Category: #northern Arizona

• Reflective great(-tailed) hop

  Back in April I visited Frances Short Pond here in Flagstaff— a pond fished by man (sometimes woman) and osprey alike. Blackbirds and grackles occupy trees and the marshy island in the middle of the small pond. Here is a great-tailed grackle (I think), caught mid-hop. Click here to see the full-sized photo of the…

  jwilce

  August 6, 2016

  #bird photography, #FlagstaffArizona, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photography, Arizona, bird photography, bird photos, outdoor photography, wildlife photography

  #birds, #publicspaces

• Unidentified insect: Beetle?

  I’m posting this on Reddit ( /r/whatsthisbug). For you who once saw me post HERE rather regularly, I apologize for my long absence and offer this strikingly beautiful insect (a beetle?). I was seeing this orange-winged insect (probably a beetle) this spring, then suddenly it reappeared today in the Rio de Flag, Cheshire neighborhood, Flagstaff,…

  jwilce

  August 1, 2016

  #FlagstaffArizona, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photography, #wings, Arizona, insect photography

• What’s With the V-Formation?

  It is an inspiring, though common, thing to see flocks of ducks or geese flying overhead in V-formation. A duck flying alone is also beautiful, as is this mallard… http://www.wilcephotos.com/Northern-Arizona/JMW-Birds-Bees-Etc/i-qndbZbn/0/Th/BIF-Duck%3B%20BubblingPonds%3B%20IMG_9073%20C1PSD1-Th.jpg … but a group of birds synchronizing or coordinating their behavior presents us with a different kind of beauty.  This group of Canada Geese flying…

  jwilce

  February 18, 2016

  #northern Arizona, #photography, #wings, Arizona, bird photos, outdoor photography, wildlife photography

  #birds, #nature, #northern Arizona

• Hawks: Chasing and Being Chased

  Anywhere you see hawks you are likely to see them being chased by smaller birds and not just chasing after them. The following photos (some of which are links to wilcephotos.com) tell two stories. The first story consists of a single photograph of what we might expect to be most common—a bigger, more carnivorous bird…

  jwilce

  February 18, 2016

  #accipiters, #bird photography, #FlagstaffArizona, #hawks, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photoblog, #photography, #photonarratives, #raptors, Arizona

  #Arizona, #birds, #nature, #northern Arizona, #photography, #photonarratives

• What’s the beetle doing to its companion?

  This brief video (about 7 seconds long) captures a pair of beetles, apparently “Darkling Beetles” (family Tenebrionidae). It shows one beetle touching the other with its antennae.  The video was shot September 5 on Fatman’s Loop trail (Mt. Elden area of Flagstaff, Arizona).  I removed the sound track and edited out most of the effects…

  jwilce

  September 7, 2015

  #FlagstaffArizona, #insects, #MountElden, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photoblog, #wildlife photography

  #beetles, #insects, #naturevideos

• A summer of learning: How to tell butterflies from moths

  It has been a summer of wonder and amazement, based on apparently chance encounters of this insect or that. But of course what we see— if we are watching—reflects what is here for now, in this season (or sub-sub-season). And so, it seems that one week, quite suddenly, our Cheshire neighborhood (Flagstaff, AZ) was home…

  jwilce

  September 5, 2015

  #insects, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #photoblog, #photonarratives, #wildlife photography

  antennae, butterflies, insect diversity, Lepidoptera, moths

• A Humming-good story

  On Tuesday (8/18/15) my early morning walking feet took me to a strip of land covered with wildflowers like scarlet bugler penstemon and gilia. I have been visiting the strip for a week now because it’s a common place to find hummingbirds. And of course the hummers visit the strip because of the wildflowers. At…

  jwilce

  August 21, 2015

  #bird photography, #hummingbirds, #mating rituals, #northern Arizona, #outdoor photography, #wildlife photography