Category Archives: Nature

Bryce National Park: “Poetry in Stone”

2017 Trip to Southwest USA, Geology, Nature, Travel, Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah has been described as “Poetry in Stone.” I loved that description.  Each of us who visits Bryce has to remember that the landscape is never static. It is always dynamic and changing. Change is the only constant. The forces of weathering never get fatigued and exert a relentless force on the rock. Bryce Canyon consists of a series of deep amphitheaters filled with a variety of colored rock formations. Some of them are called hoodoos and they are what Bryce Canyon is most famous for.   Hoodoos are eroded columns of sandstone.  They were formed when wind, rain, and ice eroded “fins” of harder rock that eventually being columns and then further eroded into strangely shaped hoodoos. When those windows grow larger, their tops eventually collapse.  Everyone wonders why do they appear here and not in many other places of the world, though I have seen them in Alberta. Frank Decourten wrote a book called Shadow of Timeabout Bryce and its hoodoos “the grand icons of erosion.’ He also pointed out that “Hoodoos are ephemeral–new columns form while older ones are destroyed–and erosion is both their creator and, eventually, their executioner.”  They are created by differential erosion, the cap is harder and does not erode as fast, protecting the column underneath.

 

We loved the views at the various look offs. Each was spectacular in its own unique way. The spires of pink, orange, and red spires were breathtaking. The Paiute Indians who used to hunt here described them as “red rocks standing like men in a bowl-shaped recess.” The image above is a panorama. That means I combined a number of photos into one image. If you click on it, I hope it gets bigger.

 

Of course in the world of geography nothing is forever. As Decourten said, “Inevitably, even the pillars, protected to some degree by dripstone and caprock , succumb to the relentless attack of the elements and the hoodoos begin to crumble.”   Bryce really is a phantasmagorical funhouse made of stone. Bryce is one of the few places where people notice–really notice–the rock. That is because it is so strange. There is no place like it. But they are not only beautiful, they are fascinating if you dig into the geology of Bryce. As Decourten pointed out, “The vibrant colors, the intricate patterns of erosion, and the infinite variations in the surface textures of these rocks are both enchanting and mystifying.”

 

If you look closely at this picture of me you might be able to see Fear.

Bryce was affected by the Cretaceous Period is one of the most interesting periods in the history of our planet. It lasted approximately 79 million years, 145.5 million years ago 65.5 million years ago when the dinosaur disappeared. Decourten said “The Cretaceous was perhaps nature’s greatest excursion into mayhem. It was a time when the gradual, steady, geological processes of the planet went haywire.  For example, the slow spreading of the ocean basins which results in continental drift was proceeding at a rate up to three times greater than the rate at which such spreading occurs today!  During the Cretaceous, the plates of the Earth’s brittle crust were dashing around the planet at a geologically reckless speed–as much as 8 inches per year–about five times faster than your fingernails grow (the normal speed of the tectonic plates). Partly as a result of the high rate of seafloor spreading, great quantities of magma were produced and volcanoes erupted on an unprecedented scale with astonishing intensity.  More igneous rock formed worldwide during Cretaceous time than in any other period of geologic history (except perhaps the period just after the formation of the Earth). Ash and gases erupting from the Cretaceous volcanoes seem to have created a natural “greenhouse effect” which profoundly changed the global climate. It was warm 100 million years ago, very warm.  Tropical forests grew as far north as Alaska. The arctic zones disappeared and temperate conditions at eh poles caused the icecaps to melt. Water released during this great thaw lifted the world’s oceans onto the low borderlands of all the Cretaceous continents.

On land and in the swollen seas, a riot of evolution, induced by the rapid and profound environmental changes, produced bizarre life forms: giant seagoing lizards (mosasaurs); flying reptiles the size of small jet aircraft; the horned, armored, and duck-billed types of dinosaurs (not to mention the fearsome predators, such as Tyrannosaurus, which fed on them); tree-sized ferns and other primitive plants. Finally, there is some good evidence the Cretaceous might have been punctuated, 66 million years ago, by a collision between the Earth and an asteroid, an appropriately violent end to a turbulent period. A great extinction followed this event resulting in the extinction of vast amounts of life on earth, including, the dinosaurs.  Much of that ancient history is told in the rocks and fossils of Bryce. The story is endlessly fascinating.

