Crops & Clips: Flashback to November, 2016

The month of November, 2016 started on a sad note. MaryLou's oldest brother who lived in Tucson, Arizona was recuperating from complications which followed a leg fracture. We planned to visit him and made flight reservations, also hoping to do some birding while out there. His condition suddenly deteriorated the day before our scheduled arrival. He had turned gravely ill with pneumonia and sepsis.

We flew out the first day of November and visited him that evening in a rehabilitation facility. He was very weak but alert and involved with events surrounding the World Series and the presidential election. We stayed at nearby Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and visited with him the next morning. We planned to spend more time with him, but he passed away that night. 

We had reservations to return to Florida on November 4 and had time to briefly visit Sweetwater Wetlands and the Arizona-Sonora  Desert Museum before flying home.

I had to pore over nearly 1,000 processed photos from November to highlight favorite memes, such as critters (plenty of birds!), skies, reflections, flowers, fences and scenes which speak for themselves. 

My first images were from Sweetwater Wetlands. Our visit was much too brief, given the circumstances.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds flew overhead:





The Red-naped Sapsucker is the western counterpart of our Yellow-bellied Sapsucker:





The Verdin inhabits thorny shrubs in the arid lands of southern Arizona:



Long ears serve to dissipate body heat of the Desert Cottontail:



The next morning, rain was threatening when we visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, but most of it evaporated before reaching the ground:







Cactus Wrens were common:





Butterflies included a Common Checkered-Skipper:



Back home in Florida, our winter resident birds were settling in. Among them was a fairly rare Bell's Vireo:



Marsh Wrens appear irregularly during the winter months:



Eastern Phoebes stay for the winter:



This phoebe is dwarfed by the heavy guard rail fence along the "road to nowhere:"



Clay-colored Sparrows made their first (and so far only) appearance in our local wetlands:





Wintering Palm Warblers were numerous:



Swamp Sparrows were reliably present but few in number:





Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird:



Sharp-shinned Hawk:



Dark morph of a Short-tailed Hawk:



The local pair of Bald Eagles, after losing their first brood earlier in the year, had successfully reared one eaglet which remained dependent well into September. Now they were refurbishing their nest in preparation for the new season:



A large male Bobcat was visiting, probably meeting up with one of the resident females:



Zebra heliconian at the flower of a Firebush (Hamelia patens):




A "mirrored sunrise" on November 27 is an illusion caused by convergence  of the parallel rays of the rising sun on the opposite (western)  horizon. Conditions are best when the sky is clear overhead but the tops of storm clouds over the Atlantic Ocean break up the light to form the rays:

 

The sky was clearing up after a rain storm on November 28:



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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Our World Tuesday by Lady Fi

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

 Linking to Fences Around the World by Gosia

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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

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Fall birding in yellow and gold

Gold comes in many colors, mostly shades of yellow. In temperate climes these are the colors of fall. In Florida, the foliage resists the change, but we find gold in the sky. We have temporarily left behind the golden sunrise over our lake in south Florida:




Upon returning to Illinois after spending much of the summer in the Sunshine State, we welcomed the refreshing cool breezes and the profusion of wildflowers on the prairie. Yellow now predominates, in the flowers and in the plumage of the most common bird that nests among them.





American Goldfinches bounce over the prairie, twittering their flight song, repeating phrases ("per-chick-o-ree") synchronized with each dip in undulating flight:











Male Bobolinks have shed their distinctive black and white breeding colors and have molted into golden basic plumage, quite identical to females in appearance:







Greenish-gold Tennessee Warblers are heading south for the winter:



A lowly grasshopper on a milkweed leaf reflects the light as would a replica made of precious metal:



The Chickweed Geometer moth adds a regal touch of purple:



Sunlight suffusing through the turning leaves of the canopy provide a golden backdrop for a female House Finch...



...and for this Chipping Sparrow:



An Eastern Wood-Pewee is bathed in golden bokeh:

 

The plumage of a Cedar Waxwing is best described as burnished gold:

 

Butterflies are becoming scarce as gold. I suspect that the widespread use of insecticides, out of fear of West Nile Virus, may be a factor. Great Spangled Fritillary (my first):

 

Back-lighting accentuates the gold tones in the wings of a Monarch butterfly, another creature threatened by human activity, particularly loss of habitat and host milkweed; I have examined hundreds of milkweed plants the past few weeks and have found no caterpillars:



Pearls come in every color of the rainbow. This is a Pearl Crescent:




One of the namesake hills in nearby Hickory Knolls woodland is a mound of gold:



We spent a long Labor Day weekend in Door County, a narrow peninsula in northeastern Wisconsin, about 275 miles (440 km) north of our Illinois home. It projects out into Lake Michigan (seen here), flanked by Green Bay to the west:



On our first morning the yellow of goldenrod pierces through the fog that has rolled ashore:



The fog mutes the reflections of the dock at the marina:



A Bumblebee collects pollen from a Purple Coneflower:

 

A Clouded Sulphur contributes to the color scheme:



An inquisitive Red Squirrel clings to the stringy bark of a White Cedar, which a predominant tree in coastal areas of northern Wisconsin:

 


Back home in Illinois, Agramonte, our granddaughters' golden Tibetan Mastiff, greets us at the driveway: