Snow in Tucson

OK, it's not much, but it's still thrilling when it snows in the city as it did this morning. A few days ago, we had hail. The last time we had snow here was February 22, 2019.  My cousin was visiting from Chicago, where the frigid wind and sleet off Lake Michigan had caused her to flee to sunny Arizona. I opened my shades and shrieked "It's snowing!" Linda said dryly, "Imagine my excitement." This was the desert behind my house two years ago:

Not a Unicorn

The first time I saw this mule deer in my yard, I thought he was a unicorn. I asked him where his other antler was, and he just glared at me. Then I got a better look at him a few months later when he was at my wildlife bubbler, and I realized that his left horn is growing out of the side of his head. His black forehead is also unusual. 

Usually, the deer come to my bubbler in a small herd of three to eight deer. He is always by himself. I wonder if he prefers it that way, or if the other deer have ostracized him like poor Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. 
 

Spotted Fawn Season

The nights are getting cooler, and the spotted fawns are on the loose. Life is good. 

Staying Cool When It's 107

When you have to wear a fur coat all summer, you look for any opportunity to cool off. 

Holy Moly and Holey Dove, Batman!

A couple weeks ago my birding pal Alison and I left Tucson at 4:30 AM to participant in the Tucson Audubon Society's Elegant Trogon Survey in Madera Canyon. We did this last year, but I think because we were rookies TAS assigned us to an unproductive section of the lower canyon. This time Alison requested and got a better assignment for us, and it paid off in this sighting of the object of our search. He was absolutely magnificent, stunning, thrilling and elegant.

Closer to home but no less fascinating is this White Winged Dove with a hole in his chest. When he drinks from my wildlife bubbler, water comes out of his chest. I saw him several times over the course of about ten days, but this sighting on May 27 might have been my last.

Keeping Cool

Steve and I have been escaping the heat and revealing in the glorious conifer forest at the top of Mount Lemmon, only an hour from Tucson. The 26 mile road up the mountain climbs 6,800 feet. You'll see changes in vegetation similar to what you'd see in a drive from Mexico to Canada. It never ceases to amaze and delight me, especially when the temperature is 30 to 40 degrees cooler than it is in Tucson.

We encountered a lightning storm on the Marshall Gulch Trail, and got a little rain. Imagine our shock as we drove down the mountain and saw what appeared to be snow. It was two inches of hail in August. Do we live in a magical place or what?

 

Back in the desert, the wildlife in my backyard have their own ways of keeping cool.

This Mourning Dove isn't injured. After airing both of his wing pits, he flew away.

This Harris Antelope Squirrel also looks injured. He reminded me of a Rocky the Flying Squirrel. He is on my patio, engaging in heat dumping. He is actually able to transfer excess heat from his body to the patio.

 



Another variation on the heat dumping concept.

Too Cold for Tucson

Two inches of ice on my fountain this morning. This is wrong in so many ways. After I broke it up, dozens of birds appeared for an icy drink. Apparently they couldn't find water any where else.

The thermometer from the cellar at my parents' house in Massachusetts is now on my back porch. It is at least as old as I am, so confusion is understandable. With six degrees of mercury stuck up in the eighties, the thermometer reports the temperature as 12. I am sure it never experienced such extremes of temperature in my parents' cellar.