What Day Is It? - Mikey! Mike! - It's Hiking Day.

Saturday was pretty hot, but Sunday started out cloud covered, windy, and cooler. With things in a white smog, we knew any pictures (or views) of a great hike would be -  eh - so chose a hike that didn't sound like it would be phenomenal but would still be exciting and new. We ended up on our first loop trail - finally! - deciding on the Gateway Loop in the McDowell's. It was an easier hike, which meant more people, but we went the opposite way than everyone else, which helped.



That's the pretty part. All you dog owners who package your poop and then leave it on the side of the trail, we are not amused. We've seen this on every hike but have been thinking that walkers have been leaving these behind with the intent to pick the baggie up on the way back - fair enough. But this was a loop trail. These people would not be walking back the same way. And there were at least 10 of these on the trail today.

Dog owners and dogs - take note:

We got back, did a March Madness score check, and then headed to concerts in the park. The sun had come out by then (3pm), but we had a nice breeze and the temp could not have been more perfect. The music was blue grass, which I think is fair to say is not our norm, but we try to be open minded. We did like the movie O Brother Where Art Thou?, but the music was so great because it went along with the movie.





The park was pretty crowded, with lots of large picnicking families spread throughout.

You'll note I mentioned that it was windy. That meant Michael had to bring out his kite from last weekend.



At one point his kite did a nose dive, and this nice little boy helped him retrieve it.

What would you have done here? Perhaps let the munchkin fly the kite? Not Michael. (I might have done the same thing, one of many reasons we don't have kids...) But karma got him.

Don't worry, the kite was saved for another day. Maybe next time Mikey will share.

Nature and Nurture

So earlier in the week (and today), we had our first (and second) dust storm of the season (and since our return). We don't normally get these until summer, usually as part of a thunderstorm, but it seems to be a weird 2014 for everyone, so why should we be any different? For anyone who wonders, there isn't a person here that calls these things "haboobs," except for the occasional reporter who thinks we're in the Middle East. We don't call hurricanes "cyclones" either because we're not in the Pacific. How 'bout we stay true to the region? I have to admit I love these things. I drove in front of one once - all the way home (what that looked like in my rear-view mirror, I can't even tell you) - but they can be incredibly dangerous. Be careful!

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Saturday morning, I went to orientation at Liberty Wildlife. What a cool place. I would have taken pictures of the tour, but there was a sign up saying it was against federal law to take pictures of wildlife in cages (or something like that). I could take pictures of animals "under control" on the arm of a handler though. ??!!  I googled this and didn't find anything on it. Shrug. I've grabbed a few pics from the internet.

As soon as we walked into the place, we got to see a long-time volunteer trying to force feed the tiniest baby bunny. And if you think hummingbirds are small, you should see them when they're babies.

I'm volunteering to provide one day of orphan care until September, helping to feed and care for the birds and bunnies brought in to the center until they can be released. Apparently the success rate for releases is about 45%, which is better than most rescue centers. It may seem silly to some to bother saving a hummingbird, dove, or rabbit when nature is going to cull them anyway, but that's the point. Nature should be culling them, not humans. Eighty percent of the animals brought into the center are there thanks to human activity. At some point we have to stop taking from the planet and give back a little - and learn to share.

They have a # of American Kestrels (a falcon)
They're small, but they're lethal to other birds.

One side of the facility is dedicated to birds that can never be released thanks to injury or imprinting. I hadn't realized that even crows/ravens can imprint onto a human in their early years. And who the heck shoots a bald eagle? One eagle is in there because the human that raised it didn't realize the bird needed to eat bones to grow its own bones. The eagle is now bowlegged and has a caved-in chest, which makes it hard to breathe, because its bones couldn't support its weight (about 8 lbs - I know! A 6-foot-winged bird seems heavier, right?!). At one point during our walk-thru, all the eagles started making lots of noise. I can assure you that it didn't sound anything like what you hear in the car commercials or the Stephen Colbert Show intro (that would be the call of a hawk). Eagles sound more like seagulls.

On the other side of the place are the birds being fostered by other birds and birds learning to fly and hunt so they can be released.

Um, eew.

The hardest part, from the perspective of a vegetarian, will be the feedings. Most birds are fed frozen rodents, some of the closer-to-release-date birds get live vermin. Yuck. I'm hoping to stick with worms and goop for the babies.

I'm really looking forward to getting started in a week or two. There are a lot of ways to help, so if you want to volunteer, just signup online. If you have a wildlife emergency, call 480-998-5550. They're permitted to help any native Arizona wildlife but don't have the room for animals like coyotes, bobcats, etc. - yet! They've bought property to expand, so donate, donate, donate so they can actually build on that land.

Afterwards, I grabbed Michael, and we went to check out Singh Farms. We knew we'd arrive too late to actually get dibs on most produce, but we'd heard it was just a nice place to walk around. It is! It's right off the freeway (and about 25 minutes from Fountain Hills), but what an oasis. It smelled sooooooo good! No, really. I can't describe how fragrant the place was. If you're in the area, you must go sometime.

And then we hit the Tempe art festival. Did I mention I love spring in Arizona?

Yep, It's Spring

Some of you seem to still be under snow or rain, but it's still sunny and in the 80s here. If it's spring, that mean there are babies. Baby animals. Unfortunately, it also means there are orphans. Liberty Wildlife takes in birds and bunnies, and I'm guessing other animals as well (wind storms and bullets are top contenders creating a lot of orphans). I've been wanting to volunteer, but wanted to talk to them first to see if they had specific days they were having trouble filling. They were, Tuesday through Thursday, so if anyone else wants to join in, you can sign up online. They're also desperate for funds (they don't get any $ from the gov't), so you can buy some raffle tickets from their website and help them out.

Did you know that most raptors will get attached to a caregiver (feeder)? Once an eagle or owl (etc.) likes you, they really like you, and they can no longer be released. The good news is that they can be fostered by unreleasable birds. One owl has fostered 88 orphans, all of which have been released back into the wild. Love that.



Here's a turkey vulture/buzzard (I think). Did you know that these birds are the only ones that can smell? They've got a vent in their beak. This bird seemed smaller than the ones I've seen around, but the handler had him open his wings, and he was definitely as big as I remembered.

We see a lot of peregrine falcons around, but I didn't realize how delicate they look up close. So soft!

I'm definitely in.

Next up, we headed to Fountain Park and attended the Kite Flying Festival, sponsored by the Pakistan Information and Cultural Organization (PICO). Kite flying is big in a lot of cultures, including the Caribbean (there it's an Easter activity).





We were told to wear yellow in solidarity, so we did.We bought our kites there for $5.



Melissa's got some air (and she got a lot of exercise).



So did Michael (the boy was determined).



I tried my hand, too (getting mine higher than Michael's, which meant he had to compete and win).

Ah, to be a kid again.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Have a great St. Patrick's Day!