Showing posts with label BLM land. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BLM land. Show all posts

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Next stop - WHY in Arizona

 Thursday morning we packed up and moved further 

on to a small town called: WHY (Arizona). The roads were lined with a lot of flowers.

Wild Lupines along the highway

 Searching out online I found a page from AZDOT where there was information that this is made on purpose. Between 1980 and 1993 they planted a lot of native seeds. 

More about this in the following 

Link: Sowing-seeds-beautiful-highways


Globe mallow, Penstemon and Brittle Bush
Crossing the flood swollen Gila River, near Buckeye, AZ
Lots of flowers after the rainfalls
Rain brought out the green colours in the desert
Ajo, AZ Church "Immaculate Conception"

Driving through Ajo, AZ we recognized this small church from our last visit in the area in 2012.

Nearby "Why", AZ there is a BLM area where we can stay  up to 14 days. We visited this area 11 years ago and I am glad that I get another chance. 

Now I can go looking for different birds around here.

The rain has made the desert incredibly green and lots of birds were busy in the shrubbery. While walking only a short while right before sunset and in the early morning I found:

Phainopepla, Mockingbirds, Black-throated Sparrows and a Lincoln's Sparrow

Phainopepla, male
Phainopepla, female
Mockingbird
Black-throated Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow

Don't read further if you hate snakes!

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I got a photo of a beautiful Ornate Tree Lizard 
that was waiving good-bye at me before we left our spot in Quartzsite. 

Ornate Tree Lizard, including tail up to 21 inches long (55 cm))
Bye-bye!







Monday, March 20, 2023

Stopping in Quartzsite

 We moved on to Quartzsite after our pleasant stay at Oxbow Camping Area.

Here the weather is cooler and bug free, compared to our winter camp in the desert of California.

Entrance sign to BLM land
Here also is a BLM LTVA area. (Bureau of Landmanagement, Longterm Visitors Area),
A former camper left a sign 
which is very crowded during the end of January when the big RVShow is held. It was somewhat less populated now and we found a nice spot not far from where we parked last year. 
Saguaro Cactus
We parked near the northern wash on BLM land called "La Posa South". 

The flat landscape is covered with sedimentary rocks, as Basalt, Quartz and Rhyolite, originating from ancient mountains which were worn down over the millennials.  

Creosote bush, Saguaro Cactus, Iron Wood tree, Palo Verde tree grow in the very dry climate.

View from our spot towards southwest

Why we choose to hang out here for a while instead of driving home right away: 

In the coming days there are several cold weather systems moving across the US. They will bring a significant amount of rain, snow and high winds into the area, and we don't want to get caught in that. We will be waiting for more favourable weather.

The "wash" behind our spot.

Yesterday, I walked the wash (dry stream bed) where flash floods occur when the summer monsoon months bring rain showers to this area.  The moisture gives plants the boost they need to survive and now is the time were a lot of flowers are in bloom. 

 With the help of  the"Google search function" I tried to identify the most of them.

Desert Lavender
Hyptis Emoryi

Brittlebush
Encelia farinosa

Chuparosa
Justicia california

Notch-leaf Scorpionweed
Phacelia crenulata

Purple Mat
Nama demissum

Desert Coulter's Lupine
Lupinus sparsiflorus

Desert Fairy Duster
Calliandra eriophylla

I found several more, but could not identify them properly.

As last year there also was an Ash-throated Flycatcher around.
Ash-throated Flycatcher

Saguaro Cacti



Sunday, November 21, 2021

Morning walk around the perimeter

Morning walk around the perimeter

In the cool of the morning we took a walk to the front of the area 
where the hot spring is located that the place is named after.
No one was there yet and I could take plenty of photos.
 
The area burned down a winter a few years ago, and I was so glad to see 
That all palm trees survived the onslaught. 
The trees surround a small pond in which the overflow water drains.
The spring’s thermal water is 104F (40C) hot and is channeled into pipe. 
The water fills several small basins
and feeds a "shower head”. Every week the basins are drained, 
high-pressure washed and chlorinated.

It is nothing fancy, but everything is free of charge.

After I was done photographing the first visitors trickled in 
and we made it towards the nice path along the irrigation canal.
Here we can walk for over 2 miles (3 km), if we want. 
The vegetation had exploded over the years. When we came here 
for the first time in 2005 the banks were naked. Now it is a jungle.
 I saw a Red-tailed hawk far away on a power pole 
that got harasses by a Merlin. 

My camera could zoom it in.


 A Black-Phoebe sat in a shrub
 
and as soon as I had hung up my hummingbird
feeder the first guest arrived. An Anna’s Hummingbird. 

After our morning walk Dixie took up her job as "Guardian Dog”,
while I used the power generated from our solar panels to finish 
up my blogs and bird reports.






Translation
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Unser heutiger Morgenspaziergang führte uns zuerst zur heißen Quelle. 
So früh am Sonntagmorgen war noch niemand
da und ich konnte ungehindert photographieren. 
Vor ein paar Jahren wurden die Palmen Opfer eines Feuers doch sie scheinen es gut
überlebt zu haben. Sie umschließen einen kleinen Teich in den das überschüssige Wasser
läuft. Das 40 Grad heiße Thermalwasser speist die "Dusche" und mehrere Becken.
Einmal die Woche werden sie trockengelegt, mit einem Hochdruckreiniger abgespritzt 
und mit Chlor desinfiziert. 
Es ist keine supertolle Anlage aber dafür ist die Benutzung absolut gratis.
Schon wanderten die ersten Badegäste heran und wir machten uns auf 
den Weg der uns entlang eines Bewässerungskanal führte. 
Hier kann man, wenn man will, 3km wandern. Seine Ufer sind seit 2005, als wir das erste Mal
hier kampierten, ganz schön zugewachsen.
In der Ferne sah ich auf einem Hochspannungsmast einen Rotschwanzbussard sitzen, der
von einem Merlin bombardiert wurde. 
Meine Telelinse konnte alles gut ranholen.
In einem Bush saß ein Schwarzkopf-Phoebetyrann, und kurze Zeit
nachdem ich das Zuckerwasser aufgehängt hatte kam schon ein
Anna`s Kolibri zu Besuch.
Nach erfolgreichem Spaziergang spielte Dixie dann den Wachhund, 
und ich nutzte den Strom aus,
den unsere Photovoltarpanele produzieren, 
um meinen Blog und die Vogelberichte
zu schreiben.