Okay, maybe not completely, but it has been reduced to a big stinky mud puddle. It blew a bladder last night around 10PM, sending nearly 1 billion gallons down through the Rio Salado. Later today Tempe city officials deflated the remaining 3 bladders that make up the dam, allowing the rest of the water to drain out.
Sadly, the flood has left hundreds of fish, stranded and dying, in 2 or 3 inch deep pools of water. The usual set of birds that hang out on the lake were strangely absent, only a few scavenger birds - Grackles and Doves - remained. So, I ventured to the habitat east of the lake (the Tempe Marsh), and tada!
Cormorants and Egrets huddled together, seemingly befuddled,
likely wondering where in the hell their lake disappeared to.
Cormorants and Egrets crowd together at the Tempe Marsh
riparian habitat upstream from the now empty Tempe Town Lake.
Double-click on image below for an enlarged slide-show.
City officials say the lake will be empty likely until Novemvber. It will then take 2 weeks to re-fill the lake. To see a video of the empty lake, see this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOXHt-APoY4
The overnight low was 95 degrees, and today's forecast is 115 degrees with high humidity. Now is the time that we all begin to question our sanity. Why, why, why on earth do we choose to live in this god-forsaken hellacious inferno? Here is a gentle reminder...
During the winter, when others are dealing with this...
We desert dwellers are out enjoying ourselves, and admiring the snow off on the horizon, not piled up in our driveways.
Its February, and I'm out on the scenic and wheelchair accessible Nursery Tank Trail in McDowell Mountain Regional Park, and yes, that's SNOW on Four Peaks! Nursery Tank Trail is a great trail with panoramic views of the McDowell Mountains, and the Four Peaks Wilderness Area in the Mazatzal (pronounced Mat-a-zel, not Matzaball!) Mountains. The trail ends at a wildlife watering hole (tank) so you'll see a nice variety of birds, and at dusk and dawn possibly a few javelina, deer, coyotes, or cottontail rabbits stopping by for a drink. Many of the mesquite and palo verde trees are loaded with desert mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum) which Phainopepla love to eat. We saw a number of male and female Phainopepla feeding on and nesting in the big dark clumps of mistletoe high in the palo verdes.
We also saw Gila Woodpeckers, White-crowned Sparrows, Abert's Towhees, Gambels Quail, a few Raven, and a kettle or two of Turkey Vultures soaring high overhead. Other birds that frequent this area of high Sonoran Desert are Northern Cardinals, Cactus Wrens, Curve-billed Thrashers, Harris Hawks, American Kestrels, Flickers, Hooded Orioles, Wilsons Warblers, Mockingbirds, Annas and Costas Hummingbirds, and Verdins.
Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens)
The surface of the trail was smooth, wide, and hardpacked. Its 1.2 miles roundtrip, dotted with benches, informational signs, and one shade kiosk. Recent heavy rains had caused a saguaro and a few barrel cactii to become uprooted and topple over. If you go, check the weather ahead of time, as this is a flash flood area. Dust dry desert washes (gullies) can fill quickly and run forcefully enough to carry away entire vehicles!
So, lets try to maintain our sanity for the next 2 months, hope for a good monsoon season, and try not to get cabin fever...
Grandma (a.k.a. Shotgun-Shirley) in a desperate attempt to get to Walmart, holds grandpa at gunpoint so he'll shovel the driveway.
See more photos of Nursery Tank Trail and McDowell Mountain Regional Park by double-clicking on the photo below.
The excitement just never ends in the Thomas Animal Sanctuary (my backyard). Thought I'd seen every part of the desert food chain over the last few years - big fat desert spiny lizards, roadrunners trying to eat the spiny lizards, cottontail rabbits, owls stalking the rabbits, rock squirrels, and the occasional hawk swooping down to eat the squirrels .
Now I have frogs, and a California King Snake trying to eat them! Poor guy got tangled up in the bird netting we had just put out to protect our tomato plants. I called the Arizona Herpetological Association for advice and was told King Snakes are great to have in your garden, are non-venomous, feed on rodents and snakes, and are immune to rattlesnake venom. So we cut him loose from all the netting and he's still here, just waiting for a frog to hop by.
Last Friday evening it was Nocturnal Animal Discovery Night at the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center. The Rio Salado Park Rangers, the Arizona Herpetological Association, and Adobe Mountain Wildlife were all there sharing their expertise and did a great job. There were snakes, bats, a ring tail, a skunk, and we were all agog over the gorgeous Great Horned Owl. If you still haven't been out to the new Audubon Center, tssktssk, you really should go. Inside is a gift shop area, wonderful displays, amazing photography, a lecture hall, and classrooms. Large glass floor to ceiling windows look out to a demonstration pond/marsh habitat. I had a hard time focusing on the lectures as the sun was setting, it was too tempting to look out at the marsh to see who might fly by. Us birders can have short attention spans.
The handouts provided were excellent, and beautiful posters of Arizona Rattlesnakes, and Bats of Arizona were handed out free of charge. Afterward, we went outside with black light flashlights looking for scorpions. As a followup event it would be great to go out on the trails on the north side of the Rio Salado at sunset for possible owl and nighthawk sightings, and with hopes of bumping into one of our nocturnal critters!.
Its the male Great-tailed Grackle defending his turf. Or maybe he's just peeved because he's wearing a pitch black feather coat in 110 degree weather. With his crazed, maniacal, menacing look, he'd make a great side-kick for some dark goth-girl, or a black-leather-clad biker-chick, or even a wanna-be teen vampire. Hmmm... I think the heat is getting to me.
I've been putting out oranges for the past several months to keep the cute little Verdins happy and recently have been hoping to attract Bullock's Orioles. Lately I've had to move the orange hanger to different places to try to keep the ants away.
Through all the relocating I haven't seen any Orioles or Verdins at the oranges, but I did see Gila Woodpeckers performing acrobatic acts just to reach one! I wasn't sure if he was having a little OJ with his ants, or oranges with a side of ants. Either way, the whole Gila family seems happy.
Check out this amazing YouTube video of a "Raven" defending his airspace. Country of origin for bird and video is unknown, but bird looks like a Hooded Crow, not a Raven. Click HERE to go to YouTube, or click on video below.
