Mary Ann and I took a drive up to Mt. Ord on August 4, 2021. There was a wildfire in June last year, called the Bush Fire, which burned Mt. Ord, and closed the road. This was our first trip up since then. The fire damage wasn’t too bad where we went. In the foothills, we noticed manzanita bushes and some scattered trees burned. In the forested area, there were just a few fir trees burned.
We left home at about 7:30 (later than we planned), and stopped at Sycamore Creek at about 8:30. There was water in the creek, but we didn’t see any birds. We got to Forest Road 1688 at about 10:00, and hiked the ‘loop’.
In the foothills going up the mountain, we saw some interesting Red-tailed Hawk behavior. The wind was steady, and there was a hill causing an updraft, so conditions were such that the hawk could hover like a kite for very long periods of time. There was an adult female in a tree, and a juvenile hovering above her. While we were there he made three dives at her, apparently trying to get her out of the tree. Finally she flew up and hovered with him.
The ebird hotspot at FR1688 had a lot of reports the day before we went, so we had high hopes. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any birds. I don’t know why. Maybe we should have arrived earlier, and skipped Sycamore Creek. So, I settled for some flower pictures.
We drove up to the end of the Forest Road 626, but didn’t make the hike to the tower at the peak.
Despite the lack of birds, we had a good time, and we were happy to see that Mt. Ord didn’t suffer too much damage from last year’s fire.
I included in this post a picture of an Anna’s Hummingbird that took refuge under our patio during a storm, and was sitting on the clothes line. I liked the juxtaposition of the small bird with the clothespins.
6 Comments
How do you know the names of all those plants!?!? Beautiful! Also, birds are good especially the hummingbird on the clothes line. You should publish some of your pics somehow!
Thanks. I look up the plant names on various sites on the internet. It can be time consuming if I can’t find it! I got an ‘honorable mention’ in a Calendar contest (for the magazine “Arizona Wildlife Views”). I also got a first place ribbon in the Gila County State Fair. I could publish them on a site like RedBubble.com. So far, I’m content just to publish them on this website. I haven’t used any of the Facebook photography sites (I avoid Facebook), and I’m not on Instagram.
Interesting hawk photos.
I too love the hummingbird between the clothespins!
Thanks for sharing! Love your art.
Mj
Thanks for commenting!:) Glad you liked them.
I love the time that you spending sharing your enthusiasm in photography. I appreciate all that you comment on, as retirement looks exhilarating. Miss you so much, so these glimpses of you both is inspiring. Love you!! Please keep them coming!
Thanks, Maureen!