Groffoto

Sedona’s amazing Mandarins

groffoto — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:06:23 +0000

On the first day of a 3-day stay in mid-January 2012 at the Amara Resort in Uptown Sedona, Arizona, I came across a Mandarin duck pair sharing nearby Oak Creek with a few dozen mallards and wood ducks. On the second day at the same location was a second Mandarin couple. I find online photos of a male in roughly the same spot as far back as 2009, but mine here (first photo in gallery) is the first photo I can find that documents two pairs — giving credence to the idea that someone is trying to get a Mandarin flock started here. It could be coincidence, but given the beauty of these East Asian birds and Sedona’s tourist nature, it’s not so hard to imagine how a population of the gorgeous ducks would, er, dovetail with the city’s charmed reputation.

If anyone has further info on the origins of this species in Oak Creek, please post a comment and I’ll incorporate it here. I first found reports of a Mandarin in Oak Creek on the website of AZFO, Arizona Field Ornithologists, which invites photos and other reporting at www.azfo.org.

Below is a short video of one of the males swimming and engaging in typical behavior that I observed on all three days. The behavior was the same whether floating or standing at water’s edge: dipping of the bill in the water, then popping the head forward then up and back in an animated way. Often this was followed by a preening motion, twisting the bill back into the shoulder feathers, often accompanied at the end of the preen by a low guttural sound. If you listen closely, the sound can be heard at about 00:27 on the video.

The first gallery photo shows one male in the upper left, a second in lower right. Females accompanied both, although only one is seen in this image.

Calling Neo & Morpheus

groffoto — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:34:12 +0000

C’mon, should characters from “The Matrix” be allowed to take part in marathons? This runner in Phoenix on 1/15/12 looks suspiciously like Agent Smith.

Guide-dog-in-training

groffoto — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:47:06 +0000

Puppies command affection, but if you’re a puppy being groomed as a guide dog — well, people love you even more. This one got the royal treatment on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011, at Sweet Mabel Folk Art & Fine Craft Gallery, in Narberth, Pa.

Occupy Philadelphia, Quaker style

groffoto — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:59:22 +0000

A contemplative circle took shape in the basin below Dilworth Plaza. The Quaker community provided a useful service to protesters: bathrooms, at the religious group’s brick building nearby at 15th and Cherry streets. The Inquirer’s Melissa Dribben wrote about it here.

Not just another day in the gayborhood

groffoto — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:08:53 +0000

Henri David and Mayor Michael Nutter on the main stage, 13th & Locust, during OutFest in Philadelphia on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011. Thousands swarmed several blocks that were closed to traffic. Nutter proclaimed “What a city!” before presenting the OutProud Award to Metropolitan Community Church.

Ronda Goldfein, executive director of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, after being honored with the first Outproud Friend award at OutFest.

Somewhere under the rainbow

groffoto — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:57:15 +0000

There’s something magical about the fountain at Seattle Center — kids and adults alike are drawn to its playful jets of water. On this day, at this angle, a rainbow appeared, seeming to build a sharp dividing line between fantasy and the real world on the outside.

Not just waiting on a friend

groffoto — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:44:35 +0000

Tim Rogers, lead singer of the Australian group You Am I, was vulgar, frenetic and the total crowd-pleaser as he at times channeled Jagger on day 3 of the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle.

Shark loses teeth in Hurricane Irene

groffoto — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:31:39 +0000

After Hurricane Irene had passed, the only damage evident on the deck was suffered by this hammerhead shark, whose lower teeth fell out during the storm. How embarrassing for a shark.

Charlie & the ginkgo

groffoto — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:15:33 +0000

A pooch named Charlie stands amid ginkgo fruit blown from a tree by winds from Hurricane Irene as they passed through Washington Square, Philadelphia, early Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011.

Irene tampers, somewhat, with Philly

groffoto — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 01:21:43 +0000

A Sunday morning stroll through Philadelphia’s historic district found little damage from the overnight passage of Hurricane Irene — mostly small branches off trees. One exception was damage to the tall ship Gazela moored at Penn’s Landing. A ship’s volunteer who happened to be biking past noticed a hefty section had been torn from the port bow.

Patrick Flynn, superintendent of ships for the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild, begins repairs to the “buffalo rail,” the chock through which ropes secure the Gazela to the pier, after it broke from the bow during Hurricane Irene. At right is Gabriel Meyer, who discovered the damage while passing the ship on his bike.

Quite a few residents of Society Hill Towers taped windows in an effort to limit damage in case the hurricane blew out the glass. This unit seemed more fanciful than cautionary, taping the message: B-E-P-O-S-I-T-I-V-E

A dog named Charlie paused amid a pool of gingko fruit that had blown out of a tree on the edge of at Washington Square.

A line of fallen branches collected by city workers in Washington Square was typical of the limited damage Irene left behind in city parks.

An extreme rarity brought by the hurricane was the wrapping of city parking kiosks, which have only been in place two or three years. You got the impression that someone warned the parking authority that the problematic machines that dispense parking receipts would not withstand a big storm. The city declared parking would be free during the storm period.

The Philadelphia Belle, moored at Penn’s Landing, was out of service Sunday — but it had nothing to do with the hurricane. The owners stopped running it earlier in the summer due to poor business.

A bronze plaque of Samuel Adams — not the beer, but the signer of the Declaration of Independence — was littered with residue from the storm along the “signers walk of fame” on Chestnut Street near Independence Hall.

Independence Hall appeared unfazed by the storm.