Favorite 10 of 2011

For the first time, I thought I would publish a post with our favorite images from 2011. The idea came from an excellent local photographer named John Wall. Just like John did, I will add our favorites to Jim Goldstein's best photos of the year project which you can view here.

To me, photography is about more than getting the perfect shot. It is about preserving a memory of a great place, subject, or moment in time. In fact, it's about the "story" behind the shot as much as it is about the shot itself. So, with that said, here are our favorite photos in chronological order.

Thanks once again to John Wall's blog and his posts about bobcats, we were on a mission to find bobcats all last winter and we saw many in Marin county just north of San Francisco. However, most were far away and the pictures weren't anything to be too proud of. That changed when we took our first trip to Point Reyes National Seashore in March of 2011. We did have quite a few bobcat sightings there and the best one was of this bobcat sunning itself in a pasture right off of Pierce Point Road. I stopped the car in the middle of the road for this shot and we were on a blind curve with no place to pull over so I only got a few shots in before we had to press on. We turned around and came back only a couple minutes later and the cat was gone. But the memory will live on.





Later on that month we returned to Marin county looking for bobcats but the day was cold and dreary and the cats were seeking shelter somewhere warm which is what we should have done. Luckily, two male turkeys gave me something to photograph. They were showing off for the ladies and started to strut around each other testing to see which could boogie the best.





This picture was taken in May at Bosque Del Cabo in Costa Rica. It was our 3rd visit there and was another fantastic experience. During one of our walks, a troop of spider monkeys swung in overhead through some mango trees and into a nearby palm tree. We really enjoyed watching them lean and stretch to get to the palm nuts with little to support them except for their wonderfully strong tails. There were a total of four monkeys in this tree eating the nuts at one point but we like the symmetry of this pair.





Also in Costa Rica we had some of our closest encounters with Scarlet Macaws. They are gorgeous birds and we were lucky enough to have them feeding in the trees right outside our cabana at Bosque Del Cabo one afternoon. They hopped from branch to branch oblivious to my presence intent on finding food. Scarlet macaws mate for life and this pair talked back and forth the whole time as if they were having intent dinner conversation. It was fantastic spending quality time with these endangered birds.





Favorite picture #4 was taken again at Bosque Del Cabo. One morning after breakfast we set out intent on hiking our favorite trail to look for puma. An unfamiliar bird call caught my attention right before we had gone 50 yards from the lodge. I peered into the dense foliage looking for the bird but I couldn't find it. Just as I turned to walk away a slight movement caught my eye. There in the trees not 10 feet off the ground and 15 feet in front of me was a small juvenile Three-toed sloth. It was the cutest darn thing we had ever seen and we got to watch it for close to an hour as it came down to the ground, took care of it's weekly business, and climbed back up into the trees. It was truly an incredible experience and looking at this photo brings it all back.





This next favorite is once again from Costa Rica. In the bushes around the pool at Bosque Del Cabo were some newly hatched Green Iguanas. I would stop by multiple times per day to find them sunning themselves on leaves or sleeping peacefully under them. They were so well camouflaged that you could know what bush they were in but still not see them. One morning after a night of rain, I found one out drying itself right on top of a leaf and I couldn't resist taking this picture which is our favorite from the dozens that we took of these little guys.





After visiting Central America on five different occasions, we had never seen monkeys on the ground. So, when this White-faced Capuchin climbed down to the bottom of a tree and looked longingly across the driveway we were standing on at trees on the other side, we figured that we would get out of it's way and let it cross. We watched it hop very human-like across the driveway and up into a bush, grab what looked like a dead stick and proceed to munch on it. I got some decent photos of the whole encounter and we were both pretty excited about it. When I got back to the US and processed the photos I realized that this was no ordinary dead stick. It was actually a live Walking Stick and a big one at that. I am still kicking myself that I didn't see the walking stick first because it is such a cool insect and this one was really big. Had I known that these were in the area, I would have left no bush unturned trying to find one. Just one more reason to go back I guess.





