Sights ‘n Snaps
Though I’ve been busy with freelance projects, I’ve had my eyes wide open the past few months. Here’s what I’ve seen and snapped around the ranch:
Kessie the kestrel atop a saguaro in the front yard. Click to enlarge.
The normally-dry riverbed churning with late-monsoon rains in late Sept.
Yep. Our endangered nectar-eating bats returned on July 16 and retreated to Mexico on Oct. 21. (I’m still participating in the local bat study). Click to enlarge.
So many gorgeous sunrises during the fall! Click to enlarge.
A two-for-one shot: a common buckeye butterfly and a grasshopper. Click to enlarge.
I have NEVER seen a snake move as fast as this coachwhip. I swear it levitated before it flew under a bush. (Harmless, unless cornered). Click to enlarge.
During a quad ride into a new area of the mountains near our house, discovered THE most majestic crested saguaro yet (1 of 2 seen during trip). You remember how much I love them, right? Click to enlarge.
I couldn’t resist … another incredible sunrise over the mountains.
What a week with our trail cam: first time we ever captured mule deer. We THINK this may be Bucky II, our baby buck from summer. See the other in far right (mama, I hope)? Click to enlarge.
Another shot of Bucky. During this trail cam ‘session,’ we also captured a bobcat and a rat, and this …
So excited to capture a fox on the trail camera! Click to enlarge.
Have you seen anything lately to fuel your creativity, your life, your writing?
November 5th, 2014 at 3:16 pm
Melissa — I always love it when my email informs me that you’ve published a fresh post because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’ll be treated to your fantastic photo captures. THANK YOU, as always, for sharing the view through your lens. I oh-so-appreciate your perspective.
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 7th, 2014 at 11:50 am
You’re so welcome, Laurie. I’m glad my notices elicit that kind of response, rather than an eye-roll (by the way — I did get the fox photo to upload if you want to circle back and see his bushy tail).
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November 5th, 2014 at 9:42 pm
You know . . . not really. I need to open my eyes! Because I know it’s out there.
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 7th, 2014 at 12:16 pm
Well, in your defense, you WERE busy with a few birthdays this week!
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November 6th, 2014 at 5:25 am
Beautiful shots, as per usual. Thanks for sharing with us!
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 7th, 2014 at 12:16 pm
You betcha. Now time for YOU to get a trail cam set up at your new digs — I can’t image what will lumber out of the forests!
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November 6th, 2014 at 8:58 am
Beautiful photos! As I look out at another gray day, I really appreciate that you share these!
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 7th, 2014 at 12:18 pm
Ugh. Those gray days are precisely why I moved from lake-effect western PA. Lake Erie cast her pallor over the region a good 200 days of the year, it seemed. Here’s to sunny skies!
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November 6th, 2014 at 3:52 pm
Coachwhip is such a scary/wonderful name for a snake. And it fits him.
Your photos are amazing, Melissa. The bat photo is incredible – the thing that happened with their wings! Love it.
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 7th, 2014 at 12:19 pm
Oh, those bats! I just love them; an online friend commented that they look like Alf (or that his character must have been modeled after these guys). I can’t take credit for that shot, however. Hubby is the only one who can stand still long enough and time the shutter just right to get those buggers! Me: not so much.
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November 7th, 2014 at 12:42 pm
I love your trail cams! That fox sighting is amazing. But my favorite photo this time has to be that saguaro. What a fabulous plant!
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 7th, 2014 at 2:28 pm
Thanks, Shary. I do feel privileged to have glimpsed that mighty saguaro. It was one of those “looking in the right spot at the right time,” as the hills were covered with them, and this one was obscured by trees. I don’t know how I saw it, honestly. There was another not even 200 feet away, growing sideways — one I’d never seen.
Hope you’re well!
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November 7th, 2014 at 2:47 pm
I love that saguaro! It almost looks like an odd blossom at the top. Do you find them in that configuration often?
Your photo got me thinking that I should write a post about my hike through the Saguaro National Park several years ago. Subtitle: A tale of survival. LOL.
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 10th, 2014 at 10:00 am
If you’re interested, Jackie, I did an entire post of the rarity of crested saguaros (with photos of all the ones I’ve discovered nearby). http://bit.ly/11bwvAs.
You SHOULD write a post about your Saguaro Nat Park experience; with that harrowing title, my curiosity is completely piqued!
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November 10th, 2014 at 8:39 am
Your photos keep getting better and better! That shot of the bats is phenomenal, as is the lower sunrise. I’m so impressed!
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 10th, 2014 at 10:01 am
Thanks, Annie. That is a huge compliment. I’d have posted even more sunrise shots, but I have SO many of them now… And just yesterday, discovered something even COOLER on the trail cam. It will have to be a future post!
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November 10th, 2014 at 7:48 pm
Hi Melissa, Mark first told me about crested saguaros & now I think I must have seen the most magnificent one ever. That is so marvelous I can hardly believe it is real! But I know it is & THANK YOU! Karen (Roxanne’s Mom)
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 13th, 2014 at 11:01 am
Karen! I knew it was you before you told me it was you :-). I’m so glad you are as impressed as we are. This is THE best one I’ve seen, aside from Big Betty (http://bit.ly/11bwvAs). I’ll have to email you the photo of the one that was right down the wash from this beauty — the strangest I’ve ever seen, a kind of sideways-growing crested saguaro.
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November 12th, 2014 at 10:30 am
Thanks for the desert nature tour. I needed it on this frigid, windy day.
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Melissa Crytzer Fry Reply:
November 13th, 2014 at 11:02 am
Hard to believe you’re feeling cold while we’re still quite hot! But I’m glad it could cheer your day. Thanks for tweeting & posting on Facebook, my friend!
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