Arizona Trail | Flagstaff, AZ | Revisited and Going Farther

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.

Posted on May 15, 2018 04:26 AM by lunamothkd