In this 2-1/2 minute movie, you’ll see the helicopter’s shadow as I lift off from Wickenburg Airport and then catch glimpses of downtown. My route took me past the runway at Rio Vista Hills and then across the open desert where a handful of RVers were camped out on BLM land. I passed over Carefree Highway just west of Lake Pleasant, crossed over Route 303 (under construction) and I-17, and then headed south for landing at Deer Valley.

Take a look; I think you’ll like what you see. Keep in mind that I often offer cheap seats on one-way or round trip flights for up to three people following the same basic route; you can get notified of these offers as they become available by subscribing to Flying M Air news and special offers at Flying M Air‘s Web site.

Enjoy.

I shot this yesterday from two different positions at my home in Wickenburg. The first segment shows pretty much the same view as the time-lapse I shot the day before: southeast to Vulture Peak. Much prettier with blue skies and sunlight, no? I especially like the way the sunlight moves across the ground as the sun climbs into the sky.

When I realized that there was more cloud action out the front of my house, I moved the camera there for the remaining video, which points northeast. It was an extremely windy day, with gusts to 30 MPH, and you can clearly see the wind in our palm tree and my neighbor’s palm tree on the horizon.

Again, I used the camera setting of one shot every 15 seconds, but instead of compiling at 30 fps as I did the day before, I compiled at only 15 fps. Oddly, even though I slowed down the movie speed by half, the clouds are still moving 2-3 times faster in this movie than the previous day’s. That’s because of the wind.

Here’s the movie. If you have high-speed internet, I recommend viewing at the 720p size, full-screen; use the controls at the bottom of the movie frame to set options.

Comments are always welcome. Use the link or form for this post.

The photos were shot on the southwest corner of Wickenburg. The knobby mountain visible in the first half of the movie is Vulture Peak. After the low clouds moved in, it disappeared from view.

While this isn’t my best effort, it is interesting to see how the weather moved in and changed direction throughout the day. Enjoy.

Glenn and his brother put together this photo slide show of images they shot while in high school in the 1970s. He gave me permission to share it here. If you’ve been living in Wickenburg for a while, you might find this interesting.

I’m hoping Glenn will take the time one of these days to share some of his stories and photos on this site. If you’d like to see more of Glenn’s work, please comment on this post to let him know.

Thanks again, Glenn, for letting me share this.

Although most migrate south during the winter months, many remain. It doesn’t take much effort to attract them to a backyard feeder. Special hummingbird food containing dyes is not necessary — in fact, it may contain ingredients that are not good for the birds. Instead, mix one part pure cane sugar — do not use artificial sweeteners! — to four parts hot water. Stir or shake until all sugar is dissolved. Allow the mixture to cool and use it to fill a hummingbird feeder. Hang the feeder in your backyard or on your patio; within a short time, the hummingbirds will start to appear. If you regularly clean and refill the feeder, the hummingbirds will return again and again, year-round.