 

An inland sea divided North America east to west 90 million years ago (‘mya’). During this time sediments were deposited at the bottom of that sea, forming the oldest rocks in the park. Before the canyon was filled with hoodoos it was filled with water. I am particularly interested for some reason in the fact that much of North America was at one time split by an ocean seaway. How can that possibly be? How weird is that desert regions like the American southwest were at one time inundated by this interior seaway? This has been called the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway. When this interior seaway covered much of North America, including Manitoba, coal, sandstone, and mudstone accumulated along the western edge of this seaway. If it had accumulated on the eastern edge we might be richer here in Manitoba today. What a pity. During this time what we now call the Gulf of Mexico penetrated north across the low plains of central North America and joined the waters that were advancing from the northern Arctic Ocean. This incredible seaway in time submerged the entire region where the Rocky Mountains are now found (though they were not in existence yet at that time). This great interior seaway divided North America into two island continents!

Between 55 and 40 mya years ago much of Utah was a basin of water encircled by mountains.  That seems impossible now because it is so dry. Yet for millions of years rivers deposited sediments –mainly dissolved limestone—into a system of large lakes at the top of the Plateau . 20 mya ago, as the Colorado Plateaubegan to be uplifted the lakes dried up and their mixtures of sediments became the muddy limestone that geologists now refer to as the Claron Formation. Then massive tectonic plate activity from 20 to 15 mya began to push up an incredible part of the Earth’s crust. Eventually this uplifted the region by an astonishing 2 miles, creating the 130,00 sq. mile Colorado Plateau that I have come to know a little bit and love a lot.

If one stand on the rim of one of the amphitheaters in Bryce Canyon and thinks about things like this one’s mind is expanded to near stretching limits. The world is and has been a very strange place and much of that strangeness can be detected right here at Bryce.  This ancient world has been recorded in stone. That stone of course was subject to what Decourten called “Water, wind, gravity—nature’s wrecking crew—worked in concert to efface and obscure. He also said, The erosion which removed much of the younger layers created this glorious shrine to the dynamic artistry of geologic processes. Whatever else Bryce Canyon National Park may be, it is certainly a monument to erosion.

What we saw today was the product of massive rock layers that had been uplifted and fractured over millions of years and then submitted to the relentless never-ending forces of erosion. Those forces are not at sleep today. They never sleep. What we see tomorrow will also be the product of those same forces.

 

I have fallen in love with geology the study of how these forces have shaped our wonderful planet.  That is to me an astonishing admission. I would never have dreamed this were possible when I was a liberal arts student as an undergraduate at the University of Manitoba. I despised all science. I was enamoured of the arts and humanities. Science was irrelevant. Now I know how foolish I was. Science is critically important to understanding our world. If we understand it, even if we don’t solve all of its mysteries, we can’t help but love it and if we love it we will try to care for it. That is why science—just like arts and humanities—is vitally important.

 

Our next stop was one of my favourite—i.e. Natural Bridge formed through the erosion of rock by streams or rivers. This window or arch formed from a combination of processes. First, frost wedging, which is the expanding of cracks in rock as water turns to ice, weakened the rock. Then over time, dissolution occurred as a result of chemical dissolving of the rock by rainwater that cut away at the top and sides of this wall of rock. Over time the relentless force of gravity pulled loose the weakened pieces of rock at the center and that created a hole in the wall that we could clearly see and photograph today. That is why the “bridges” of Bryce Canyon, such as Natural Bridge, are spectacular examples of arches that, like the hoodoos, are constantly at risk of destruction as the never ending forces of erosion chip away at the rock. Nothing stands in the way of time. Everything changes.

Zion Canyon: And some people thought I would never make it to heaven

2017 Trip to Southwest USA, Nature

 

Last year we visited 2 of Utah’s 5 National Park. Zion Canyon lies at the heart of Zion National Park. It might be the most popular of Utah’s wonders. It certainly was on the day we visited last year, but partly that was because it was Easter and entrance to the park was free. We loved that, though we loved the crowds less.

At thee visitor center I noticed a poster with a quotation from one of my heroes–Edward Abbey.  It said, “Wilderness is not a luxury. It is one of the necessaries of life.” I agree.

We stopped at a few lookouts to take photographs of the mountains from beside the road. We were allowed to drive through the park, but to explore the canyon area we had to take the shuttle. The buses came by frequently so this was no burden. In fact it relieved us of the burden of driving. It made numerous stops and we could easily hop on the next bus. I loved the park; I loved the transportation system. It was another example of the commons!

