New Year's Babies: Spotted Owl

Spotted Owls have nested in Miller Canyon for many years. It is the most reliable place in Southern Arizona to find them. Here are a couple of photos of a young Owlet:

Spotted Owl Baby

With a loving Mom

Spotted Owl: The Prize of Miller Canyon

Getting back to my alphabetical series on my "5" Star Photos I have another Spotted Owl photo. This one too, was taken in Miller Canyon of the Huachuca Mountains in Southern Arizona. Miller Canyon is a very reliable "spot" to find a Spotted Owl. A pair of them has lived and nested in the canyon for years. Owners of the property where the trailhead begins (Tom Beatty) keeps track of the Owls on a daily basis. The Owls move from about 1/2 mile up the mountain to about 1 1/2 miles up the mountain. 

In the case below, I had passed it on my way up the trail, but as is often the case, returning on the same trail gives a totally different angle and often success.

Spotted Owl

Spotted Owl Mother with Baby

Next up on my alphabetical series of my "5" Star Photos we come to Spotted Owls.  It's always a treat to find Spotted Owls. And, fortunately, here in Souther Arizona there are a couple reliable places to look. One such place is Sheelite Canyon in Fort Huachuca. The second -- and even more reliable place is in Miller Canyon, again in the Huachua Mountains. This photo was taken a couple of years ago in Miller Canyon. The adult female on the left and her Owlet on the right:

Spotted Owls

Pairs of Two: Five

More mom's with baby:

Feral Burro with Colt (Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona)

Spotted Owl with her Owlet (Miller Canyon, Arizona)

Owling - Revisited

Last Thursday (July 5th) I talked about going to Madera Canyon looking for Western Screech Owls and coming back empty handed. Today Christine and I headed out to Miller Canyon looking for Spotted Owls. This time we were lucky. 

Miller Canyon sits in the southern end of the Huachuca Mountains. Last year one of the three big fires that burned over 1 million acres in Arizona was the Monument Fire. Named so because it destroyed much of the Coronado National Monument just south of Miller Canyon. Miller Canyon was also devastated, not just by the fire but by the flooding that came after the fire. While the landscape still show scars from the fire, it is starting to turn green again (albeit without the 100 + year old oaks, sycamores, and cottonwoods). Flooding changes everything. It creates new washes, creeks, and streams while rendering previous creeks completely dry. Both Miller Canyon Road and Miller Canyon Trail were wiped out in many spots. The Federal Government (NFS) did a great job repairing both. It is still pretty tricky to traverse Miller Canyon Road. A 4x4 vehicle is the best choice at the moment since our summer monsoons have arrived and continue to wash out the road at some of the switchbacks. The Miller Canyon Trail has been repaired in places but now is much more "rocky" than before. The good news is that the Spotted Owls have returned and are only 1/2 mile up the trail.

We arrived around 7:00 am and talked to Tom Beatty. Beatty's Orchard is at the end of Miller Canyon Road and the starting point for Miller Canyon Trail.  His apple orchard was completely destroyed in the fire and the entire area fell under thousands of tons of rock and dirt. Tom's done an amazing job at clearing out the rock (though tons remain). He's planted new apple trees and the trail is now open. Tom gave us a good idea of where to look for the Spotted Owls, and he was right on the money. We first came across a young Owl, then in a nearby tree found a younger Owl, with the mother about six feet higher up the tree. Here is a sequence of photos of the three Spotted Owls:

The older Spotted Owlet

The younger Spotted Owlet

Mom feeding the young Owlet

Mom comforting the baby

The two more relaxed

Mom flies back up a couple of branches away leaving the little guy for one last nice photo

Hosli Lake, British Columbia

Okay, so back to some early photos while I was still a "fly fisherman." One of my favorite lakes was Hosli Lake in British Columbia. This was a lake that was nearly impossible to get to. A winch was a requirement. I learned that the hard way: the first time I had my Jeep I got into the lake just fine. I was having a wonderful time fishing when I heard the alarm go off in my Jeep. So I paddled back to the shore and found three guys hanging around the Jeep. They noticed I had a "portable" phone installed in the Jeep (long before cellphones obviously). They had gotten stuck and wanted to use my phone to call for help. Of course, there was no reception where we were so the phone was of no use. I decided to drive them back to town so they could call a tow truck. Problem? When driving in to the lake it was just me and my 175 pound body in the Jeep. But driving out there was an extra 600 pounds. Guess what? Yep, we bottomed out. So, we all ended up walking 10 miles to a campsite where we were able to arrange a for tow truck. The tow truck snapped a cable trying to get me out, but fortunately the mechanic had another cable. Once out of the mud, I was able to go the rest of the way by myself -- well, after the $220 towing bill was paid. 