We could easily have picked all 10 favorites from Costa Rica, but this is the last one. One of the things we love most about the rain forest is the the night time. So many interesting creatures come out at night and frogs are surely our favorites. This picture was taken of a Gladiator Frog that posed nicely on the side of a tree. It didn't move at all so I was able to take a series of nice shots from different angles. When I was done, I turned away to fold up my tripod and move on. Just as I bent over to grab the legs of the tripod I felt a thud on my left shoulder and I knew that something had landed on me. Luckily, I fought my initial urge which was to scream like a girl. Instead, I whipped my head around and got sight of this Gladiator frog sitting on my shoulder looking right at me. Obviously I thought that it had taken exception at having its photo taken and was seeking out some kind of amphibian revenge. Well, as likely as that sounds it wasn't true. It was just using me to get closer to the pond because it stayed for only about 10 seconds before leaping off of me, onto a nearby bush, and into the safety of some cover. Needless to say, my heart was beating pretty darn fast.





In September, we made our second trip to SE Arizona. During our first night walk, we spotted all sorts of winged creatures darting around the hummingbird feeders. While we surely don't consider ourselves birders we did know enough to realize that hummingbirds typically don't feed at night. As we got closer, we realized that they were bats and I knew I needed to get some pictures of this phenomena. As you can imagine, bats are pretty quick and they didn't feed for more than a millisecond at a time. But, thanks to an extra flash and multiple shots per second, I was able to get a few action shots.





Our last favorite of the year is also from Arizona. We passed this particular Greater Earless lizard on our way out on a loop hike. It was in good light and I was able to get some nice photos of it. On our way back, we walked really slowly up to the area in which we originally spotted it. So slowly in fact that I think we disturbed the little guy. If I didn't know better, I would think that it was caught in the act of doing something bad since it looks a little guilty to us in this photo.

SE Arizona - Day 1 and 2

Due to work commitments, we were forced to take our fall vacation in late September. In past years, it would have been a no brainer to plan a trip to Yellowstone, but the past few fall seasons there haven't been great. So, instead we decided to head back to SE Arizona. We had unfinished business there from our trip 18 months ago that was somewhat interrupted by weather.

So, after an uneventful flight to Phoenix and a surprisingly nice experience with Enterprise Rent-a-Car, we climbed into our Ford Escape and took off south hoping for lower temperatures and lots of critters. As we approached Tucson we could see some dramatic lightning in the distance. But, as we got even closer our "oohs and aahs" quickly turned into "holy craps" and worse as we realized that we were going to be driving into a black wall of rain and hail. The temperature had gone from 98 degrees to 66 degrees in an instant and even though we slowed down to 5-10 MPH, we could barely see the road. We passed dozens of cars that had just given up and pulled off the freeway onto the shoulder or took an exit off the freeway entirely. While it seemed longer, the white-knuckled zero visibility conditions probably just lasted a minute or two and then we were through it. We continued to pass more cars pulled off the freeway and we could see lots of underpasses were flooded so it was a good thing that we didn't exit the freeway. Luckily, that was the extent of the bad weather for the rest of the trip. Looking back, it would have been fitting to have Pink Floyd on the radio singing an Arizona inspired altered version of "Welcome to The Monsoon".

Our first destination was Madera Canyon for two nights which is primarily noted for birding but we were planning to do some "mammaling" and "herping" as well. After settling in our cabin at the Santa Rita Lodge which we nicknamed "slanty" due to the pretty dramatic slope of the floor, we unpacked, grabbed the camera gear, and took off to look for critters. The Santa Rita Lodge has lots of feeders up so we didn't have to go very far before seeing life and not all of it feathered.

Acorn Woodpecker with...an Acorn:


Lesser Goldfinch:


Bordered Patch:


Juvenile Rock Squirrel:



One thing we didn't do during our last Arizona trip was take night walks so we quickly remedied that our first night by walking the roads. Unfortunately, besides this spider, we came up empty on the walk.




However, we hit the goldmine back at the cabin because a grouping of hummingbird feeders was left out all night and the bats quickly took advantage of this. They darted in and out so quickly in real time that I doubted I would be able to get a decent picture but after a few adjustments I was able to get good enough shots to identify these bats as Lesser Long-nosed bats.