Zion Canyon was carved by the Virgin River. That seemed impossible for it was such a gentle shallow stream, but appearances can be deceiving. Mountain streams can turn nasty during heavy rainfalls. No doubt over eons that is what carved this wondrous canyon. John Wesley Powell described this well: “All of this is the music of waters.” In a desert the great sculpting force has been water. Go figure.

The Virgin River is the driving force behind the wonders of Zion National Park.  Looking at that gentle stream this seems inconceivable, but it is true.  The flowing waters over millions of years cause the cliffs to disintegrate. When the canyons deepen forested highlands and lowland deserts are established. A wide array of plants and animals follow. The water creates green oases of lush plants in an otherwise red desert.

 

 

People have enjoyed the canyon for thousands of years. From early on people saw it as a sanctuary in the desert. The very name, “Zion” refers to the “Promised Land.” I thought that apt. And some people thought I would never make it into heaven!

 

It is difficult to fathom that in this desert landscape, water is the force behind everything that we see. North of Zion, rain falling in the highlands of the Colorado Plateau races downhill and carves the relatively soft layers of rock into the magnificent shapes that we saw today. Of course, that work of sculpturing is never over. Nature is never satisfied with its creation. It refines and amends relentlessly without ever stopping.

Millions of years ago streams, oceans, volcanoes, and deserts deposited thousands of feet of mud, lime, sand, and ash. The immense pressure of that pile of debris and sediment and the heat created by the accumulating layers of sediment turned lower layers into stone. Later underground geological forces raised up the Colorado Plateau creating a 130,000 sq. miles of uplifting rock 10,000 feet above sea level. Rain and the streams and rivers worked its way into the cracks in the rock, loosening grains of sand and widening those fractures especially when the water froze in those cracks and widened them by the force of its expansion as ice.  The forces of erosion created the wonderful canyons we saw today.

Of course these processes continue to this day. Rivers still deposit sediment that still turn to stone. From time to time earthquakes punctuate the Plateau’s upward journey. Erosion then continues to pry pieces of rock, some of them huge, from the cliffs.  Whether we like it or not, this canyon someday will melt it away.  Like all creations of nature it is doomed. The only constant is change.

 

At one of the stops of the shuttle we saw some mountain climbers climbing up what appeared to me to be a sheer cliff. I was scared just watching them.  We were told that the climb ordinarily took 2 days, but one intrepid climber had climbed solo without ropes in half a day. That man must be mad. I took a number of photographs of them and even with my 300 mm zoom lens, the climbers looked like tiny specks. One climber I realized when I saw the images on my computer was standing at the top waiting for his buddies to get up to join him.

 

On the way out of the park we stopped for more photographs. I never get enough in such a magnificent place.  We saw a mule deeralong the way as well as Bighorn Sheep. In fact we saw a small herd of sheep coming up and down the mountain right beside the road. I noticed that the female sheep had horns.

I took a lot of photographs today. In other words I had a fantastic time.  It was another of those days, like last year in Arches National Park, like the time we visited the Grand Canyon, like the time we visited Monument Valley, and others, where I was enthralled by the natural world around me and I tried as best as I could to capture it in photographic images. I know I am too poor a photographer to do that, but it is sure is fun trying. This was a fantastic day. It was an experience of a lifetime. It was almost heaven.

 

Capitol Reef National Park

2018 Trip to Southwest USA, Geology, Nature,

 

Capitol Reef National Park was the 4thof the “Big 5” National Parks that we have seen.  The Park is most important geological feature is a wrinkle in the earth’s crust that extends for nearly 100 miles from Thousand Lake Mountain to Lake Powell. It was created over a long period of time by 3 gradual but powerful forces: deposition, uplift, and erosion. The result is a stunning example of what geologists call a monocline, or one-sided fold in the crust of the earth in what are otherwise largely horizontal rock layers. This fold runs north and south through the Utah desert. Waterpocket foldwas form about 65 million years ago when the earth’s surface buckled upwards. This was around the time the dinosaurs went extinct.

The climate in the region changed fantastically over millions of years. During the past 280 million years ago this region changed from ocean to desert to swamp and river bed. During this time 10,000 feet of sedimentary rock consisting of limestone, sandstone, and shale was deposited.

