a very short distance on this trail.

I did not want to miss the amazing finds that may be available farther down this section of the Arizona Trail without being able to document it, so I turned back after observing the toadfax, getting a picture in the mints right before my phone died completely. I decided not to use my external charger since it was already getting close to sundown. But, as expected, it was inevitable that I encountered more wildlife that I was not able to properly document on this walk. Nature does not stop for the personal desires of humans.

Observations that were not documented include robins, mule deer and an interesting variety of grasses that I have not yet become familiar with. The dandelions were also making their mark at the campground before the trailhead.

Sidenote: I have received my digital camera microscope in the mail. I had to order a wifi adapter in order to take it out into the field, but I feel that it will add an extra dimension to my observations that I am extremely excited about.

I am testing out using my phone exclusively for observation and my camera for landscape photos (once it is fixed). So far, my macro lens is great, but I still have to get comfortable with attaching my scope to my phone...