Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey

Loggerhead shrikes are more common in the winter out where we live in Cochise County, Arizona. Some winters and springs it seems there is a shrike on every other fence post or power line here in the grassland. A favorite field guide says they are an “uncommon to common transient in open situations throughout” southeastern Arizona.  So it seems some shrikes will move about seasonally to different elevations in the borderlands.  Must be nice.

I took the photographs of my Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds purchased in 1970. I was inspired to bring it out of retirement after doing some birding with my family and I realized that many of the birds we were seeing had checks by their pictures in this old guide. Some of the scientific names and even common names have changed, but the birds don’t know that and they still look the same. As you can see it has been rebound…did that myself… and it’s ready to go onto the truck seat with my binoculars.

Koeberlinia spinosa is one of 3 native plant species in Arizona that have the common name of crucifixion thorn or crown of thorns or of course, corona de cristo. (I betcha that Spanish common name came first.) The other 2 species that share the name are Castela emoryi and Canotia holacantha. You could darn near see all 3 in a day if you were willing to do some serious driving…well, don’t do that, take your time and drive to Ajo to see Castela. Then maybe a drive to Safford and Globe and westward to see Canotia. They look like foothills paloverdes out in that desert region and it is abundant.                              Koeberlinia spinosa is found in the deserts of southeastern Arizona, but is more widespread as you head east to New Mexico, Texas and of course southward into Mexico.

The photos are mine. I forgot my camera, so these were taken with my phone on the day described. And yeah, I think I will go back and gather seed later this summer. Stay tuned.

Eumorpha typhon or the typhon sphinx moth is out and about gathering nectar and sharing pollen from June to August in the borderlands. I realized very quickly that we had everything the nectar loving adults need at our little homestead. Our planted Agave palmeri may not bloom until sometime over the next several years, but no worries, as we have an abundance of Datura wrightii that bloom every year all summer long. So those are the for the adults. And years ago I planted several canyon grapes (Vitis arizonica) and it turns out that it is the larval food of these hawk moths. Yay!

The scientific name Eumorpha is a combination of two Greek words and means beautiful form. The specific epithet typhon is also from the Greek for whirlwind or it could be a reference to Typhon, the father of monsters in Greek mythology. I like whirlwind…yeah, that makes more sense. And listen, as near as I can figure the common names of sphinx moth and hawk moth are synonymous. And when I was a little boy in Kentucky I chased diurnal moths called the hummingbird moth. They too, are in the family, Sphingidae, with hawk moths. Cool!

The photos are mine. That’s Buster inspecting the dried up specimen I found in our barn. The live moth is climbing in an oak at our place Below I’ve included a link to a nice description of hawk moths and Eumorpha.  I noticed that Stephen Buchmann’s name is misspelled, so here it is correct. I think you may want to find his books.

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/hawk_moths.shtml

After two kids and more than ten years of marriage, Jenni and Sarah were lying in bed one night when Sarah shared she was a woman born in a man’s body: “I’m transgender.”

“That’s okay,” said Jenni. “Because I think I’m gay.”

Follow Jenni and Sarah on Instagram at @jenniberr and @chandlersarahb.

Listen on Spotify. Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Sarah (left), Jenni and their two sons in January 2015.

 

Jenni and Sarah at an event in November 2019.

Jenni, Sarah and their two sons in November 2020.

The photos are mine.

One of the positive sides of isolating and staying very close to home during the pandemic is that I am discovering new places and rediscovering old haunts.  I can’t tell you how many times I roared through and past Leslie Canyon in my truck headed to goodness knows where. “I’ll stop there, next time,” I’d mutter to no one in the truck. Well, it looks like now I’ll be stopping.

The refuge was created in 1988 to protect 2 species of native fish, the Yaqui chub and the Yaqui top minnow. The plant list for the refuge was done then and it included the plants of the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge to the southeast along the International Border and with very different biomes. When I first looked for a plant list I found the old one from the 1980s and thought it seemed to be missing some stuff. That makes sense because both refuges were established about water and native fish and maybe the flora wasn’t as important as the fish at the time, but then I found the 2014 plant survey list for just the Leslie Canyon Refuge and oh my goodness, it must have been so fun to do that work. Over 300 species were added to the plant list! The Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuge is truly about interesting fauna and flora.

The photos are mine and of Condalia warnockii in dry rocky desert …common names: warnock condalia or Mexican crucilllo. And below are a couple links for more information about the refuges.

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/leslie_canyon/

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/San_Bernardino/

It doesn’t take too much to get me excited and I think finding Wright’s mock buckthorn was pretty cool, not to mention just what the doctor ordered; “Get out into the wild to cure the blues Mister Mesquitey!”

I had the hardest time figuring out how to pronounce Sageretia. It’s one of those words you may read over the years, but never say out loud. Finally, I took my own advice: say it loud with authority and let folks think, “So that’s the way you say that.”

I love that the only claim to fame I found for the French botanist Augustin Sageret, whose name is honored, was that he hybridized a musk melon with a cantaloupe in 1826.  I wondered if he was invited to soirees because of that. “Let’s invite Augie and ask him to bring the melons.”

No plant photos of mine, just me wandering among some plants at home last summer. However, below is a link to a good description of Sageretia wrightii with some good photos as well.

https://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=3558&clid=3121

The photos are mine and of a fruity canyon hackberry (Celtis reticulata), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium!), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis!!) and the “rustyish” seed pods on wait a minute bush (Mimosa biuncifera). If you want some more “ish colors” this winter, I suggest a hike.

In episode three, we met J, who is dating D, who is married to A, who is dating C, who is married to M, who is also dating A.

In episode four, we find out how the group is navigating the addition of its newest member: a baby.

Music: Local Kindergartner