That was followed by uplift between 50 and 70 million years ago when an ancient fault was reactivated during tectonic activity. This lifted the land to the west up by 7,000 feet higher than the land in the east. The land did not crack, rather the layers folded over the fault line. 20 million years ago it was uplifted again.

After that erosive forces shaped the landscape. Much of this sculpture work occurred between 1 and 6 million years ago. Moving water and gravity were the main erosive forces. Powerful rains, flash floods and awesome freeze/thaw cycles loosen and crack the rock after which much of it is washed away. Often this left behind stunning canyons, cliffs, domes, and natural bridges or arches made of rock.

The original European explorers thought it looked like an ocean reef and thought its white domes looked like the American capitol and hence gave it the name Capitol Reef.

People have lived here for long periods of time.  As a result the park contains Ancestral Puebloan petroglyphs and a preserved Mormon homestead.

Charles Dutton the famous geologist who first scientifically explored much of the American Southwest in the 1880s described it like this, “…the light seems to flow or shine out of the rock rather than to be reflected from it.”

Grand Canyon

Arizona, Nature

 

There is no doubt that the Grand Canyon is exactly that—grand.  That word is used too often to describe features that are far from grand. But in this case the description not only fits—it is an understatement.  As Heidinger said, “Some of nature’s finest work is here on display, created by her artists: water, wind, and time.”

 

John Muir, one of my heroes, said that this about the Grand Canyon

 

“It seems a gigantic statement for even nature to make, all in one mighty stone word, apprehended at once like a burst of light…coming in glory to mind and heart as to a home prepared for its from the very beginning.

Wildness so godful, cosmic, primeval, bestows a new sense of earth’s beauty and size.  Not even from high mountains does the world seem so wide, so like a star in the glory of light on its way through the heavens.

…Here, for a few moments at least, there is silence, and all are in dead earnest, as if awed and hushed by an earthquake.”

President Theodore Roosevelt said that it was “the one great sight which every American should see.” Elizabeth Browning’s brief but profound remark, “Earth is crammed with heavens.”

 

Each year I have gone to Arizona I have tried to learn a little more about geology. There is no better place to learn about geology. The Grand Canyon is that deep gash  which an  early runner of the river called a “dark and mysterious cleaving, actually stretches from 600 feet to 18 miles depending on where you find yourself.  And that gash exposes nearly two billion years of the earth’s history visible in its distinct layers.   Juanita Brookes quipped about the gash, “What God hath put asunder let no man join together.” The natural forces of running water, heat, frost, gravity, abrasion,upliftand faulting all worked together at different times to carve this astounding chasm.  As one looks down into that canyon one looks at nearly 2 billion years of the earth’s history written out in a colorful palette of different colors each representing a different age. John Muir called it a“grand geological library, a collection of stone bookscovering … tier on tier conveniently arranged for the student.”

Its “layer cake geology” reveals years of stratified rock in chronological sequence. The younger rocks are above and the older ones lower. In the upper layers one can find evidence of ancient rich marine life.  Deeper and hence older layers of Vishnu Shist do not reveal any former life at all. Marine deposits were laid down over 45 million years ago when a clear sea formed resistant Redwall limestone . Muav limestone in front of the redwall formed in shallower seas and late eroded in gentle patterns of cliff and shapes and ledges.

At the bottom of the canyon there are remnants of Precambrian rocks that are nearly 2 billion years old. The processes that triggered the immense canyon started about 1.68 to 1.840 billion years ago. At that time enormous continental tectonic plates moved slowly across the surface of the earth. Then a plate that carried island arcs and the plate that became North America collided. Heat and pressure from this process changed the existing rocks into dark metamorphic rock that can now be seen in the basement of the canyon. The oldest rocks are at the bottom.Molten rock then squeezed into cracks and hardened as light bands of granite.

 

About 70 million years ago the Rocky Mountains began to form, and the Colorado Plateau rose up as the North American plate pushed up the Rockies Mountains and the plateau when that plate overrode the Pacific Plate underneath it.  In the process a large part of what is now Utah, northern Arizona, western Colorado and a corner of northwestern New Mexico slowly rose up from the sea level to elevations of thousands of feet. The Plateau is about 130,000 sq. miles in size. That is how the ocean floor close to modern day California ended up so high!  These powerful geological forces created both the Rockies and the Colorado Plateau. This was how the Colorado Plateau was created. This rising up occurred with very little tilting or deformation of the sedimentary layers.