The next time I went to Hosli was a winch on the front of my Jeep. I was fishing along the shore when a young moose came down to the shoreline about ten feet from me. Almost immediately the mother jumped out of the woods and into the water between her calf and me; scared the wits out of all of us. After regaining my wits, I thought, "I should buy a camera." Another time while I was driving into the lake a pair of spotted owls were in a tree along the road about six feet off the ground. The road -- really there should be a more descriptive name for this passageway, because it was so narrow brush and tree limbs would hit both sides of the Jeep as I passed. At any rate, I stopped to look at the owls. They were so close I could have reached out my window and touched them.  What an ideal photo op!! I thought, "I really need to buy a camera."

The next time I went to Hosli I had bought a camera. And, I did see a Spotted Owl (It could have been a Barred Owl, don't know for sure). But the owl never looked at me. As I approached he flew away. As he did, I thought, "taking wildlife photos isn't very easy." Nonetheless, for sentimental reasons, I kept this photo:

Spotted Owl

Trip with Pierr

Yesterday was a nice day. Our dear friend Pierr (who illustrated Christine's last Children's Picture Book) is staying with us for a week. We decided to hike in Miller Canyon (Arizona) to look for the Spotted Owls. (It is also a great hummingbird spot). Miller Canyon is about an hour an a half from us. The hike is through the Coronado State Forest in the Huachuca Mountains. While the trail is wide, it is essential a continuously steep climb. We had seen the Spotted Owl there before. This time though, we needed to climb about a mile further than before. After a couple of miles, we decided to turn back to get a different angle on the return, that maybe we missed him. That was the trick. About 100 yards after we turned around we saw him. He was on the downward side of the trail, in a tree about 15 feet off the ground. But since he was downhill, the owl was nearly level with the trail. The first photo is from the point where we first saw him. The second photo was further down the trail about 15 yards where, sitting down I could be eyeball to eyeball with him. He pretty much slept undisturbed, with an occasional peek at us. We enjoyed how beautiful he looked for about 20 minutes, then said thank you, leaving him to sleep again.

It's Miller Time Again

After breakfast I headed up to Miller Canyon today where I was delighted to find this Hepatic Tanager not to far from the canyon's creek. Much further up the trail I found a Spotted Owl. It took a while to get into a position where I could photograph him. And, once in position his head was turned sideways and he was sound asleep. It took about 45 minutes before he faced front and I got this photo. On my way down the canyon (in the Huachuca Mountains) there were a few snowflakes. Didn't realize that it was that cold.  And, tomorrow's May 1st.

Spotted Owl

We have some wonderful guests who visit us at The Azure Gate each year. They enjoy finding and photographing birds. I had told them about the hummingbirds of Miller Canyon, which is very likely the best spot for hummers in the US. I have photographed 12 different hummingbird species in Miller Canyon. And, a thirteenth -- Lucifer Hummingbird can be seen there at times as well. But, as our story goes, when our guests went day before yesterday, they also found a Spotted Owl. The first Spotted Owl I saw was in Canada (Hosli Lake in British Columbia) in the late 1980's. I could reach out and touch it from the driver's side of my Jeep. But, this was before I got into photography. The second time was in the same general area a couple years later, after I had bought a camera. I took several photos, none of which came out very well. I was still too cautious about wasting film.  For the last five years or so, I have been hiking in Sheelite Canyon where a pair of Spotted Owls have been seen. However, I have never had any luck finding them. So, after I got over my envy, I decided that a trip to Miller Canyon to find the elusive Spotted Owl was in order. So, that is what we did yesterday. However, we started out on the wrong trail. Trails are usually identified as easy, moderate, or strenuous. In this case there needed to be a new descriptive level -- something like extremely incredibly dangerously strenuous.  In fact, the "trail" became so undeveloped (almost bushwhacking) I began thinking this wasn't a hiker's trail, but an animal trail. Finally, Christine pronounced that this couldn't possibly be the trail to the Spotted Owl. I suspect the fact that we had met some 90 year old birders at the trailhead that had just come from seeing the Spotted Owl led to her conclusion. So, back down the mountain we came, saw some other people who put us onto the correct trail -- still quite a bit uphill, but definitely a trail. When we reached the spot where the Spotted Owl had been spotted (sorry) he was not there. But, we continued up the trail a couple hundred yards and found him in a tree just along the trail. Some folks came behind us, panting and nearly out of breath. They took a one look and headed back down the mountain. But, the owl's head wasn't toward us. I thought: sit down relax, catch your breath, and in a few minutes (or more) the owl will turn and you'll be able to see his face. Which is what we did. It didn't take long, maybe 15 minutes. And then viola! Finally, after 25 years a Spotted Owl photo I can feel good about.