The Ewok has returned ...with some new moves. Caught on #cameratrap, our friend the great-horned #owl.
Writer, citizen scientist, conservationist, naturalist. Sharing a love of nature & the Sonoran Desert thru photos, camera traps. Married to an awesome man. Board Chair, Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance. Fighting to save the Galiuros from copper mining.
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The Ewok has returned ...with some new moves. Caught on #cameratrap, our friend the great-horned #owl.
He's the best!
Such a cute little goober.
My little Squeezy is used to me being barefoot in the house. My socks, clearly, freaked him out. #Caturday
You know it.
A real looker!
Pretty much!
Just a western diamondback #rattlesnake hanging out on the porch.
SO much fun!
There are few things cuter in this world than lil' reds. #TeamJavelina caught on #cameratrap.
Totally!
😃
Perfect caption!😁
OMG. What an adorable video and great capture of the rock-in-talon!
😆😆😆😆
Ooh - this one is even BETTER. Stunning capture.
Gorgeous shot!
It's really, really distressing.. all of it.
Have you ever seen an American #badger take a dust bath? #cameratrap
I know... this is a travesty in so many ways. Not sure if you saw the NYT article about the border wall and biodiversity (studies from Center for Biological Diversity)...
We only get them in the mountains.
I'm still confused, on BlueSky, who's replying to whom. If to me -- same: my pics are of ringtails (and coatimundi). I've not gotten a jaguarundi on cam, dang it.
Thanks for the intro, Jim.
Hi! We have saguaros, but you get many cats we don't. While jaguarundi have supposedly never been photographed in AZ, they are here. I've unequivocally seen one, a few neighbors, and a new sighting north of us. Where you grew up sounds like paradise!
I'm over the #moon for #desert vegetation. Yep, that's the moon behind a late-blooming #saguaro flower. And again behind a century plant.
Oh, simply the BEST!
Who lives in the footprint of proposed #mining in AZ's Galiuro Mountains, another rare Sky Island? Just a few on #cameratrap: white-nosed #coati; young mountain lion (#cougar); black #bears; #ringtails. See my pinned post on how you might help (again) to save their home - deadline now Aug. 27.
Guess so!
I am head over heels.
He knows it!
I feel that way daily. I just adore this fella.
This is how you get no work done: a Squeezy boy on your desk. It's #Caturday!
Ha ha ha. He makes us ALL feel svelte.
A little 1/4" of rain earlier in the week brought the MacDaddy of #toads out in daylight. I love Sonoran Desert Toads. That is a 4" pipe, to give you an idea of His Royal Girthness.
I bet!!! We've got quite a few rattlesnake species around our place. We've had tiger and speckled - and then black-tailed up in the mountains, too.
Yes, she was doing her best to get them out of harm's way. She got WAY too close to the snake (babies, too).
I was saying the same thing: Too close! Too close!
Indeed, it was a diamondback.
Also... you did see she was behaving that way due to the rattlesnake above her?
Borked. I like that word.
This was the one solid rain we got during monsoon (July 22) and illustrates a fun progression showing the wash before rain; as the water picks up; turns into a river; and then results in a re-contoured landscape (with a cute black-throated #sparrow). #cameratrap
I don't know why my video is blacked out on the front and back end?
Agree!!!
Boy am I right there with you. Nail biter. It's really hard to not interfere with nature.
Yes, badass.
Mama rock #squirrel of the year, or playing it too risky? The burrow is directly left of video frame. See how hard she tries to get them to move away - and who is by the post? Two of 4 fled. Maybe the other 2 were already awake and out of the den.
There is still time. Will you help me - no matter what state - save all of THIS from foreign copper mining? Pls RT. By Aug. 27, send a quick email to BLM's AZ state & local office (tips and suggestions here: tinyurl.com/3ene6wa6).
😆😆 (two emojis - see what I did there)?
Nope. Aloe Vera isn't gonna do the trick. But yes... that's our poor desert. Great artwork.
It's the rare conjoined Coues #deer! 😂 (And for the record, the forest floor is NOT supposed to look like this during monsoon. Everything should be GREEN, but this drought has been brutal).
Well, I'll confirm that what you're seeing -- it's even further east (seems to rain in the Galiuro mts in the SAME spot) and doesn't reach us. I FEEL your pain. This was supposed to ge this "Great monsoon season." SO wrong. So far.
Definitely wasn't him based on time stamps. Yeah, I that the ANYONE gets eaten, and yet... that's the way nature survives.