But the sculpting of this natural work of art was not done. After that the Grand Canyon was carved. About 5 or 6 million years ago, the Colorado Riverflowed across the Colorado Plateau on its way to the Rocky Mountains and ultimately to the Gulf of California. Each rain washed sparsely vegetated desert soils into the river. There was little to hold the soil together. A steep gradient and heavy sediment loads created a powerful tool for erosion.

The process of erosion was assisted by rain, snowmelt, and tributary streams that entered the canyon throughout its length. Windwas also influential. That wind has been called the greatest sandblasting machine on earth. The volume of the Colorado River varied greatly from year to year. When the last Ice Age ended some 12,000 years ago, the Colorado River may have had a flow 10 times what it is today! As the river cut down into the canyon the canyon deepened.

The fact is of course that the rocks of the Grand Canyon are not unique, but the clarity of the exposure geological record is unique. So it possible to read that history in the rocks. It was a fantastic example of what Chris and first heard in Grosse Morne National Park in Newfoundland—there is a lot of history to be learned from rocks.  As my guidebook said,

“Grand Canyon’s mulitcolored layers of rock provide the best record of the Earth’s formation of anywhere in the world.  Each stratum of rock reveals a different period in the Earth’s geological historybeginning with the earliest, the Precambrian Era which covers geological time up to 570 million years ago. Almost 2 billion years of history have been recorded in the canyon, although the most dramatic changes took place relatively recently, five to six million years ago,when the Colorado River began to carve its path through the canyon walls. The sloping nature of the Kaibab Plateau has led to increased erosion in some parts of the canyon.”

 

Ultimately that is what the Grand Canyon experience is all about—an appreciation of immense amounts of time. Geology is the science that deals with immense time. James Hutton considered by some to be the founder of modern geology wrote a grand opus on the topic. His main theses were very controversial at the time, though they are universally accepted now. The first was that the Earth’s surface is constantly being eroded by water, ice, wind which together grind old rock rock into smaller chunks, pebbles and fine sediment.  These are then carried down stream by rivers and eventually are deposited in the bottom of the sea.  Then those sea bottoms are transmogrified slowly by pressure and heat from below and then become stratified into layers of new rock. That heat also causes uplift of those strata and of the magmas of molten rock beneath them that eventually form jagged mountains, domed plateaus, and grantic knobs, great rifts, warpings, and exposures and juxtapositions of variously tilted strata. Those of course are then eroded all over again.  As David Quammen explained it,

 

“in short, mountains become silt which becomes sedimentary rock which becomes mountains, with erosian driving the process from above and subeterranean heat driving it from below,in a repeating cyclethat seems to go on indefinately, ‘showing no vestigage of beginning,–no prospect of an end.’

As John Muir said, the world, though made, is yet being made.  That this is still the morning of creation.  That mountains, long conceived, are now being born, brought to light by the glaciers, channels traced for rivers, basins hollowed for lakes. ”

He also said,

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul and alike.”

 

After all, J.B. Priestly had said this about the Grand Canyon in Harper’s Magazine,

“There is of course no sense at all in tyring to describe the Grand Canyon.  Those who have not seen it will not believe any possible description. Those who have seen it know that it cannot be described… It is not a show place, a beauty spot, but a revelation.  The Colorado River made it; but you feel when you are there that God gave the Colorado River its instructions.  The thing is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in stone and magic light.   I heard rumors of visitors who were disappointed. The same people will be disappointed at the Day of Judgment.”

 

 

Sedona

Arizona, Nature, Sedona

 

There are many spectacular places in Arizona.Sedona is certainly one of them. Chris and I have been here many  times. This year we actually did not go there. These photos are from previous years.

One of the most photographed places in Arizona is Cathedral Rock. It is spectacular.

 

 

This is a panorama taken from above the city by the airport where there are great views.Every where you look there is spectacular scenery.

 

It does not matter how often I go to Sedona. I never get enough of it.

 

This is called Bell Rock.

