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Chiricahua Naturalist Journal

Thursday, October 28, 2004, 6 AM.

Pale sunlight struggles to break through the cloud enshrouded Peloncillo Mountains to the east. In the west, a neon white full moon hangs above Horseshoe Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains. In this soft muted light, I can see slow moving shapes covering my side yard and bird feeding area. As the light increases, I count over 100 Mourning Doves and a few White-crowned Sparrows, an avian equivalent to Brownian motion. Five Desert Cottontails graze within mere feet of my living room window.

Walking out into the chill morning, it is 49º, and a damp south wind is blowing. Suddenly a single amber ray of sunlight breaks through the clouds and lights up a single face of the Chiricahuas. What was moments ago a cold gray featureless surface is now a faceted rainbow of pale yellows, pinks, reds, and other shades. As I walk, Vesper Sparrows flush from out the abundant Lehman’s Lovegrass. Brewer’s Sparrows begin popping up in the mesquites, and a powerful female Sharp-shinned Hawk cruises over the landscape, inches above the damp grasses. She suddenly rises quickly, and then drops into the grass and disappears. A minute later she is back on her patrol. A quiet “chup” catches my attention and a single meadowlark glides by, its shallow flap and glide carrying it to a small bush, where it sits and hums a quiet trill. As I walk back to the house, coyotes perform a short morning serenade, interspersed with yips and barks.

By 7 am, it is near full light and the desert grasslands are resplendent. House Finch are beginning to appear in the top of the nearby Emory Oaks. The Chiricahuas are now fully awash with the days sunshine and the full moon has sunk behind the thick clouds that cover the mountains like a blanket. As often happens in the San Simon valley at this time of year, high winds have developed by 9 AM, and bird activity at the feeders is very slow. However, the winds have not detered a lone female Northern Harrier, and she swoops and glides over the grasslands, her brown and tan plummage glowing golden in the morning’s light.

This morning’s stark white full moon was in great contrast to the full moon of the previous evening, when a total lunar eclipse occurred. At this time, the moon became a beautiful reddish orb, more closely resembling Mars with a tiny white polar cap. During the eclipse the stars shone as brightly as if it were a moonless night, then faded down as the eclipse subsided.