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I am a birder, naturalist, wildlife biologist, and now an interpretive ranger currently working for Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department at the Hassayampa River Preserve near Wickenburg, Arizona. I spent the past several years following a career as a wildlife biologist and was a teaching assistant for a biology lab during grad school, with my education background consisting of an MS in Biology and BS in Forestry. I am an Arizona native and my past travels have taken me around most of the lower 48 United States, plus the state of Sonora in northwest Mexico. Before my current job I spent 1.5 years working as an environmental consultant in the Midwest based out of Kansas City (KS/MO), which gave me the opportunity to see a good portion of the Great Plains and Midwest region. My current travels are decidedly local, but I am hoping to travel abroad in the future when finances and work schedule allow. I am very content with my current career and happy to be doing a mix of environmental education and natural resource management at a wonderful desert oasis. I am looking forward to where this path takes me!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Concho Lake, Green's Peak (May 27)

On May 27, 2011, after conducting the riparian bird survey on Silver Creek near White Mountain Lake, my mom and I headed across to do some birding at Concho Lake west of St. Johns. Afterwards we went to check out Green's Peak between US60 and SR260 (north of Sunrise ski area) for the first time. Here are various photos from those two areas:

A male Phainopepla at Concho Lake. This species occurs sparsely where Phoradendron mistletoe infects junipers and cottonwoods above the Mogollon Rim. They also occur below the Rim in the Sonoran Desert where mistletoe is found on mesquites and cottonwoods. The male is silky black all over with white in the wing tips (only seen during flight), and red eyes:



Views of mixed conifer/spruce-fir/aspen forests and meadows along FR118 going to Green's Peak. Notice the snow seen on Mt. Baldy in the distance in one of the last photos. Green's Peak had a few patches of remnant snow and the aspens were barely breaking bud in some spots. So far the Green's Peak area has remained untouched by the Wallow Fire, which has been confined south of SR260.










View of distant Escudilla Mountain from the Green's Peak road. Since I took this photo, most of Escudilla Mountain was burned up in the Wallow Fire that has now consumed 527,000+ acres in the White Mountains area.

Carnero Lake near Green's Peak. Several pairs of waterfowl were present, suggesting that they may try to breed there this summer (including Ruddy Ducks, Gadwall, Mallards, and Redheads). 

wild strawberry (Fragaria ovalis, Family Rosaceae):



cinquefoil species (Potentilla sp., Family Rosaceae):

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