 

Another view of Cathedral Rock

 

Wild, Wild Horses

2017 Trip to Southwest USA, History, Nature

 

On a exploration of the Tonto National Forest by car, we stopped at Butcher Jones Road where we were surprised by a herd of wild horses walking through the picnic area and beach. Many, including us, ambled up to them trying to take photographs. I counted 13 horses in the herd. It is amazing to see wild horses. One onlooker explained to me that this was the only place the horses could access water so they came almost every day for a drink. We watched carefully to make sure we were not trampled. Apparently no one has ever got hurt by them though he recommended standing close to a tree since they never ran into trees.

Another photographer explained to me that he was part of a conservation group that successfully pleaded with the governor to halt efforts to send them to a glue factory. For now at least their tenure is secure. I applauded him for his efforts. We took many photographs of them today. How could we not?

The  volunteer group called the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (‘SRWHMG”) has made the protection of these wild horses their mandate. They believe that the horses and their ancestors have been roaming free along the lower Salt River in Arizona, for centuries. Arizona’s State Archives hold historic evidence of their existence in the Salt River Valley, dating all the way back to the 1800’s when they were already referred to as “native stock”.  But in 2015 they were threatened with total removal.

SRWHMG monitors daily the horses and keeps records of them. Sometimes they rescue and rehabilitate suffering and injured Salt River wild horses. Part of the problem is that the horses wander onto highways. As a result this group maintains and repairs miles of fencing along Bush Highway and recreation areas. They want to keep a small piece of “wild” for future generations to come.

The mustangs may be descendants of Spanish or Iberian horses that were brought to the Americas by the Spaniards in the 16th century. The name “mustang” was derived from the Spanish word mustengo, which means “ownerless beast.” Today the word “mustang” and “wild horse” are used interchangeably.

In 1687 one of the first European explorers of the region, Missionary Father Eusebio Keno journeyed to Southern Arizona (then part of the Mexican Sonora). Due to his efforts, missions and stockyards were developed. He reportedly left hundreds of horses and cattle at each mission. His many expeditions on horseback covered over 50,000 square miles. He had 6 successful missions in Arizona including in Phoenix and Tubac.

By the 1800s wild horse herds were found all over the western plains and were noticed by many settlers and explorers. For example, Meriweather Lewis and William Clark saw them on their historic exploratory expedition from 1804-1806. Sadly, the horses were treated like the bison. Mass extermination started around 1850 because wild horses were considered competition for cattle. Many were shot or poisoned. The United States Forest Services (“USFS “) and ranchers organized roundups to shoot them. Even as late as 1908 the Forest Service put out a standing order to kill every wild horse on sight in Lander County. The wonderful animals were considered “worthless.” In the Phoenix area they were slaughtered in the thousands. The Bureau of Land Management now believes that there are about 500 left in Arizona.

The USFS  believes that they are not wild, but are escaped “livestock.” They did not want to be responsible for their management. They were not able to find any wild horses when they went looking, but  SRWHMG today believes they did not look very hard. SRWHMG suggests that they based their analysis on only one faulty outing. Yet as a result the USFS said they intended to sell the horses unless someone claimed them. In 2015 they issued a “notice to impound” to the public, but no one came to claim ownership. Even the Native American tribes did not claim them. The SRWHMG therefore takes the position that they are not truly feral or stray livestock. What is clear is that the horses are indeed wild and unowned. The SRWHMG believes that they are part of Arizona history and ought to be preserved. As a result they are doing their best to protect them from possible destruction by the USFS. For the time being it appears that they are safe, but this protected status is fragile. Ironically, the wild horses now rely on the advocacy efforts of humans, their long time foes. In the world of wild life conservation this is a frequent anomaly. Life is strange.

 

Birds of Arizona

Arizona, Birds, Nature

This has not been a great year for wild flowers. In fact it has been a rotten year for wild flowers.  However, the birds have come and presented themselves. I captured a few images. If anyone notices that I have misidentified any birds please tell. I know I am an incompetent birder.

Pyrrhuloxia

Black-crowned Night Heron

 

 

Western Tanager

 

American Avocet

 

Black-Necked Stilt

 

Great Egret

 

Northern Cardinal

 

The cardinal broke a cardinal rule. That rule is that birds will only come close to me when I am a long way from my camera.  This time, we were sitting down for lunch and this guy showed up very close by.  Very obliging.  The stilt and the avocet were photographed last year.

The Desert in Bloom

Nature, Wild Flowers, Wild Flowers of Southwest USA,

Through the wonders of irrigation, even in a year of drought, like this one, the desert can bloom. At the Desert Museum in Tucson, one of my favourite places, , that has been shown.

