Last fall I moved from southeastern Arizona to northern Nevada. As part of the move, I incorporated a recording excursion that included southern Arizona, western New Mexico, southern Colorado, southern Utah and eastern Nevada. Part of the reason I chose that path was to stop by Quemado Lake in western New Mexico. This is a […]
Thunderstorm at Quemado Lake Read More »
In June of this year, I headed back to lobo (Mexican wolf) country in northern Arizona. I drove up to a remote camping area near Escudilla Mountain, arriving on a cloudy and windy afternoon. On the way up to the camp site, I passed several elk cows with small calves at their heels. I set up
El Lobo, part 3: surrounded by ghosts Read More »
Awhile back, I wrote a blog post about singing mice. I’ve been wanting to learn more about this topic every since, but was stymied by the lack of mice in my yard. This winter my veggie garden was overwhelmed by rodents that seemed determined to make sure I never got a taste of fresh broccoli.
The cactus deermouse sings Read More »
Another autumn has rolled around, leaves are changing, days growing shorter, and temperatures are getting cooler. Once again, the fall finds me in pursuit of autumn sounds, of which my favorite is the bugle of rutting bull elk. A couple of years ago, I had a successful time recording elk at Quemado Lake in New
Summer (2014) was a very weird summer. Normally (whatever that means), the Mexican Monsoon rolls in during late June or early July, bringing daily afternoon thunderstorms to the mountains, which sometimes make it to the valleys. This year, it seemed like the monsoon never really got going, but rather, what few thunderstorms we had were
Chasing thunder, finding bears Read More »
Among the long list of interesting creatures that call southern Arizona home are a couple of species of nectar-feeding bats, the Mexican Long-tongued bat and the Lesser Long-nosed bat. Unlike most bats that feed on insects, nectar-feeding bats feed on the nectar of large flowers of cacti. They are well-known to most southern Arizonans that
On the way home from a recent trip to western New Mexico and the White Mountains of Arizona, I stopped near the Gila River Bird area to spend the night. I stayed in this same spot about a year and a half ago (see Things that go bump in the night). At that time, the
Nighttime visitors Read More »
I took a rather indirect route from Tucson to northern Nevada to help my dad celebrate his birthday this summer, starting in New Mexico, staying a couple of nights in northern Arizona, then southern Utah and finally central Nevada (see Mountain Melody) before driving the final stretch. My route home was almost as indirect (see
Evening Thunder and Morning Elk Read More »
In my many years of wandering around the mountains, I’ve come across a few canyons where the echoes sound distinctly like human voices, in conversation, somewhere else in the canyon. No one is there, it’s just the reflections of the gurgles of the creek, usually. I’ve run into this sensation along Eagle Creek in Wyoming,