We didn't get a great night's sleep the first night because we had some sort of critters rustling around on our cabin. We got up numerous times with flashlights in hand trying to find them, secretly hoping that it might be a Ringtail, but we never saw a thing. In the light of day we did see a rather large poop on the roof so who knows what was up there.

Our goal this morning was to look for an Elegant Trogon so we headed out early and up the trail where they are known to hang out. Unfortunately, we never saw nor heard a Trogon and the most prevalent critter was the mosquito. But, we did manage to find a few more welcomed critters as well

Clark's and Yarrow's Spiny Lizards:


Yarrow's Spiny Lizard:


Pleasing Fungus Beetles having a 'Shroom:


We didn't make it to the top of the canyon because the skeeters were just too ferocious and we didn't pack decent bug spray. But, the view from about 3/4 of the way up was pretty nice:




After sort of striking out deep in the canyon, we decided to head to the mouth of the canyon next hoping that we would see more pretty critters and less bitey ones. Unfortunately, our luck wasn't much better, but the area was pretty.



We rested a bit in the afternoon by taking a drive along the roads leading to the canyon and stopping by the Proctor Rd area again. This yielded some good pictures.

Wild Turkey:


Black Bear (We have now seen bears 6 years in a row during our various trips):


Monarch Butterfly:


Coyote in the Cactus:


Another Cool Praying Mantis:


Instead of a night walk tonight, we decided to do a night drive after getting a tip that snakes like to warm up on the roads after dusk. So, we drove up to the top of the canyon and then back out almost to Green Valley. This turned out to be a great choice since it yielded some interesting animals and our first sightings of rattlesnakes in the wild.

Our first Rattler, a juvenile Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake:


A few hundred yards further down the road was this large Rattler:


We also had this creepy spider outside our cabin:


All in all, it was a great first couple of days for us.

SE Arizona - Day 3, 4 & 5

The plan for Day 3 was to spend a few hours at Madera Canyon and then head out on the 3+ hour drive to Portal with a few stops along the way. We once again choose to spend our last hours at the Proctor Rd area since that seemed to have the most early morning action and we had some good luck.

Black-headed Grosbeak:


Osprey:


This Acorn Woodpecker spent all day flying back and forth between trees and our cabin. Our cabin looked like swiss cheese with all the holes. This sequence of shots illustrates the pattern that occurred all day long:

"Oh, a hole"


"pound...pound..pound"


"Done!":


For lunch, we hit a Safeway in Benson for some sandwiches and then headed to Kartchner Caverns State Park to eat them and look for wildlife. We decided to save the cave exploration for a future trip and instead had our picnic lunch and then hiked the loop trail that they have. Besides the millions of multi-colored grasshoppers that we saw on the hike we saw some other cool critters as well.

Elegant Earless Lizard:


Black-chinned Hummingbird:


Ash-throated Flycatcher:


Great Earless Lizard:


Unknown Beetle:


Is it just me, or does this lizard look guilty?


White-face Ibis near Willcox:


The rest of the road trip through Arizona and into, and quickly out of, New Mexico was uneventful until we reached the outskirts of Portal where we encountered another rattlesnake crossing the road. This time Karen hopped out after me to get a closer look but this prompted the snake to dart into the bushes and give us a taste of it's rattle. We were surprised at how quick the snake was and how loud the rattle was.

Soon after, we arrived at Quailway Cottage in Portal. We have stayed here before and knew that this was the place to be to see wildlife in the area and it didn't take long for Quailway to deliver. Over the course of the next few hours we hung out at the cottage grounds and saw lots of critters.

Blue Grosbeak:


Vermilion Flycatcher:



That evening we took a night drive into the Cave Creek Canyon hoping to spot a ringtail but we saw absolutely nothing until we returned to the cottage and walked around the grounds a bit. At least that turned up a couple toads and a really cute Kangaroo Rat.

