About Me

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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!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

My big backyard

On November 8, 2011, I spent the afternoon taking photos of scenery and birds in my yard and the ridge above our house in Flagstaff. While behind the house, a flock of Acorn Woodpeckers got really agitated at my presence with a couple of them flying to branches right above me squawking incessantly for a few minutes while up to six others were ahead of me in an oak. They provided great a photo opp!















White-breasted Nuthatch:



Pygmy Nuthatch:




Dark-eyed Junco:



Ridge behind my house:




Zoomed in view of Lowell Observatory across town to the west of my house:





Icicles:






Cool-looking icicles on gargoyles at a church/school in downtown Flag:


Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia sp.) covered in snow:

Moss species:

Lichens:

Gambel oak leaves:








Aspens:


Snow at our house that fell the day before:




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