Fall Hiking in Arizona

My blog has been silent since the summer due to a difficult fall and busy semester full of classes to both take and teach. But with my last semester of taking classes complete and final grades submitted, I'm using this holiday season to take a breather and catch up on some things. Despite everything else going on, I managed to squeeze in a few rejuvenating weekend hikes over the last few months; here are some of the highlights, including lots of birds, courtesy of my new telephoto lens.

First, the photos from a hike at the top of Mount Lemmon (Marshall Gulch and Aspen trails) from early September.

A view west(ish) from the Marshall Gulch Trail.

A butterfly in the family Pieridae, probably a southern dogface (Zerene cesonia).

I'm not sure what this cute little bird is.

This is the aptly named acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus).

I told you it was aptly named!

Woodpecker in flight. I think this is also an acorn woodpecker.

Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), a common but impressive raptor.

This was a challenging identification. It's a yellow-eyed junco (Junco phaeonotus).
It looks like the dark-eyed junco, a  species with considerable regional variation, and a southwestern morph that has a distinctive reddish-brown back patch, but the yellow irises of the eyes are the distinguishing feature!

This is a baby greater short-horned lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi).
You can't tell from this photo, but its body is only about 3 cm long.

Another greater short-horned lizard, sometimes called a "horny toad", for perhaps obvious reasons. When threatened,
especially by canids, these and other horned lizards can squirt blood out of their eyes as a defense mechanism.

I suspect, due to the large ears and red back, that this is an Abert's squirrel (Sciurus aberti).

Wildflowers everywhere! I particularly loved this mixture of so many species and colors.

This is an Arizona sister (Adelpha eulalia). Butterflies in this genus are supposedly called "sisters" because the white and
black markings on the wings resemble a nun's habit.

This is the same butterfly (it stayed still for quite a while, beating its wings occasionally) from the front,
where you can see its eyes and a bit of the underwing, which is actually gorgeously patterned.

A bee flying between pineywoods geraniums (Geranium caespitosum).

A different type of bee, along with other small unknown insects, on a different type of pink flower, this time a thistle.
I think it's a Wheeler's thistle (Cirsium wheeleri), but I'm not an expert on bees by any means.

Another thistle, presumably also a Wheeler's, this one with what I think is a silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus).

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor). This one seems to be in the middle of ovipositing.

And now the photos from two hikes in Sabino during November, mostly from the relatively flat and close by areas (Esperero, Rattlesnake, Sabino Lake, and Bluff Trails).

Empress Leila or desert hackberry butterfly (Asterocampa leilia).

A funnel web or funnel weaver spider (family Agelenidae).

Ornate tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus).

The Sabino dam, overflowing with water, a happy sight.
Also the Arizona sycamore (Platanus wrightii) providing some fall color.

Water droplets on the waxy cuticle of a prickly pear cactus.

We saw several northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis)...

Including multiple males apparently competing for female attention.

Despite appearances, this is not a female cardinal, but a closely related species in the same genus,
Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus).

Lesser goldfinch (Spinus psaltria), not quite as vividly colored as the male American goldfinch, but still beautiful.

I think this one is an Abert's towhee (Melozone aberti)

Curve-billed thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre), sighted on both hikes.

Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens), a common and distinctively tufted Tucson resident.

Cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus), the state bird of Arizona.

An adorable pair.

Although cacti don't look like comfortable perches, cactus wrens beg to differ.
I like that here you can see the wren's foot gripping the saguaro's spines.

I'm hoping 2020 will be calmer, contain more hiking, and include more downtime in which to share stories and photos, as well as in-person visits with at least some of you. Happy holidays!

Old Montreal: Charming Streets, Impressive Buildings, and Spectacular Churches

For many people, their first glimpse of Old Montreal is the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal and the Place d'Armes, as these two major attractions are side by side and just a short walk uphill from the Place-d'Armes metro station. There's much more on the basilica below, but first I explored the rest of Old Montreal and the waterfront.

The facade, as viewed from the Place d'Armes, with a monument of Paul de Chomedey, founder of Montreal,
in the righthand foreground.

The Place d'Armes, with the same monument in the center, and the Bank of Montreal behind it.

There is also an interesting set of sculptures on the south side of the square (by which I mean actual south, or even south-west...cardinal directions are, well, difficult in Montreal, as rather amusingly highlighted in this story). They are of an English man with his pug and and a French woman with her poodle, each turning up their nose at the Basilica (symbol of French Canadian religious influence) and the Bank of Montreal (symbol of English economic and political power), respectively. While the people are oblivious to each other, the dogs have spotted each other and look eager to meet. 

One of the most visually striking aspects of Old Montreal is the way old buildings have clearly been subsumed by newer ones, often with multiple iterations.

Montreal--particularly Old Montreal--is perhaps the most "European-looking" North American city.

I meandered down to the waterfront and walked along the Promenade du Vieux-Port before cutting back into the heart of Old Montreal.

City Hall

City Hall, again, from across the street, standing in Place De La Dauversière.

You can't walk anywhere without seeing something of historical interest. One of the more imposing structures--you can see the dome from the waterfront--is the Bonsecours Market (Marché Bonsecours).



It served as Montreal's city hall for about 25 years and the main public market for over a century, in addition to hosting a session of the Parliament of United Canada in 1849.

The market is named after the church across the street, the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel (because clearly having one Notre-Dame isn't enough). Built in 1771, on the site of an even older chapel that burnt down in 1754, it is one of the oldest church buildings in Montreal, and it has a unique personality.

In the 19th century as the port of Montreal grew in importance, sailors frequented the chapel and it came to be regarded as "the Sailors' Church", a tradition commemorated by wooden ship replicas which hang throughout the chapel.

With that, I decided it was time for dinner, which I ate in a swinging egg chair at LOV, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant with some creative dishes.

The next morning I wandered a bit more, including past St. Patrick's Basilica, and then enjoyed a pastry and a pot of rooibus at Olive et Gourmando.

And then, finally, I visited the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal (Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal). It was hard to decide which photos to share, because every direction I looked was simply spectacular.

The pulpit on the right here, is about halfway down the nave. It is intricately sculpted but is no longer used by the preacher.

Unlike most stained glass, and rather similar to the Washington National Cathedral in D.C., the stained glass along the ground floor of both aisles represents scenes from Montreal's history.

I was particularly struck by the stained class in the ceiling.

The organ was built in 1891 by Casavant Frères. After it's 100th-anniversary upgrades, it now has 7,000 pipes.

And here it is again from the outside. Interestingly, despite the overwhelming splendor inside, the exterior is almost sedate for a Gothic or neo-Gothic cathedral.

And that's a wrap on my two brief overnights in Montreal!