Couch's Spadefoot:


Ord's Kangaroo Rat:


The most excitement all day happened before bed when Karen found a small scorpion strutting its stuff on the hallway floor. After a quick picture, I was able to capture it in a glass and release it. We hadn't expected to encounter scorpions in our room and really hadn't been looking for them but we quickly concluded that this must have been an anomaly. After all, what were the odds that there would be another scorpion in our room?... Those were almost my famous last words. Not 10 minutes later Karen spotted something moving on the floor near me. Upon closer inspection it was another scorpion that was even smaller than the first. Unfortunately, this one decided to tuck itself into the corner of the room under some furniture which made it impossible to relocate. So, with much guilt, I had to take care of it via more terminal means.

Stripe-tailed Scorpion:


Needless to say, that nights sleep wasn't great since the thoughts of scorpions crawling around filled our minds. But, we needn't have worried because we didn't see another living thing in our cottage the rest of the trip.

Day 4 was an action packed day. We started by having breakfast outside the cottage watching all the birds flutter about. This is a very relaxing activity for us almost akin to watching a fish tank.

Curve-billed Thrasher:


After stalling long enough, we decided to go hiking in the canyon. Our first choice which was recommended by the managers of the cottage was closed due to the early summer fires so instead we hiking a trail called the Basin Trail. While it was a really nice hike, we didn't have a ton of wildlife encounters.

Cave Creek Canyon:


Mountain Spiny Lizard:


In the afternoon, we stopped by the Desert Museum on the highway based on a recommendation that we received from someone that we met in Madera Canyon. We were extremely impressed by this facility. Not only did they have a great collection of live snakes, but they also had a live Gila Monster which was FANTASTIC. The odds of finding one of these in the wild is slim (about the same as having two scorpions back to back in your room) so it was great to be able to see one up close. They also have an amazing selection of cool merchandise and books as well as an outdoor garden stocked with desert plants, lizards, and turtles. It is definitely worth a visit. Of course, the afternoon isn't a great time in the outdoor garden area so we don't have any pictures from this particular visit to the museum except for the captive Gila Monster



The rest of the day was spent at the cottage hoping that the Javelinas would return before dinner and they obliged us right on time. We also continued to marvel at the bird life around the cottage.



Greater RoadRunner:


After dark, we tried our luck at another night drive into the canyon. While we didn't completely strike out, all we saw was a night hawk and a tarantula. Once again our luck was better right around the cottage.

Mexican Spadefoot:



On day 5, we had arranged to take a morning bird watching tour with John who is the new manager of the Cottage. He is a professional guide and we had a great time. His services are highly recommended not only because he knows his birds but because he was also excited to point out mammals, reptiles and even the areas plant life. The whole trip was really fun and educational. More information can be found on his company's website Adventure Birding. During our morning trip was saw lots of interesting animals and some were even kind enough to stay still long enough for a picture.

Apache (Mexican) Fox Squirrel:


Townsend's Warbler:


Yellow-throated Vireo which is never seen west of the rockies:


Lesser Goldfinch:


White-lined Sphinx Moth:


After lunch, we decided to head back to one of the spots that John took us which was the South Fork of Cave Creek. That was apparently as good a place as any to take another stab at finding the Elegant Trogon. Unfortunately, no Trogon once again. But, we did have a pleasant walk up to the end of the road despite the gnats that insisted on buzzing around our heads.

South Fork:



That afternoon we repeated our pattern of hanging out at the cabin waiting for the Javelinas. Once again, we weren't disappointed as we got really close views of them as the cruised through the grounds looking for food and water.

Look at those teeth!







For our last night in Portal, we decided to do our night drive later in hopes that we might see something and that turned out to be a good idea since we did encounter a Gray Fox trotting along the road. It was too dark for decent pictures but the experience was nice. Back at the cottage we did a wider sweep and managed to find some more toads and had brief encounters with Javelinas, a Desert Cottontail, and some bat that wouldn't stay still long enough for an id picture.

Great Plains Toad:


Our stay at the Quailway Cottage in Portal was fantastic. We love this part of Arizona so it shouldn't be long until we return again.