wickenburg-az.com » nature

Wickenburg Clouds Time-Lapse

Maria Langer — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:03:55 +0000

One more time-lapse and then I’ll leave you folks alone.

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.

Rainy Desert Day Time-Lapse

Maria Langer — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 03:23:32 +0000

I set up my time-lapse camera before dawn today, determined to catch the entire day’s weather as a time-lapse movie. The resulting movie covers more than 12 hours with 2,800 individual images.

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.

Skeleton Ridge Cave

Kathy Block — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:00:36 +0000

In November, 2008, we hiked up Calamity Wash towards Skeleton Ridge. The wash is two miles up Constellation Road and was described in the late Lee Pearson’s writeup of January 29, 2007.

In this photo, my husband Ed is getting some welcome shade in this nice little cave! We are still somewhat active cavers, so enjoyed finding this one.

Butterflies and Bees

Kathy Block — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:00:15 +0000

This photo of butterflies and bees was taken in San Domingo Wash east of Wickenburg. I couldn’t approach this bush too closely, due to all the bees swarming in the blossoms! I thought the black butterfly was somewhat unusual.

Backyard Hummingbird

Maria Langer — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 13:00:43 +0000

Hummingbirds are common to the Wickenburg area. They are among the smallest of birds, able to hover in mid-air and fly backwards by rapidly flapping their wings at speeds up to up to 90 times per second. They can fly at speeds over 30 miles per hour. Their name comes from the characteristic hum made by their rapid wing beats. Because of their high metabolism, they spend a good part of their day eating and digesting their food.

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.