Unsettled Weather

Unsettled weather brings new possibilities, wakes us up. We're more watchful, alert to what may be coming. What interesting changes are carried on the wind?

Today, our weather is quite unsettled. A big storm passes through to the west, and we feel the winds it generates. Early this morning the interesting avian passers-through included a Vaux's Swift amid migrating Violet-green and Barn Swallows. Two adult Red-tailed Hawks hung nearly motionless above the ridgeline. Can we Americans achieve a similar grace, balancing in the high winds that sweep our country?

Barn Swallow from Self-Portrait As Garden

Watercolor by © Narca Moore-Craig

I ponder stuff as I walk. It's the era of political division, of the Kavanaugh hearings. Yet yesterday, Arizona's Jeff Flake gave a remarkable speech about moving into a new balance as a nation. Senator Flake (with whom I am often at odds on conservation and environmental problems) spoke graciously about looking across the aisle and, at the end of the day, seeing our political opponents also as friends, not enemies. After all, policies worked out together bring everyone's ideas and concerns to the table. We're stronger when we can harness our united energies. Divided, we disintegrate.

When the current political cleansing subsides––after we weather these societal convulsions––may We the People find deeper wisdom and a return to national poise.

An immature Red-tailed Hawk

Photo by © Narca Moore-Craig

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And, yes, there has been a long hiatus in my postings to this blog! That happens when I'm immersed in a big project. Currently the project has been editing and designing a new book for Dan Fischer––Sky Islands: Encountering a Landlocked Archipelago.

This book examines naturalists' early ventures into our region and celebrates the wild Sky Islands as they were discovered. Of course, the Apaches and other tribes already knew the region well; the incoming scientists took it a step further, integrating their discoveries with the global body of knowledge.

The book is generously illustrated with Dan's beautiful photographs, spanning decades of his own investigations. And it's nearly ready for the printer! Woo-HOO!

I look forward to returning to these blog pages, to reflections on wild nature and farflung places.

Fond of Swallows

Yesterday the first Tree Swallows of the season were arriving in the Animas Valley, glistening with deep blue and bright white as they homed in on the waters of the cienaga. Tree Swallows are usually the first of their clan to arrive in spring, en route to their northerly breeding grounds.

A friend in Alaska put out nest boxes for them at his house, partly just to enjoy their presence and partly for their prowess in catching mosquitoes. Each year when the young Tree Swallows fledged and the families departed for milder climes, he would notice a big uptick in the number of mosquitoes around his house.

Barn Swallows on the Diamond A (Photo by Narca)

Swallows belong to a cosmopolitan family, gracing every continent except Antarctica. Many sport brilliant colors, and some have long tail streamers to aid their aerial adroitness. Journey up the rivers of the Amazon Basin and you'll find swallows. Land at an airport in Australia, and you are likely to be greeted by their Welcome Swallow. Isn't that a great name?

Swallow migration has always fascinated me. As strong fliers, they often migrate by day, feeding on aerial insects as they go. Once, about October, I was guiding a World Wildlife Fund tour in the cerrado of central Brazil, a region dominated by giant termite mounds. The rains had begun about two weeks earlier. On our first day, we saw only one or two swallows, and I was puzzled by their absence. Usually in the Brazilian spring, hundreds of swallows and martins (their larger cousins) are swooping over the shrubby grasslands of the cerrado. That night it rained again, and by morning winged termites were emerging in the millions. And overhead the morning sky was dark with thousands of Cliff Swallows, which had arrived overnight, timing their appearance to match perfectly the emergence of this bounty of food.

Here in the States, seven species of swallows, plus the Purple Martin, breed regularly. The most local of those is the Cave Swallow. Here's a tip for finding it in West Texas: take the frontage roads off I-10, and check the highway underpasses for the swallows' mud nests. Sometimes the nests of Cave Swallows will be mixed in with those of Cliff Swallows, and sometimes you'll find a small, pure colony of Caves.

Barn Swallow detail from Self Portrait as Garden