Up at 6:25…sun
is rising sooner and the birds have been eating breakfast sooner, so I figured
I’d better be out there sooner to note the time. Sparrows were on the ground
looking for bird seed at 6:33 am; the hummers came to the feeders at 6:34 and
the sun officially rose at 6:38 a.m.
Sparrows didn’t land on the suet cake until 6:40.
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It was 56o
at 6:30 a.m. No need to huddle in a blanket this morning while waiting for the
birds to arrive. Once the sun rose over Newman Peak, I could feel the air
warming on my legs, even though I was sitting in the shade. Temperatures are supposed to be in the 90’s
for the next four days, followed by five days of triple-digit temperatures before
settling back into the 90’s. Mother
Nature is having one heck of a hot flash, that’s for sure.
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Last year, the seed rings got all the love,
the suet cake languished uneaten. This year it’s the opposite, so I switched
out the seed ring holder for the fourth hummingbird feeder we had with us. So, now
there are four hummingbird feeders, one suet cake holder and the platform feeder
with mealworms and peanut butter crumbs in it. Oh, and the bird seed on the
ground.
I broke up the
seed ring and threw the pieces on the ground, but they were largely ignored
this morning. The few birds that I saw pecking at a piece gave up and went
looking for seeds. Their behavior indicates that scrounging in the dirt for seed
is preferable to the seed ring. Message received…no more seed rings.
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I’ve noticed
since I’ve been spreading handfuls of bird seed around the yard that sparrows
aren’t the only visitors. A couple of
Eurasion Collared Doves came in this morning, doing their unique dove strut
around the yard, looking for seed. I’ve seen this species in past years, and according
to online sources, they have a three-part call, which makes me think that they’re
responsible for the annoying “ooh, who, woot” sound that’s constantly on replay.
That now makes three different dove species I’ve seen out here: Eurasian
Dove, Inca Dove and White-winged Dove. The White-winged Dove was at the Paton
Center for Hummingbirds. It caught my notice because of its striking make-up…a
circle of light blue around its eye.
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When discussing where
to ride the e-bikes today, Kim suggested the train tracks on the other side of
the interstate because he has an idea for a drone video. When I heard train
tracks, I ran back in to get some coins to put on the track and tape to secure
them in place. We rode toward Picacho Peak on the frontage road (heading east
to exit 219), where we could take the underpass to the frontage road by the
tracks.
This area is
busy with trains, although as the trains have gotten longer, there seems to be
fewer of them. But still, lots of trains
are passing through. We found a secluded spot to wait, but after 15 minutes
with no train, we decided to continue riding on that frontage road (heading east
to exit 211). If we heard a train approaching, Kim could get in position to get
his footage. We were on our bikes a total of 3 ½ hours and not a single train came
past. Almost back to camp and wouldn’t you know, we hear a train whistle in the
distance.
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Rode 19 ½ miles
in a big rectangle today. We managed to avoid the hottest time of day, but it
was still hot enough. Left at 10 o’clock and arrived back at camp at about 1:30.
It wasn’t 3 ½ hours of riding, though, as we stopped at the gas station for a
snack and a cold bottle of water and then waited for the train that didn’t
come.
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When we stopped
at the gas station, an organized group of cyclists along with their support
vehicle were just getting ready to get underway. We talked to a couple of them…one
of them gave Kim his card, which had a QR code on it that explains what their
group, The Fuller Center Bike Adventure, is about: Our rides are focused on serving God and each other as we
raise money for families around the world, building and repairing homes through
The Fuller Center for Housing. Donations are accepted online but I
don’t know if that’s the only way they raise funds.
The ride they’re
doing currently is a 2-week adventure called the Winter Western Ride…Huntington
Beach, CA to Tucson, AZ. They try to do 60-65
miles a day for 10 days. Rapunzel says that Huntington Beach to Tucson is 481
miles via I-10; but one of the men said it was about a 650-mile ride, so the
route they have planned isn’t the most direct. In May, one of the men we talked
to is doing ‘The Northern Tier’ …a 10-week cross-country ride from Oregon to
Maine. The thought of that makes my butt hurt…that’s a lot of time on those tiny, narrow seats. And these people aren’t riding some cheap ten-speeds either; these
bikes can cost between five and ten thousand dollars.
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We’ve seen road
crews doing some work between Exits 219 and 211 along the frontage road. Today,
Kim stopped to ask what they were doing. The quick answer is that they’re replacing
a section of a pipeline that extends from Phoenix to Tucson. There’s an
existing pipeline along the other side or north of the railroad tracks but
water runoff from the Picacho Mountains keeps exposing it. This section of pipeline
will replace that one. But now a bigger question is how are they going to
connect the new section on the south side of the tracks to the rest of the
pipeline on the north side? Dig under the tracks?
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Temperatures have
been in the 80’s to 90’s for the past couple of days…time to do a little
scorpion hunting with our special flashlights. Went down to the tractor tire,
which is where we’ve had good luck in past years. Sure enough, we found one that
was about three-quarters of an inch long one under the second board Kim lifted.
Kim held the flashlight while I took a picture then we looked under a few more
boards with no luck…time to head back to camp.
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Clear enough for Kim to continue gathering data of the Dolphin Head Nebula. He took about 30 frames last night, is trying for another 35-40 tonight and hopes to do the same tomorrows night. The Dolphin Head is faint so more data means a more defined image.