Have you gotten ANYTHING this monsoon? Funny thing is that it looks like Oro Valley area always gets the pounding, while we're in a donut hole.
My sentiments exactly. Had to do a double take.
We have gotten some interesting stuff!
I know... crazy when you capture nature 'being wild.'
We only got 1/4". You?
Well, this isn't what I expected to see on the #cameratrap! I wonder if the #coyote found the local mountain lion's kill and ran off with part of it?
Yeah - a one-two punch, if you will - for the poor guy. He's limping for sure; I've seen him walk past the window a few times. Ouch.
Glad you're providing shade and that they are finding some food at your place. We are finally seeing a few green nubbies coming up from the earth. Trees are just getting a few leaves, so maybe just in time?
Drought could be the reason for this boy's ribs showing, or it could be that serious leg injury on (his) left leg, above the shin). #MuleDeer
He had just woken up!
Great shot!
Love it!
Ha ha ha!
Aww, thank you.
I adore him!
I had two of them (one male, one female) ... I know ALL about their "I'm pretty, I know it, and I know it will get me anything" antics. :-)
Ha ha. It is, isn't it? He's the best!
I do love his face. Oh, heck, I love all of him!
Gorgeous! Bengal?
I see everyone has found your life-sustaining water!
Lyn - you are FABULOUS. While we did work with the Center on our talking points, they have been so wrapped up in other battles (Oak Flat, and Aluminum Smelter next to our river, etc. etc), they didn't get a chance to send their own action alert.
t's #Caturday! My boy, Squeezy, is getting so big (at 6 months), he's busting out of his cat hammock!
Ha ha. In this case, MONSTER toad! I swear the poop they leave behind is dog-sized.
What's been happening around my neck of the desert? Black-headed #grosbeak, desert #tortoise (yes - green on the lips means he's found some vittles), VERY late-blooming #saguaro with the moon behind a flower.
Agree!
🤦♀️
I do love these giant Desert Sonoran Toads. Such characters - even when they leave GIANT poops on my porch! Ha ha.
In each #cameratrap shot, there is more than one critter. Can you see who else is in the frame (hint: seasonal monsoonal visitor)?
Yep. Strong, 100%-correct words.
Couldn't have said it better myself. It makes LESS THAN sense to kill off one of the last remaining such corridors and the southwest's largest (and thought-to-be most ancient), mesquite bosque.
It's all quite disheartening. But onward we go. Not giving up.
Pretty much all of it.
Bureau of Land Management totally ignoring documented endangered species & Tribal concerns? YEP. Fantastic TV coverage of the plight of the area near my home. Thanks to @abc15.com for shedding a light. Female speaker is one of our board members. Pls RT. www.abc15.com/weather/impa...
You rock. Thank you.
Over the past 10 years, American #kestrel sightings on our property have plummeted. But, look... first time ever getting one on #cameratrap (and a week ago, we got our first on video, which - someday - I hope to
Gratitude, gratitude, friend. Thank you for reposting.
There is still time. Will you help me - no matter what state - save all of THIS from foreign copper mining? Pls RT. By Aug. 27, send a quick email to BLM's AZ state & local office (tips and suggestions here: tinyurl.com/3ene6wa6).
For the record: this documentation was provided to BLM, who promptly ignored it.
When it comes to water, most miners are “Do as I say, not as I do”. Here is how Faraday Copper wastes Arizona’s water. #azwater www.coppercreekmine.com/2025/05/01/d...
They generally are shy and not aggressive, but I would have thought us being so close would have definitely invoked a warning rattle, or a rising up. Thank you, snakey, for being so kind. If I hadn't been behind him, he'd never have know his shoe touched it.
That could have turned out badly - esp. since I am SO GOOD under pressure. NOT! No cell service, I wasn't driving (it was a state vehicle), I am not as familiar with the area and had no idea we were actually close to the gate - but still 1.5 hours from medical care.
And yes, we have the same issues with rats, though the great-horned owls and hawks have been doing a great job keeping those populations down.
Ugh. They need to disperse. We have too many, now. I read that relocating them is less humane than using kill traps, because they will struggle so much to find new shelter/food, and compete with the existing populations... Ugh.
More yellow-billed #cuckoo surveys last week. Survey partner's shoe BRUSHED a western #diamondback (see shoe print, same direction she is facing). Didn't even move🙏. Me: far enough behind to tell him he was hair's length from stepping on #snake. 😳 Other less-scary things:
ALWAYS!
Great footage, as always.
Fantastic footage!!!