 

 

Flowers can bloom in the desert if they are given a boost of water.

 

The Museum is different from most. Almost everything in it is found outdoors. It is located right next to Saguaro National Park, dedicated to the Saguaro cactus found only in the Sonoran Desert.

The Century Plant is highly unusual, but beautiful in its own way.

In fact with care the desert can even bloom Hoepners. Of course it can’t make Don smile. That would be asking for too much.

 

 

There is no justice

Nature, Wild Flowers

Fairy Duster

There is no justice. One of the things that I loved about the Sonoran desert is wild flowers. Usually the sprinkle the desert in the spring. But not this year.This is the worst year for wild flowers in a long time. That is because it was the 4th driest year in Arizona more than a century. In particular the critical time for wild flowers here is Oct to December. If there is little rain then the plants will not produce flowers as they have to expend all of their energy on survival and have little left over for reproduction. Reproduction is of course the job of flowers.

Desert Globe Mallow

As a result I have been depressed at the startling lack of wild flowers. There have been some flowers, but very few. The worst wild flower season I have experienced in the desert.

 

Thank goodness there is one exception–cactuses. They are tough enough and resilient enough to survive and produce flowers even in a bad drought like this year. The only problem is that they have been slow in producing flowers. At least we have some. You just have to dance with the girl you brung. Of course in a bad year like this one, we must learn to cheat. Go to a place that waters their wild flowers. Are they still wild?

 

Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus

Hedgehog cactus is one of my favourites.  They have just recently started to bloom in the Sonoran Desert. Just as we were getting ready to leave.  Sometimes life sucks.  William Faulkner was right, “You can never catch up with injustice.”

 

Blue Desert Skies

Arizona, Arizona Photos, Nature

 

As a wanna be photographer I love blue skies. A few happy little white clouds add a lot, but I love the deep cobalt blue.

 

 

First it is true the skies in the desert are blue–really blue. Not puny blue like back home. This is real blue.

There is a reason that the skies are so blue in the desert. In all skies the sky appears to be blue. It is not really blue. The sky appears to be blue because of the way that sunlight interacts with air. Most ordinary visible light passes through the atmosphere with relatively little disturbance. However once in a while, a tiny particle of light–a photon— collides with an air molecule and bounces off it. This process is called scattering. The light we see in the sky is sunlight that has been scattered off air molecules. Yet the question remains why is blue instead of white?

Since the time of Isaac Newton that great British scientist, we have realized that ordinary white light is a mixture of all of the colours of the rainbow from red all the way through violet. Two other scientists Tyndall and Rayleigh showed that how strongly light is scattered by air molecules depends on the wavelength of the light. Light from the blue/violet end of the spectrum is much more likely to bounce off the air molecules than is light from the red/orange end of the spectrum. As a result of that most reddish light travels through the atmosphere more or less unimpeded by air molecules. However, enough of the light from the blue/violet end of the spectrum is scattered into our eyes to make the sky appear blue to us. So the sky appears to be blue, because we see more of that light than from the other end of the spectrum.

Of course ultra violet light, which is even farther beyond the blue/violet end of the spectrum, is scattered even more than the blue or violet light but that light is invisible to us. Some animals like hummingbirds and bees can see it but we can’t.

 

As David Wentworth Lazaroff said,

Sonoran Desert skies are such a deep blue (to human eyes) because desert air is unusually pure, that is, compared to the air above many other places on the planet; its relatively free of the tiny floating particles and droplets called aerosols. Aerosols come in a wide range of sizes, and the larger ones reduce the blueness of he sky. Unlike air molecules, they scatter light of all colors about equally. As a result, they seem to fill the sky with white light, diluting the blue.

Desert air has so few of these large aerosols partly because it’s so dry. In more humid climates water vapor condenses on microscopic airborne particles, forming tiny droplets that we see as hazes and fogs. This is especially true in coastal areas, where tiny salt crystals from evaporating ocean spray are especially good at capturing water vapor and creating water droplets. In fact morning fog is a routine occurrence in parts of the Sonoran Desert along the western coast of Baja, California. [1]

[1] David Wentworth Lazaroff, “Desert Air and Light,” in A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert, edited by Steven J. Phillips & Patricia Wentworth Comus (2000) p.55-56